Fela’s Rebel Afrobeat: A Pedagogical Perspective

IntroductionNigerian maverick songwriter, Fela Anikulapo Kuti (formerly Fela Ransome Kuti) used his rebel brand of music-Afrobeat-to articulate his ideas about black consciousness, social justice and respect for human rights. Instead of becoming a pawn in the political game, Fela used his musical genius to mobilize the people to fall behind him in defense of a common cause. Afrobeat is perceived by musicologists as the highest form of self-expression and an act of social commentary. The aim of this paper is to underscore the critical role played by Fela in fostering post-independence revolutionary ideas in Nigeria and Africa at large. To do this effectively, I have revisited the songwriter's musical compositions from 1974 to 1990. The overriding objective is to propose a few dependable pedagogical paradigms that could be utilized by instructors interested in adopting the works of this renowned songwriter for instructional purposes. By succeeding in branding the regimes in his native land as illegitimate, and by winning mass support for his views even among people who outwardly tend to conform to the establishment culture, Fela made an outstanding contribution to the postcolonial resistance movement in Africa.Fela had recourse to music in a bid to voice popular discontent against the corrupt government of President Obasanjo and subsequent regimes in Nigeria. Olaniyan notes that Fela's music "reveals the peculiar character of the relations between art, specifically oppositional music, and a postcolonial African State" (2004: 2). He points out that evident in Fela's music lies the gigantic urge to articulate, and name the incredible. If Fela remains Africa's most revered musician, even posthumously, it is precisely on account of his complex response to Africa's postcolonial incredibility. Fela is notorious for his acrimonious diatribes and invectives leveled at individuals and institutions he perceived as perpetrators of social anomie. Olaniyan observes that "By the time Fela died on August 2, 1997, he had successfully cultivated and made hegemonic in global consciousness an image of himself as a quintessentially 'political musician'" (3). To put this differently, in his interviews, lectures and lyrics, he devoted his musical talents to the evocation, interrogation and castigation of partisan politicians who are self-seekers.Fela's musical brainchild code-named 'Afrobeat' made him a political activist. This musical novelty is anchored on a medley of thematic considerations- sex, gender, social stratification, oppositional politics, abuse of power, disempowerment, social identity, cultural authenticity, Afrocentrism, imperialism and more. In the eyes of his many fans (masses, students and youths), Fela was the charismatic face of Afrobeat, a kind of musical brand that harbored a worldview and attitude toward misgovernment and human rights abuses. Fela preached 'Africanism' as an antithesis to Western concepts like Marxism, communism, and capitalism whom he associated with exploitation of the masses. As Olaniyan would have it, "To listen to Fela's music... is to listen to a kind of cultural, specifically musical 'biography' of the postcolonial African State: an account of the State's crisis..." (5). In Fela's own words, "I am using my music as a weapon. I play music as a weapon. The music is not coming from me as a subconscious thing. It's conscious" (Olaniyan, 2004:58).Fela commenced his tumultuous politically combative musical career in the 1970s with the composition of his famous song "Alagbon Close" (1974.) This song and "Upside Down" (1976) made him an indefatigable combatant who would become a thorn in the flesh of the powers-that-be in Nigeria for more than two decades. Through his musical combativeness, Fela soon become the voice of the voiceless. He was brash and outspoken, and created for himself the image of a charismatic antisocial rebel. It is necessary to dwell on the lyrics and signification of "Alagbon Close" because it is all invective and satire against the inept governments of Nigeria and its armed forces:For Alagbon/Dem no get respect for human being/Dem no know say you get blood like them/Dem go send dem dog to bite you/ Dem go put dem gun for your face/The gun wey dem take your money buy/Dem go torture you and take your statement from you/Dem go lock you for months/Dem dey call am 'investigation' (Quoted in Olaniyan, 54). …