{"id":54797,"date":"2022-06-29T12:47:24","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T17:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/producelikeapro.com\/blog\/?p=54797"},"modified":"2022-07-04T11:40:05","modified_gmt":"2022-07-04T16:40:05","slug":"fela-kuti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/producelikeapro.com\/blog\/fela-kuti\/","title":{"rendered":"Artists Who Changed Music: Fela Kuti"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"produ-leaderboard-placement\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;margin-bottom: 30px!important;\" id=\"produ-2613816582\"><script async=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/securepubads.g.doubleclick.net\/tag\/js\/gpt.js\"><\/script>\n<script> var googletag = googletag || {}; googletag.cmd = googletag.cmd || [];<\/script>\n<div id=\"gpt-ad-2562796707060-0\">\n  <script>\n\tgoogletag.cmd.push(function() {\n\t\t\t\tgoogletag.defineSlot( '\/21927241144\/728x90-Leaderboard', [728,90], 'gpt-ad-2562796707060-0' )\n\t\t.addService(googletag.pubads());\n\t\t\t\twindow.advadsGamEmptySlotsTimers = window.advadsGamEmptySlotsTimers || {};\n\t\tconst timers                     = window.advadsGamEmptySlotsTimers;\n\n\t\ttimers['gpt-ad-2562796707060-0'] = setTimeout( function () {\n\t\t\tconst id = 'gpt-ad-2562796707060-0';\n\t\t\tdocument.dispatchEvent( new CustomEvent( 'aagam_empty_slot', {detail: id} ) );\n\t\t\tdelete ( timers[id] );\n\t\t}, 1000 );\n\n\t\tif ( typeof window.advadsGamHasEmptySlotListener === 'undefined' ) {\n\t\t\tgoogletag.pubads().addEventListener( 'slotRequested', function ( ev ) {\n\t\t\t\tconst id = ev.slot.getSlotElementId();\n\t\t\t\tif ( typeof timers[id] === 'undefined' ) {\n\t\t\t\t\treturn;\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\tclearTimeout( timers[id] );\n\t\t\t\ttimers[id] = setTimeout( function () {\n\t\t\t\t\tdocument.dispatchEvent( new CustomEvent( 'aagam_empty_slot', {detail: id} ) );\n\t\t\t\t\tdelete ( timers[id] );\n\t\t\t\t}, 2500 );\n\t\t\t} );\n\t\t\tgoogletag.pubads().addEventListener( 'slotResponseReceived', function ( ev ) {\n\t\t\t\tconst id = ev.slot.getSlotElementId();\n\t\t\t\tif ( typeof timers[id] !== 'undefined' ) {\n\t\t\t\t\tclearTimeout( timers[id] );\n\t\t\t\t\tdelete ( timers[id] );\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\tif ( ! ev.slot.getResponseInformation() ) {\n\t\t\t\t\tdocument.dispatchEvent( new CustomEvent( 'aagam_empty_slot', {detail: id} ) );\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t} );\n\t\t\twindow.advadsGamHasEmptySlotListener = true;\n\t\t}\n\n\t\tgoogletag.enableServices();\n\t\tgoogletag.display( 'gpt-ad-2562796707060-0' );\n\t} );\n  <\/script>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwd2lkdGglM0QlMjI1NjAlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjIzMTUlMjIlMjBzcmMlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbSUyRmVtYmVkJTJGREdzMDd4ZWR3Q0klMjIlMjB0aXRsZSUzRCUyMllvdVR1YmUlMjB2aWRlbyUyMHBsYXllciUyMiUyMGZyYW1lYm9yZGVyJTNEJTIyMCUyMiUyMGFsbG93JTNEJTIyYWNjZWxlcm9tZXRlciUzQiUyMGF1dG9wbGF5JTNCJTIwY2xpcGJvYXJkLXdyaXRlJTNCJTIwZW5jcnlwdGVkLW1lZGlhJTNCJTIwZ3lyb3Njb3BlJTNCJTIwcGljdHVyZS1pbi1waWN0dXJlJTIyJTIwYWxsb3dmdWxsc2NyZWVuJTNFJTNDJTJGaWZyYW1lJTNF[\/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text]\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Fel\u00e1 Ransome K\u00fat\u00ec<\/strong> was a global icon, a Pan-Africanist, and a political activist who spoke up for the poor and oppressed, and one of the most important and influential African musicians of the 20<span class=\"s1\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span> century.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti was one of the first to blend Western African music, mostly from Nigeria and neighboring countries, with Western styles like jazz, rock, funk, and also Caribbean music, in particular reggae. In doing so, he created an entirely new genre, which he called Afrobeat.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti released several dozen albums during his life time, most of them during an extraordinary explosion of creativity in the 1970s. Musicians from Miles Davis to Beyonc\u00e9 have name-checked Kuti as a major influence, and it will be difficult to find a serious musician who does not owe a huge debt to Kuti, whether they are aware of it or not.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>FOUNDATION<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti was born on October 15, 1938, in Abeokuta, a large city in south-west Nigeria. He came from a family of famous Nigerians. In fact, the Ransome-Kuti family has been described as \u2018the Kennedys of Nigeria.\u2019 It helps to explain his enormous influence on Nigerian society.