HMV Magazine ranked him as #46 on a list of the 100 most influential musicians of the 20th century.
The musical style performed by Fela Kuti is called Afrobeat, which is essentially a fusion of jazz, funk, highlife, and traditional Yoruban chants and rhythms. It is characterized by having African-style percussion, vocals, and musical structure, along with jazzy, funky horn sections. The endless groove is also used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted guitar, and bass guitar are repeated throughout the song. His band was notable for featuring two baritone saxophones, whereas most groups using this instrument only use one. This is a common technique in African and African-influenced musical styles, and can be seen in funk and hip-hop. Some elements often present in Fela's music are the call-and-response within the chorus and figurative but simple lyrics. Fela's songs were almost always over 10 minutes in length, some reaching the 20- or even 30-minute marks, while some unreleased tracks would last up to 45 minutes when performed live. This was one of many reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside of Africa. His songs were mostly sung in Nigerian pidgin, although he also performed a few songs in the Yoruba language. Fela's main instruments were the saxophone and the keyboards, but he also played the trumpet, guitar, and took the occasional drum solo. Fela refused to perform songs again after he had already recorded them, which also hindered his popularity outside Africa. Fela was known for his showmanship, and his concerts were often quite outlandish and wild. He referred to his stage act as the Underground Spiritual Game.
Fela was born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, to a middle-class family. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a feminist activist in the anti-colonial movement and his father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, a Protestant minister and school Principal, was the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers. His brothers, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti and Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti,both medical doctors, are both well known in Nigeria.
Fela was sent to London in 1958 to study medicine but decided to study music instead at the Trinity College of Music. While there, he formed the band Koola Lobitos, playing a style of music that he would later call Afrobeat. The style was a fusion of American Jazz, psychedelic rock, and Funk with West African Highlife. In 1961, Fela married his first wife, Remilekun (Remi) Taylor, with whom he would have three children (Femi, Yeni, and Sola). In 1963, Fela moved back to Nigeria, re-formed Koola Lobitos and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1969, Fela took the band to the United States. While there, Fela discovered the Black power movement through Sandra Smith (now Isidore)—a partisan of the Black Panther Party—which would heavily influence his music and political views and renamed the band Nigeria ’70. Soon, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was tipped off by a promoter that Fela and his band were in the US without work permits. The band then performed a quick recording session in Los Angeles that would later be released as The '69 Los Angeles Sessions.
Fela and his band, renamed Africa '70, returned to Nigeria. He then formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune, a recording studio, and a home for many connected to the band that he later declared independent from the Nigerian state. Fela set up a nightclub in the Empire Hotel, named the Afro-Spot and then the Afrika Shrine, where he performed regularly. Fela also changed his middle name to Anikulapo (meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"), stating that his original middle name of Ransome was a slave name. The recordings continued, and the music became more politically motivated. Fela's music became very popular among the Nigerian public and Africans in general. In fact, he made the decision to sing in Pidgin English so that his music could be enjoyed by individuals all over Africa, where the local languages spoken are very diverse and numerous. As popular as Fela's music had become in Nigeria and elsewhere, it was also very unpopular with the ruling government, and raids on the Kalakuta Republic were frequent. In 1974 the police arrived with a search warrant and a cannabis joint, which they had intended to plant on Fela. He became wise to this and swallowed the joint. In response, the police took him into custody and waited to examine his feces. Fela enlisted the help of his prison mates and gave the police someone else's feces, and Fela was freed. He then recounted this tale in his release Expensive Shit (now released together with "He Miss Road" as Expensive Shit/He Miss Road).
In 1977 Fela and the Afrika ’70 released the hit album Zombie, a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military. The album was a smash hit with the people and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta Republic, during which one thousand soldiers attacked the commune. Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother was thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. The Kalakuta Republic was burned, and Fela's studio, instruments, and master tapes were destroyed. Fela claimed that he would have been killed if it were not for the intervention of a commanding officer as he was being beaten. Fela's response to the attack was to deliver his mother's coffin to the main army barrack in Lagos and write two songs, "Coffin for Head of State" and "Unknown Soldier," referencing the official inquiry that claimed the commune had been destroyed by an unknown soldier.
Fela and his band then took residence in Crossroads Hotel as the Shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. In 1978 Fela married 27 women, many of whom were his dancers, composers, and singers to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic. Later, he was to adopt a rotation system of keeping only twelve simultaneous wives. The year was also marked by two notorious concerts, the first in Accra in which riots broke out during the song "Zombie," which led to Fela being banned from entering Ghana. The second was at the Berlin Jazz Festival after which most of Fela's musicians deserted him, due to rumors that Fela was planning to use the entirety of the proceeds to fund his presidential campaign.
Despite the massive setbacks, Fela was determined to come back. He formed his own political party, which he called 'Movement of the People'. In 1979 he put himself forward for President in Nigeria's first elections for more than a decade but his candidature was refused. At this time, Fela created a new band called Egypt 80 and continued to record albums and tour the country. He further infuriated the political establishment by dropping the names of ITT vice-president Moshood Abiola and then General Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of a hot-selling 25-minute political screed titled "I. T. T. (International Thief Thief)."
In 1984, he was again attacked by the Military government, who jailed him on a dubious charge of currency smuggling. His case was taken up by several human-rights groups, and after 20 months, he was released from prison by General Ibrahim Babangida. On his release he divorced his 12 remaining wives, saying that "marriage brings jealousy and selfishness." Once again, Fela continued to release albums with Egypt 80, made a number of successful tours of the United States and Europe and also continued to be politically active. In 1986, Fela performed in Giants Stadium in New Jersey as part of the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope concert, sharing the bill with Bono, Carlos Santana, and the Neville Brothers. In 1989, Fela & Egypt 80 released the anti-apartheid "Beasts of No Nation" album that depicts on its cover U.S. President Ronald Reagan, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and South African Prime Minister P.W. Botha with fangs dripping blood.
