Fela Kuti

1938 年出生於奈及利亞的非洲節奏之王 Fela Kuti 自小便對正宗傳統非洲音樂尊崇不已,經常會走上千里路去趕一場祭典.從那時開始, Fela 暗自立誓要為優美傳統文化發揚光大. 1958 年遠赴倫敦研讀音樂課程,並和那裏的同鄉人組了個名為 Koola Lobitos 的爵士樂 / 敲擊樂團. 1963 年樂團回到獨立後的祖國繼續演奏. 1970 年遠征洛杉磯,以 Fela Ransom - Kuti & Nigeria 70 的新團名巡迴表演 (他負責吹奏喇叭,後期加入鍵盤,薩克斯風的吹奏). 也就是在那兒, Fela 找到了屬於自己獨有的音樂節奏 : Afro-Beat,特殊的非洲節奏成為 Fela 的招牌,歌中他發展了黑人文化和非洲文化,鼓吹子民回歸傳統非洲文化的論調在當時備受矚目,他在當地發行幾張單曲有不錯的迴響. 1974 年 Fela 努力進行一項個人理念的“The Black President”革命 - 他將自家附近以圍牆框住,成立一個自給自足的另類社區,此番理想像煙霧般迅速蔓延開來,掀起青年們的爭相追崇 (甚至有 12, 13 歲的少年離家出走,原因只是為了追隨 Fela) 和規範法律的大肆躂伐. 反抗 vs. 壓制兩方角力的結果,助長了 Fela 這位非洲節奏之王的聲勢,他的音樂更獲得支持者的死忠膜拜,由他 1977 年在奈及利亞首都 Lagos 黑人藝術文化祭 (Festival for Black Arts & Culture) 演唱反戰的 Zombie 一曲受到大批歌迷擁戴的場面便可知曉 ! 儘管 Fela 的理想國與 1979 年預競選總統之路不斷地遭受當地軍警的破壞肆虐和騷擾 (甚至他與家人都受到人身攻擊),他仍舊稟承自己的理念不認輸,而不向強權威勢低頭的男兒本色,正是 Fela 日後被子民敬稱“The Black President”的主因. 1984 年後,他和 79 人組成 Egypt 80 到歐美四處演唱,此舉不但受到各地樂迷的喜愛,對於增進外人對非洲節奏 / 音樂 / 文化 / 民風的接受度更是功不可沒 ! 1997 年 Fela 卒於愛滋,享年 59 歲.他的葬禮有數以萬計的子民擁送護行,其影響不消贅述。 by John Dougan Its almost impossible to overstate the impact and importance of Fela Anikulapo (Ransome) Kuti (or just Fela as hes more commonly known) to the global musical village: producer, arranger, musician, political radical, outlaw. He was all that, as well as showman par excellence, inventor of Afro-beat, an unredeemable sexist, and a moody megalomaniac. His death on August 3, 1997 of complications from AIDS deeply affected musicians and fans internationally, as a musical and sociopolitical voice on a par with Bob Marley was silenced. A press release from the United Democratic Front of Nigeria on the occasion of Felas death noted: Those who knew you well were insistent that you could never compromise with the evil you had fought all your life. Even though made weak by time and fate, you remained strong in will and never abandoned your goal of a free, democratic, socialist Africa. This is as succinct a summation of Felas political agenda as one is likely to find. Born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, north of Lagos in 1938, Felas family was firmly middle class as well as politically active. His father was a pastor (and talented pianist), his mother active in the anti-colonial, anti-military, Nigerian home rule movement. So at an early age, Fela experienced politics and music in a seamless combination. His parents, however, were less interested in his becoming a musician and more interested in his becoming a doctor, so they packed him off to London in 1958 for what they assumed would be a medical education; instead, Fela registered at Trinity Colleges school of music. Tired of studying European composers, Fela formed his first band, Koola Lobitos, in 1961, and quickly became a fixture on the London club scene. He returned to Nigeria in 1963 and started another version of Koola Lobitos that was more influenced by the James Brown-style singing of Geraldo Pina from Sierra Leone. Combining this with elements of traditional high life and jazz, Fela dubbed this intensely rhythmic hybrid Afro-beat, partly as critique of African performers whom he felt had turned their backs on their African musical roots in order to emulate current American pop music trends. In 1969, Fela brought Koola Lobitos to Los Angeles to tour and record. They toured America for about eight months using Los Angeles as a home base. It was while in L.A. that Fela hooked up with a friend, Sandra Isidore, who introduced him to the writings and politics of Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver (and by extension the Black Panthers), and other proponents of Black nationalism and Afrocentrism. Impressed at what he read, Fela was politically revivified and decided that some changes were in order: first, the name of the band, as Koola Lobitos became Nigeria 70; second, the music would become more politically explicit and critical of the oppression of the powerless worldwide. After a disagreement with an unscrupulous promoter who turned them in to the Immigration and Naturalization Services, Fela and band were charged with working without work permits. Realizing that time was short before they were sent back to Nigeria, they were able to scrape together some money to record some new songs in L.A. What came to be known as the 69 Los Angeles