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.
Roforofo Fight
Fela Kuti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Translation to original English:
She tear pata, he tear buba
She tear pata, he tear buba
She tear trouser, he tear pant
She tear trouser, he tear pant
She pull the thing commot, he tear the thing
She pull the thing commot, he tear the thing
From Abeokuta city
Get away
Fuck off
Who are you?
Go and die
Fuck away
Get away
Who are you?
Go and shit
You dey craze
I no craze
Fuck away
Who are you, eh?
Na two people dey yab so
Na two people dey yab so
Where them dey yab, roforofo dey
Where them dey yab, roforofo dey
Now listen to me now now
Huh!
Two people dey yab
Crowd dey look
Roforofo dey
Two people dey yab
Crowd dey look
Roforofo dey
Wetin you go see?
Roforofo fight eh
Wetin you go hear?
Roforofo fight eh
If you dey among the crowd wey dey look
If you yourself
You yourself dey among the crowd wey dey look
And your friend
Your friend dey among the two wey dey yab
Tell am, tell am, tell am, tell am
Tell am make him no fight o
Make him no fight
Make him no fight because Roforofo dey
Your friend him don vex
Him don vex patapata, him no go hear
Your friend him don vex
Him don vex patapata, him no go hear
By and by
By and by the fight go start
By and by
By and by them go fall for roforofo o
Them face go be roforofo face
Them yansh go be roforofo yansh
Them body go be roforofo body
You no go know
You no go know who your friend be
You no go fit help your friend
Just because roforofo dey
If you wan help your friend
Roforofo go rub for your face
If you wan help your friend
Roforofo go rub for your yansh
You go tell am make him no vex
You don tell am before make him no fight o
Make him no fight
Make him no fight because roforofo dey
Now listen to me now now now now
Huh!
Roforofo don change them
Them go look like twins
You no go know who be who
Roforofo don change them
Them go look like twins
You no go know who be who
You no go know your friend from who
You don tell am before
Make him no fight o
Roforofo dey for there
Two people dey yab
Crowd dey look
Roforofo dey
Wetin you go see?
Roforofo fight eh
Wetin you go hear?
Roforofo fight eh
The lyrics to Fela Kuti's "Roforofo Fight" describe a chaotic and violent situation in Abeokuta city, where two people are exchanging insults and tearing each other's clothing. As the crowd gathers to watch the confrontation, tensions rise and the possibility of physical violence looms. Fela warns the onlookers to avoid getting involved, as the situation is likely to escalate into a full-blown fight, leaving them unable to tell their friends apart and with roforofo (scattered) faces, bodies and yanshes (buttocks).
The song can be interpreted as a commentary on the dangers of uncontrolled conflict and violence, and the need for people to avoid getting caught up in it. Fela also touches on themes of identity and perception, suggesting that in the midst of chaos, it can be difficult to know who your friends are and where loyalties lie. Ultimately, the song reminds listeners of the importance of unity and peaceful coexistence.
Line by Line Meaning
She tear pata, he tear buba
She destroyed her lower garment, he destroyed his upper garment
She tear trouser, he tear pant
She destroyed her pants, he destroyed his underwear
She pull the thing commot, he tear the thing
She pulled out the thing, he tore it apart
All don scatter
Everything is in disarray
Get away
Leave immediately
Fuck off
Get lost
Who are you?
What is your identity?
Go and die
Leave this world and go away forever
Fuck away
Go away in a vulgar manner
You dey craze
Are you crazy?
I no craze
I am not crazy
Na two people dey yab so
Only two people are joking around like this
Where them dey yab, roforofo dey
Whenever people joke around, there is a possibility of fighting
Now listen to me now now
Pay attention to what I am saying
Huh!
An exclamation of emphasis
Crowd dey look
The spectators are watching
Wetin you go see?
What are you going to see?
