The album cover portrays world leaders Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan (among others) as cartoon vampires baring bloody fangs. In 1989, three years after touring the United States, Kuti released an album called Beasts of No Nation. (Vagabonds in Power)," seeks to empower the disenfranchised masses to rise up against the government. One of Kuti's songs, "Zombie," questions Nigerian soldiers' blind obedience to carrying out orders. As a result, Afrobeat has come to be associated with making political, social and cultural statements about greed and corruption. In the 1970s and '80s, Kuti's rebellious song lyrics established him as political dissident. Kuti sang in a combination of Pidgin English and Yoruba. In addition to their distinctive mixed-genre style, Kuti's songs were considered unique in comparison to more commercially popular songs due to their length-ranging anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour long. Beginning in the 1960s, Kuti pioneered and popularized his own unique style of music called "Afrobeat." Afrobeat is a combination of funk, jazz, salsa, Calypso and traditional Nigerian Yoruba music. He would later change the band's name to Afrika 70, and again to Egypt 80. In 1963, Kuti formed a band called Koola Lobitos. While at Trinity, Kuti studied classical music and developed an awareness of American jazz. In the 1950s, Kuti told his parents that he was moving to London, England, to study medicine, but wound up attending the Trinity College of Music instead. His mother, Funmilayo, was a political activist.Īs a child, Kuti learned piano and drums and led his school choir.
Kuti was the son of a Protestant minister, Reverend Ransome-Kuti.
Musician and political activist Fela Kuti was born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti on October 15, 1938, in Abeokuta, Nigeria.
Kuti was arrested 200 times and endured numerous beatings, but continued to write political lyrics, producing 50 albums before he died on August 2, 1997, in Lagos, Nigeria. Beginning in the 1960s, Fela Kuti pioneered his own unique style of music called "Afrobeat." Rebelling against oppressive regimes through his music came at a heavy cost.
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