His album output slowed in the 1990s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. The battle against military corruption in Nigeria was taking its toll, especially during the rise of dictator Sani Abacha. Rumors were also spreading that he was suffering from an illness for which he was refusing treatment. On 3 August 1997, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, already a prominent AIDS activist and former Minister of Health, stunned the nation by announcing his younger brother's death a day earlier from Kaposi's sarcoma brought on by AIDS. (Their younger brother Beko was in jail at this time at the hand of Abacha for political activity). More than a million people attended Fela's funeral at the site of the old Shrine compound. A new Africa Shrine has opened since Fela's death in a different section of Lagos under the supervision of his son Femi Kuti.
Lady
Fela Kuti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
African woman no go 'gree
She go say, she go say, "I be lady, oh"
She go say, "I be lady, oh"
She go say, "I be lady"
She go say, "I no be woman"She go say, "Market woman na woman"
She go say, "I be lady"
I want tell you about lady
I want tell you about lady
I want tell you about lady
She go say him equal to man
She go say him get power like man
She go say anything man do himself fit do
I never tell you finish
I never tell you finish
I never tell you finish
I never tell you finish
I never tell you
She go want take cigar before anybody
She go want make you open door for am
She go want make man wash plate
For am, for kitchen
She want salute man
She go, sit down for chair
She want salute man
She go, sit down for chair
She want sit down
For table before anybody
She want sit down
For table before anybody
She want a piece of meat
Before anybody
She want a piece of meat
Before anybody
Call am for dance
She go dance lady dance
Call am for dance
She go dance lady dance
African woman go dance
She go dance the fire dance
African woman go dance
She go dance the fire dance
She know him man na master
She go cook for am
She go do anything he say
But lady, no be so
But lady, no be so
But lady, no be so
But lady, no be so
Lady na master
Lady na master
Fela Kuti’s “Lady” is a tribute to African women who didn’t receive the recognition they deserved in a male-dominated society. The song speaks to the undervaluation of African women and their inherent strength, even in the face of oppression. The song’s lyrics evoke the desire for equality and emphasize that women have the same power as men. When you call an African woman a "woman", she would correct you by telling you that she is a "lady", indicating her strength, power, and importance.
The song lyrically describes how an African woman desires respect, admiration, and honor for her social positions while struggling to break gender barriers. The song discusses the character traits of a "lady" as leadership, independence, intelligence, and self-reliance. Furthermore, it praises the African woman’s tenacity to strive and thrive in difficult living conditions.
Fela Kuti wrote and recorded “Lady” in 1972, and the song became the first single to be released from his album Shakara (1972). The track features Fela himself on Saxophone and vocals and was performed by his band, Africa 70. The song received widespread attention and acclaim in Africa and around the world for its powerful message and Afrobeat instrumental.
Line by Line Meaning
If you call am woman
If you refer to her as a woman
African woman no go 'gree
An African woman would not agree with that
She go say, she go say, "I be lady, oh"
She will respond by saying she is a lady
She go say, "I be lady, oh"
She will respond again by saying she is a lady
She go say, "I be lady"
She will continue to assert herself as a lady
She go say, "I no be woman"
She will say that she is not just any ordinary woman
She go say, "Market woman na woman"
She acknowledges that a woman who sells in the market is still a woman
She go say, "I be lady"
She is definitely a lady and she is proud of it
I want tell you about lady
He is about to enlighten us about a lady
She go say him equal to man
She believes she is equal to a man
She go say him get power like man
She believes she has the power that a man possesses
She go say anything man do himself fit do
She can do anything that a man can do
I never tell you finish
He still has more to say about her
She go want take cigar before anybody
She wants to take a cigar before anyone else
She go want make you open door for am
She expects you to open the door for her
She go want make man wash plate
She wants a man to wash the dishes for her
For am, for kitchen
In the kitchen, where it's traditionally women's work
She want salute man
She wants to show respect to men
She go, sit down for chair
She will sit down in a chair
She want sit down
She wants to sit down
For table before anybody
At the table before anyone else
She want a piece of meat
She wants a piece of meat
Before anybody
Before anyone else
Call am for dance
When you call her to dance
She go dance lady dance
She will dance like a lady
African woman go dance
The African woman will dance
She go dance the fire dance
She will dance the fiery dance of Africa
She know him man na master
She recognizes that her man is the master
She go cook for am
She will cook for him
She go do anything he say
She will do anything he tells her to do
But lady, no be so
Not all ladies are like that
But lady, no be so
Don't assume that all women are the same
But lady, no be so
Ladies are not that predictable
Lady na master
The lady is the master
Lyrics © F.K.O. Music, BMG Rights Management, Royalty Network, BMG VM MUSIC FRANCE
Written by: FELA KUTI
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@felakuti
She go say, she go say, "I be lady, oh"
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Everybody say "Yeah Yeah" (y)
@Chidiuche
Fela Kuti yeah yeah!
@perrotfrancois368
Remember
@MN-ji8nx
Yeah! Yeah!
@sidicisse9279
Fela Kuti a révolutionné la musique africaine.
@michaelkontogom4791
Fela Kuti water on get enemy
@musantsodi6748
Long live Fela Kutism, freedom fighter and an independent mind.
@liqhtraise8132
Speaking as a 26 year old white boy in Kentucky, true music like this sails over the false walls that separate us. Truly, the fierceness of the spirit has been lost, my friends. Thank you for this sanctuary.
@nynybear1600
Liqht Raise yup love from Ghana
@ollooduk5872
How can we have borders when the skies are open from Moscow to Nairobi to Sydney to.... you name it.
We created the walls ourselves.