Roforofo fight eh
A fight where people are unrecognizable due to injuries
If you dey among the crowd wey dey look
If you are among the spectators
Tell am make him no fight o
Tell him not to fight
Him don vex patapata, him no go hear
He is extremely angry and won't listen
By and by the fight go start
The fight will start soon
Them face go be roforofo face
Their faces will be unrecognizable
Them yansh go be roforofo yansh
Their behinds will be injured
Them body go be roforofo body
Their bodies will be battered
You no go fit help your friend
You won't be able to help your friend
Just because roforofo dey
Because of the high possibility of fighting
Roforofo go rub for your face
You will end up injured and unrecognizable
Roforofo don change them
The injuries from fighting have made them unrecognizable from each other
You no go know your friend from who
You won't be able to differentiate your friend from the other person
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT (FRANCE), BMG Rights Management, EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING FRANCE, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@VishnuVaratharajan
I'm writing this comment with an immense weight over my chest. Listening to this album was a spiritual experience for me. The Fela I knew before through his music was a rebel; a non-conformist from a distance. But today he spoke to me up close, almost infused. He connected with the depths of my soul and was communicating something to me. His meaningless humms evoked something historical; the remnants of pain of a body and mind oppressed for generations by systems of power. The world around me started to lose its shape. A century earlier, there would have been no way a person from remote Nigeria could have communicated with someone in the future from remote southern India. The intermediate structures appear before me now; his message travelled through electricity, electromagnetism, LP, digitisation, YouTube, and then one fine morning at 5am when I was struggling to sleep I decided to hear Fela, and then it reached me, after passing through a series of conduits. This is a universal moment for me. I stare at the Neem tree outside my house right now, and there is a line of ants climbing up. Fela once breathed on this Earth like this Neem tree, like these ants, like me, and he reached me across the barriers of time and space. I am just sad how many of such messages were lost forever to humanity because it couldn't be recorded. As I finished listening and was in utter shock at the witnessing of present, past and future intertwining before me, my father came to me with a cup of honey water. I looked at him and he had grey hair. The last time I seriously looked at him like that, he was younger. Live the moments people, please live it. We are drowned by technologies and structures that many times we miss to see what is in front of our eyes. 100 years later someone would feel the same way for something else that is unrecordable now, but recordable then. Our every breath is precious people. I see you Fela, I see you from 5,000 miles apart, from 50 years away. I see you up close. I feel you. And I thank you.
@rusticpoet
This is from a deep place. I was drawn to him first by what I read in the media about his eccentricity and what some people chose to call madness. Roforofo Fight happens to have been my first listen.
Having grown up in the gritty world of hardcore hip hop I found this a truly liberating experience.
When I listen to him I understand with clarity how he fashioned his own life the way he did.
He is a truly iconic man blessed with uncommon artistry..
@kimberlybush2001
Let us see each other, and not weep for the moments lost, but rejoice in the moments to come. The world is ours if we see it, and speak to each other.
@trista4congress827
beautifully expressed. Nice how Fela's music evokes such depth of feeling
@jorgegonzalez-larramendi5491
it is an achievable human state.
" samadhi" !! ,: ) haréee krishchnaa
besides that the musicians Have to be in samadhi to play this. imagine the Percussion College of Karnataka mixed in here jaya !
@devendrasinghgautam4638
Very well written brother. It's a divine experience indeed. I'm a proud Indian and a huge fan of Africa, it's people and of course it's rich earthy music. I adore Osibisa and have most of their albums on record/LP. Also love Miriam Makeba and Salif Keita.
I very recently discovered Fela and am getting more and more absorbed in his music with every listen.
Just discovered Fela
@tarcisiolinharesfilgueiras9452
I've been discovering the magic of Fela during the pandemics, and since then I can't stop listening: it's really groovy, critic, spiritual and beautiful!...
I'm shocked with "Question Jam Answer", what a tune! My god!
Lots of love from São Paulo, Brazil, to all african brothers and Fela family fans all over the world!
@karlherve8719
hello! the music is a weapon, welcome!
@brotherrabbit8539
The dialect is called "Pidgin" not "Broken English".
It is universally understood in Nigeria, has its own rules, and vocabulary.
Needless to say it is very expressive, especially with a poet like Fela.
@shanemccoy42
Thank you for that input . I truly find the term“ broken “ English as an insult and tool of white supremacy.