Fela Kuti
Fela Kuti : Republic of Kalakuta revisited
by: Talal Nayer
Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (1938-1997) is not just a musician who, like most musicians around the world, was only interested in making music and performing. In addition to creating the Afrobeat style, he spent many years of his life in prison for his political activism, rebelling against everything: His father Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti the respectful teacher, and his feminist mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, his family's aristocratic heritage, the church, and especially the successive generals who ruled Nigeria. In 1977, Kuti was arrested by the Nigerian Central Intelligence Organisation (C.I.D.) and imprisoned in a Lagos prison, following the release of his (Zombie) album. Subsequently, the government of General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong in Ghana banned his music in the country because protesters were singing it during demonstrations. In that prison, there was a cell that the detainees called the ‘Republic of Kalakuta’. The word ‘Kalakuta’ was a mockery of "Calcutta"; the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta dungeon in India.
Many will not be able to connect (Kalakuta) in Nigeria and (Calcutta) in India without understanding the historical background of the events that took place in India when it was under British occupation. The Black Hole of Calcutta refers to a historical event that took place on June 20, 1756, in the Indian city of Calcutta (now Kolkata). During the period of British colonization in India, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah, captured the city after a siege. Following the capture, several British prisoners, along with some Indian soldiers and civilians, were imprisoned overnight in a small dungeon known as the "Black Hole"
The conditions inside the small, poorly ventilated room were horrendous, with stifling heat and lack of air causing suffocation and dehydration. The next morning, when the door was opened, only a few of the prisoners were found to be alive, with the majority having perished due to the harsh conditions. The miserable conditions of Nigerian prisons were – in the account of Kuti – similar to the Indian Black Hole. And as (Kalakuta) and (Calcutta) sound the same, the conditions were the same, and also the aftermath: In India, The "Black Hole of Calcutta" fueled British resentment and anger towards the Nawab of Bengal. It played a significant role in the escalation of hostilities between the British East India Company and Siraj ud-Daulah, ultimately leading to the Battle of Plassey in 1757, where the British East India Company decisively defeated the Nawab's forces and established British dominance in Bengal. In Nigeria, the military army led a war against a new tiny independent country; ‘The Republic of Kalakuta’.
After his release, Kuti gave this name; ‘The Republic of Kalakuta’, to his residence and declared an independent state from Nigeria; the new microscopic republic was a refuge for all the homeless people who came to eat and smoke marijuana for free. While in prison, Kuti decided to become a scoundrel as he thought it was the best way to deal with the corrupt political and military system. One day, a member of the Nigerian parliament said to Kuti: ‘If 5,000 people imitate you, there will be anarchy,’ to which the musician replied: ‘No, it will be a revolution!’ On 18 February 1978, the police stormed and burned down the Republic of Kalakuta, leaving Kuti with multiple fractures and all the music and film material he had been working on destroyed. The police threw the musician's mother (Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti) off a balcony and she was in a coma for eight weeks and died. Kuti took his mother's funeral to General Olusegun Obasanjo's residence and released a song to commemorate this tragic event, ‘Coffin for Head of State’. He went to the head who succeeded in destroying the libertarian paradise dreamed of by the citizens of the ‘Republic of Kalakuta’, who dreamed of breathing the breeze of freedom.
Kuti's revolution was all-encompassing, starting with him stopping his medical studies in England to study music, unlike his brothers Beko and Olikoye. Beko Ransome-Kuti was a well-known physician and he became chairman of the Lagos branch of the Nigerian Medical Association. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti became the Federal Minister of Health of Nigeria. Fela revolted against his father Israel Oludotun, who promoted the English language - from his position as the first president of the Teachers' Union - as an accomplice in perpetuating cultural colonialism in Nigeria, before revolting against the legacy of his aristocratic family, one of whose members, Wole Soyinka, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986; Kuti called him ‘Boss Wole’ and thought the CIA was behind his award! The musician also rebelled against the history of his mother, the famous feminist activist Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, and became a prominent rejecter of the feminist movement, marrying 27 women whom he called ‘queens’. In addition, he was openly hostile to the church and considered it - like other religious institutions - to be a symbol of cultural colonisation.
Kuti's struggle in Nigeria was for Africa, which he saw under the bondage of international capitalism, World Bank debt, and the colonial agents of illegitimate coup governments. A bohemian artist, he travelled in a large bus to accomplish his travels so that his art would not be at the mercy of other people's funding. In that bus, he travelled with his band, his wives and children, as well as boxes of weed.