Sessions were remarkable, an indication of a maturing sound and of the raucous, propulsive music that was to mark Felas career. Afrobeats combination of blaring horn sections, antiphonal vocals, Felas quasi-rapping pidgin English, and percolating guitars, all wrapped up in a smoldering groove (in the early days driven by the bands brilliant drummer Tony Allen) that could last nearly an hour, was an intoxicating sound. Once hooked, it was impossible to get enough. Upon returning to Nigeria, Fela founded a communal compound-cum-recording studio and rehearsal space he called the Kalakuta Republic, and a nightclub, the Shrine. It was during this time that he dropped his given middle name of Ransome which he said was a slave name, and took the name Anikulapo (meaning he who carries death in his pouch) . Playing constantly and recording at a ferocious pace, Fela and band (who were now called Africa 70) became huge stars in West Africa. His biggest fan base, however, was Nigerias poor. Because his music addressed issues important to the Nigerian underclass (specifically a military government that profited from political exploitation and disenfranchisement), Fela was more than a simply a pop star; like Bob Marley in Jamaica, he was the voice of Nigerias have-nots, a cultural rebel. This was something Nigerias military junta tried to nip in the bud, and from almost the moment he came back to Nigeria up until his death, Fela was hounded, jailed, harassed, and nearly killed by a government determined to silence him. In one of the most egregious acts of violence committed against him, 1,000 Nigerian soldiers attacked his Kalakuta compound in 1977 (the second government-sanctioned attack). Fela suffered a fractured skull as well as other broken bones; his 82-year old mother was thrown from an upstairs window, inflicting injuries that would later prove fatal. The soldiers set fire to the compound and prevented fire fighters from reaching the area. Felas recording studio, all his master tapes and musical instruments were destroyed. After the Kalakuta tragedy, Fela briefly lived in exile in Ghana, returning to Nigeria in 1978. In 1979 he formed his own political party, MOP (Movement of the People), and at the start of the new decade renamed his band Egypt 80. From 1980-1983, Nigeria was under civilian rule, and it was a relatively peaceful period for Fela, who recorded and toured non-stop. Military rule returned in 1983, and in 1984 Fela was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of currency smuggling. He was freed in 1985. As the 80s ended, Fela recorded blistering attacks against Nigerias corrupt military government, as well as broadsides aimed at Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan (most abrasively on the album Beasts of No Nation). Never what you would call progressive when it came to relationships with women or patriarchy in general (the fact was that he was sexist in the extreme, which is ironic when you consider that his mother was one of Nigerias early feminists), he was coming around to the struggles faced by African women, but only just barely. Stylistically speaking, Felas music didnt change much during this time, and much of what he recorded, while good, was not as blistering as some of the amazing music he made in the 70s. Still, when a Fela record appeared, it was always worth a listen. He was unusually quiet in the 90s, which may have had something to do with how ill he was; very little new music appeared, but in as great a series of reissues as the planet has ever seen, the London-based Sterns Africa label re-released some of his long unavailable records (including The 69 Los Angeles Sessions), and the seminal works of this remarkable musician were again filling up CD bins. He never broke big in the U.S. market, and its hard to imagine him having the same kind of posthumous profile that Marley does, but Felas 50-something releases offer up plenty of remarkable music, and a musical legacy that lives on in the person of his talented son Femi. Around the turn of the millennium, Universal began remastering and reissuing a goodly portion of Felas many recordings, finally making some of his most important work widely available to American listeners.