Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997 … Read Full Bio ↴Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997 ), known professionally as Fela Kuti, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, political maverick & leader of Fela Ransome Kuti & Africa 70.

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.

Mistake
Fela Kuti Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Everything is alright (right)
Everything is all wrong (that′s right)
Everything is alright (right)
Everything is all wrong (that's right)

Nobody like make things go wrong
And a one thing the start the show
Mistake

And mistake they start to show (mistake)
Mistake they make two kind
One kind they call am good mistake
The other kind they call am bad mistake
Good mistake you fit repair
Bad mistake they cause disgrace

Mistake you make, people go laugh at you (na bad mistake)
Mistake you make, you fit stand like a man (na good mistake)
Mistake you make, people go fit laugh at you (na good mistake)
After they laugh at you, them go smile again now (na good mistake)
Mistake you make, you mind go clear like rain (na good mistake)
After all the mistake, you still make you fit stand like a man (na good mistake)

That means say (everything is alright)
That means say (everything is alright)
You are right (everything is alright)
That means say (everything is alright)
You are right (everything is alright)
That means say (everything is alright)
You are right (everything is alright)

Mistake you make, people go laugh at you (na bad mistake)
Mistake you make, people go laugh at you (na bad mistake)
After they laugh at you, them keeps laughing at you (na bad mistake)
Mistake you make, you go go vex some man (na bad mistake)
You dey vex the man because you fear the man (na bad mistake)
Mistake you make, you go shame to walk fo′ road (na bad mistake)
Mistake you make, you no fit stand like a man (na bad mistake)
Lastly you are black, you no dey think like black (na bad mistake)

That means say (everything is alright)
That means say (everything is alright)
You are wrong (everything is alright)
That means say (everything is alright)
You are wrong (everything is alright)

Na bad mistake (na bad mistake, na bad mistake, na bad mistake)
Colonial thinking (na bad mistake)
Slavery thinking (na bad mistake)
How many students (na bad mistake)
So now dey for school (na bad mistake)

Na bad mistake (na bad mistake)
Na bad mistake (na bad mistake)
Na bad mistake (na bad mistake)
Na bad mistake (na bad mistake)
Colonial thinking (na bad mistake)
Slavery thinking (na bad mistake)
How many students (na bad mistake)
So now dey for school (na bad mistake)
How many for the houses (na bad mistake)

Na bad mistake (na bad mistake)
Na bad mistake (na bad mistake)
Na bad mistake (na bad mistake)
Na bad mistake (na bad mistake)
Na bad mistake (na bad mistake)
Na bad mistake (na bad mistake)
Na bad mistake (na bad mistake)

(Na bad mistake, na bad mistake, na bad mistake
Na bad mistake, na bad mistake, na bad mistake

Na bad mistake, na bad mistake, na bad mistake
Na bad mistake, na bad mistake, na bad mistake)

Overall Meaning

The song "Mistake" by Fela Kuti is a commentary on the nature of mistakes and their consequences. The lyrics suggest that making a mistake can either be a good or bad thing, depending on how it is handled. The chorus of the song repeats "everything is alright" and "everything is all wrong" in quick succession, emphasizing the duality of mistakes and their effects.

Fela Kuti points out that nobody wants to make mistakes, but they are inevitable. He identifies two types of mistakes - good mistakes and bad mistakes. Good mistakes are those that can be repaired and ultimately lead to personal growth and development. On the other hand, bad mistakes cause disgrace, laughter, and shame. They are mistakes that cannot be easily fixed.

The lyrics also touch on the impact of colonial and slavery thinking on education. Mistakes made in this context are the result of a lack of critical thinking and perpetuated systems of oppression. It is a bad mistake to perpetuate these systems.

Overall, Fela Kuti's message is that making mistakes is an integral part of life. How one addresses their mistakes determines their outcomes. Good mistakes are learning opportunities, while bad mistakes bring shame and ridicule. The song encourages introspection and thought to address mistakes constructively.

Line by Line Meaning

Everything is alright (right)
Despite the presence of both good and bad mistakes, the overall situation can still be considered alright.

Everything is all wrong (that′s right)
While there are good mistakes that can be fixed, there are also bad mistakes that can cause disgrace and shame, hence the statement that everything is all wrong.

Nobody like make things go wrong
No one intentionally wants to make mistakes.

And a one thing the start the show
Sometimes, a single mistake can lead to more mistakes.

Mistake
The song's focus on the concept of mistakes, both good and bad.

And mistake they start to show (mistake)
One mistake can lead to more mistakes.

Mistake they make two kind
Mistakes can be divided into two categories: good and bad.

One kind they call am good mistake
Good mistakes are those that are fixable.

The other kind they call am bad mistake
Bad mistakes are those that cause disgrace and shame.

Good mistake you fit repair
Good mistakes are fixable.

Bad mistake they cause disgrace
Bad mistakes cause disgrace and shame.

Mistake you make, people go laugh at you (na bad mistake)
Bad mistakes can cause people to laugh at you and make fun of you.

Mistake you make, you fit stand like a man (na good mistake)
Good mistakes can help you learn and grow and make you a stronger person.

After they laugh at you, them go smile again now (na good mistake)
After they laugh at you for a good mistake, they will eventually smile again and forget about it.

Mistake you make, people go fit laugh at you (na good mistake)
People may laugh at you for a good mistake, but it is something that you can still learn from.

Mistake you make, you mind go clear like rain (na good mistake)
Making a good mistake can help clear your mind and help you become a better person.

After all the mistake, you still make you fit stand like a man (na good mistake)
Even after making many mistakes, you can still stand tall and strong like a man.

You are right (everything is alright)
Despite the presence of both good and bad mistakes, the overall situation can still be considered alright.

Mistake you make, people go laugh at you (na bad mistake)
Bad mistakes can cause people to laugh at you and mock you.

After they laugh at you, them keeps laughing at you (na bad mistake)
After people laugh at you for a bad mistake, they may continue to mock and ridicule you.

Mistake you make, you go go vex some man (na bad mistake)
Making a bad mistake can cause you to anger or upset other people.

You dey vex the man because you fear the man (na bad mistake)
You may anger someone because you are afraid of that person.

Mistake you make, you go shame to walk fo′ road (na bad mistake)
Making a bad mistake can cause you to feel ashamed and avoid going out in public.

Mistake you make, you no fit stand like a man (na bad mistake)
Making a bad mistake can cause you to lose your confidence and feel weak.

You are wrong (everything is alright)
Despite the presence of bad mistakes, the overall situation can still be considered alright.

Colonial thinking (na bad mistake)
The legacy of colonialism and imperialist thinking is a bad mistake for African nations.

Slavery thinking (na bad mistake)
The legacy of slavery and racism is a bad mistake for African nations.

How many students (na bad mistake)
The lack of access to education is a bad mistake for African nations.

So now dey for school (na bad mistake)
The fact that students are now in school highlights the mistake of not providing them with access to education earlier.

Na bad mistake (na bad mistake, na bad mistake, na bad mistake)
The repetition of this line reinforces the message that bad mistakes can have a lasting impact.

Writer(s): Fela Anikulapo Kuti

Contributed by Ian J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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TRACKS