Biographies & Cultural Icons of Nigeria
Life stories of Nigerian political leaders, monarchs, activists, writers, artists, and other influential historical figures.
Fela Kuti and the Politics of Defiance
Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s personal life was never treated as a private matter in Nigeria. It became part of the public arena where his politics...
Fela Kuti’s Collision With the Nigerian State, From the 1974 Arrests to the 1977 Kalakuta Inferno
The confrontation between Fela Kuti and the Nigerian state during the 1970s did not erupt overnight. It developed through repeated encounters with police authority,...
Fela Kuti’s 1984 Arrest, Tribunal Sentence, and the Legacy That Outlived Military Rule
On 4 September 1984, Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti was detained at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. At the time, he was not only Nigeria’s...
Fela Kuti in London, The Training Years That Sparked Koola Lobitos
Fela Anikulapo Kuti is most often associated with Lagos, political defiance, and the rise of Afrobeat. Yet one of the most important chapters in...
How Fela Turned Afrobeat Into a Weapon Against the Nigerian State
Tejumola Olaniyan’s Arrest the Music!, Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics, published in 2004 by Indiana University Press, examines Fela Anikulapo Kuti as...
Fela Kuti, The Making of Afrobeat and the Politics of Sound
Fela Aníkúlápó Kútì was born on October 15, 1938, in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He grew up in a household where education, public service, and civic...
Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti, Afrobeat Pioneer and Nigeria’s Most Defiant Musical Voice
Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti was born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome Kuti on 15 October 1938 in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He grew up in a household shaped...
Tunji Braithwaite, Fela Kuti, and the Kalakuta Aftermath
On 18 February 1977, soldiers attacked and destroyed the Lagos compound associated with Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a community he had named the Kalakuta Republic....
How Fela Kuti Invented Afrobeat, Turning Funk, Politics, and Yoruba Rhythm into a New African Sound
Afrobeat did not emerge quietly. It arrived loud, stretched out, and unwilling to apologise. Its long grooves carried dance, protest, humour, and confrontation all...
The Partnership That Powered Afrobeat, Tony Allen and Fela Anikulapo Kuti
Afrobeat did not arrive fully formed. It emerged slowly, shaped by years of rehearsals, late nights on bandstands, and long recordings where rhythm had...