Photo credit: The Leadership
When he changed his name from what he perceived to be a slave name, Ransome, to Anikulapo, we thought he did not know what he was talking about, but then events proved him right.
The truth is that he has simply refused to die!
When we consider the immense popularity AfroBeats is gaining globally, we can say he hasn’t died. When we look at the fact that even in physical death, he’s getting popular, we can’t say he’s dead. When we consider the fact that all those things Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was talking about in songs and lectures are still with us, we can never say he’s dead.
Fela, who transitioned on August 2, 1997, got a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award last Sunday. The first African to get the award, he truly deserves it.
I don’t think Fela was a commercial artist in today’s sense. He was so kind. His home called Kalakuta Republic was home to everybody rejected by society. He fed them and encouraged them to learn a trade. It doesn’t matter where a person was from. He had a soft spot for students and tried to reeducate them.
He was always at the forefront of anti-government protests for good reasons.
He was usually invited by students of higher institutions to give lectures at the end of which he performed.
He wanted freedom for everybody to pursue their dreams and he held the government to task for depriving the people of what should rightly be theirs. This did not go down well with the authorities and so, he was always at loggerheads with the government. He was severally detained and even imprisoned. The last straw was the Kalakuta raid when his mother was thrown from a storey building which eventually led to her death.
Fela never recovered from the loss of his mother who was his number one supporter.
Honoring him, at this time shows that when he changed his name to Anihulapo – the one that carries death in his pouch – shows he played a fast one on us. It shows he’d seen the future because his being honored about three decades after his death shows he can never be forgotten.
Indeed, he has become an ORISA!
Fela’s posthumous award is a victory for Africa!