Kuti also later rebelled against his early musical influences, abandoning the musical moulds set by John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins. When he moved to Los Angeles, he would go and listen to King Bleecher's music. But when he returned to Nigeria, he started listening to traditional melodies and immersing himself in the local culture, becoming more aware of the melodies, rhythms, chromatic tones, chord progressions and the individual effects of each instrument. Since then, he has approached music as a revolutionary message and a mouthpiece for Socialism and Panafricanism and has endeavoured to make meaningful music that defies time and moves away from consumerism, music that is deeply rooted in the heart of Africa. Kuti created Afrobeat in collaboration with drummer Tony Allen, a fusion of his musical influences: Jazz, funk and highlife. He changed the name of his band from (Koola Lobitos) to (Nigeria 70), the music of the 60s seeking to conquer the 70s, and then to (Egypt 80) to draw attention to the African origins of Egyptian civilisation.
Fela Kuti was imprisoned in 1984 due to his outspoken criticism of the Nigerian government, particularly the military regime led by General Muhammadu Buhari - who ruled Nigeria twice as president. Muhammadu Buhari first ruled Nigeria as a military dictator after coming to power in a coup in December 1983. He served as the Head of State of Nigeria from December 31, 1983, until August 27, 1985, before being ousted in another coup. Buhari then returned to power through a “democratic process”, winning the presidential election in March 2015, he was re-elected for a second term in February 2019 and was in power until 29 May 2023.
In 1984, the military government accused Fela Kuti of currency smuggling, which was likely a pretext to silence his dissenting voice. However, many believe that his imprisonment was primarily politically motivated in response to his outspoken activism. Fela Kuti's music and activism made him a prominent figure in Nigerian society, and he faced harassment and persecution from the government throughout his career. Kuti was tried by Judge Gregory Okoro-Idogwu and sentenced to prison. Quickly and Sharply Kuti was arraigned in court, the judge promptly sentenced Fela to a 10-year jail term on 2 and transferred to Maiduguri prisons. When the judgement was read, Kuti looked at the judge and said with a smile: ‘I will not beg you.’ Fela Kuti was sent to Maiduguri prison where he documented his experience in his song (Beast of No Nation).
As in the relay race, General Muhammadu Buhari gave the power to General IBB; Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. The political authority changed, but the military remained in power, and also Kuti remained in prison. Life goes on, and Fela lives in miserable conditions in the prison, to the point that he has to be placed in the hospital, where with sheer coincidence, he meets Justice Okoro-Idogwu. Nobody knows why, but the judge decided to apologize to Kuti and admitted that he was under pressure from General Buhari when he sentenced Kuti and sent him to Maiduguri prison. Kuti was lying on his sick bed, and he calmly responded to the Gudge asking him not to beg for forgiveness, and said: "The judge don beg o"!.
There is a reference to this confrontation between Fela and Okoro-Idogwu can be found in another song called “Unnecessary Begging”. Fela speaks in one of his songs about the inhuman conditions in the prison and the treatment of prisoners, he says that many leaders disguise themselves because they are animals in human skin, they could wear modern or traditional clothes, but in the end, they are animals that want to teach us about human rights. In his popular song (Beast of No Nation) Kuti talked also about the world's suffering and the bloody competition in the world: (Eastern and Western blocks, Israel versus Lebanon, the Iraqi-Iranian War and other hotspots in the world at the time. In half-an-hour-song Kuti took his personal experience in the Nigerian prison shouting for freedom to all persecuted all around the world.
General IBB released Kuti from prison and the Nigerians rejoiced, but shortly after that, Kuti was sent again to prison under General Sani Abacha. In Prison, and as a protest against his unfair sentence, Kuti refused all mediations to reconcile with the military regimes until his death on 2 August 1997. Kuti used to say of military regimes: “They don't just dance to my music, their soldiers” footsteps march to it like a military march.’ He mocked government corruption with a satirical phrase he abbreviated as (C.A.C.C.M.M.L.S.N.H.N.N.F.S.), The acronym stands for the following: "Chop And Clean Mouth, like nothing happened; new Nigerian free slogan." At the Lagos Stadium, Kuti once told his concert audience about the military: “Why are you afraid of the military? Fight them, their clothes are just cloth sewn by the same tailor who sewed your clothes!” In short, the details of Fela Kuti's life are perfectly in line with his thoughts, which can be summed up with a sentence he once said to the crowd gathered in front of him at a football stadium: “I don't want to leave a mark on the world, I want to change the world itself.”
