FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI & AFRIKA 70'

1977 MERCURY

Fela Anikulapo Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, October 15, 1938 - August 2, 1997), or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.
Fela went to to London in 1958 with the intention of studying 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 and Funk with West African Highlife.
Fela recorded the hit Zombie in 1977, which was a metaphor for the Nigerian Soldiers, who are dead inside, and just do what the government tells them to do. In the song he commands the soldiers “Attention! Double up! Fall In! Fall out! Fall down! Get ready!” with his queens chanting Zooommmbiiii….throughout. This one become such a hit at the time that the people would walk by a soldier and flash a blank stare and say ‘Zombie’. This angered them so much, they went all out on what was to be the most vicious attack on the Kalakuta Republic. Zombie is what egged them on to send in over 1000 soldiers, severely beat everyone, raped the women, through Fela’s mother out the window causing fatal damages, nearly beat Fela to death, burned the entire Republic down, and threw everyone in jail. Never underestimate the power of music!
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 which claimed the commune had been destroyed by an unknown soldier.