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Fela started his musical career on the piano, at age of 9. He also became the leader of the school choir. His foundation was in religious music, something that was reflected in the transcendent and euphoric nature of much of his later music.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In 1958, when he was 19, Kuti went to London to attend Trinity College of Music, where he studied trumpet. Kuti wasn\u2019t only fascinated by Western classical music, but also by jazz and funk, and by his own African musical heritage. He\u2019d chosen to study the trumpet, because it was the instrument played by the leaders of Nigeria\u2019s most famous highlife bands, like Rex Jim Lawson and Victor Olaiya.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The resolutely optimistic highlife genre with its rolling rhythms had originally come out of Ghana, but eventually spread to many West-African countries. However, while highlife was a strong influence on Kuti during his teenage years, it was his discovery of jazz trumpeters Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie that further galvanized his decision to study the trumpet, and to explore jazz.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>INSPIRATION<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In 1959, Kuti started a band called Fela Ransome Kuti &amp; His Highlife Rakers in London, which recorded four tracks for the Melodisc label. He then formed the band Koola Lobitos with West African and Caribbean musicians. They played a mixture of jazz and highlife.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti graduated in 1962, and returned to Nigeria in 1963. He initially set up a jazz ensemble called the Fela Ransome Kuti Jazz Quintet. Two years later it morphed into a group called Fela Ransome Kuti and his Koola Lobitos, which again blended highlife and jazz. One of the musicians he recruited was drummer Tony Allen, who would for many years be the most influential member of his band and who is regarded as a co-founder of Afrobeat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Koola Lobitos became popular in Lagos, but Kuti was still trying to find his musical direction. In search of new inspiration and to reacquaint himself with his highlife roots, Kuti travelled to Ghana in 1967. He encountered one major inspiration there in Sierra Leone native Geraldo Pino and his band The Heartbeats. They were popular in Ghana and Nigeria, and blended funk with highlife.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">From this Kuti further developed his own style, combining highlife with funk, soul, jazz, Afro-Latin styles, and traditional Yoruba music. He called the new direction Afrobeat. He returned to Nigeria later in 1967, and started playing with Koola Lobitos at a club he founded in Lagos, Afro-Spot. A compilation album of Koola Lobitos recordings was released in 1968.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>PROTEST SONG<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti and his band left for a 10-month tour of the US in 1969. He met Black Panther and civil rights activist Sandra Smith, now Sandra Izsadore. She had a profound impact on him by introducing him to the writings of black activists like Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Jesse Jackson, and many others, and educating him on social and political issues.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">During the months they spent in the US, Kuti renamed his band Nigeria \u201870, and selections from a series of concerts at the Citadel d\u2019Haiti on Sunset Boulevard were released in Nigeria in 1970 as <i>Fela, Fela, Fela, <\/i>and rereleased worldwide in 1993 under the name <i>The &#8217;69 Los Angeles Sessions<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The album contains the first Afrobeat recordings by Kuti, albeit in an embryonic form, containing relatively short songs, sounding like a mixture of highlife and James Brown. The horn arrangements are funk-influenced, rather than the Latin-sounding horns in highlife, and the beat was deeper with Allen mixing highlife, jazz and R&amp;B in his drumming. Kuti sang in the more declamatory style typical of African music, and some of his lyrics addressed social issues. For example, \u2018Viva Nigeria,\u2019 is a protest song against the Biafran War.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>MOVED TO TEARS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Fela Kuti and his musicians returned to Nigeria in 1970. During the first half of the seventies many essential developments in his career happened in quick succession. Kuti renamed his band to Africa \u201970, and he and the ensemble took Nigeria by storm, with an avalanche of best-selling albums that were both politically and musically revolutionary.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">By 1972, Kuti and his band had become big stars in Nigeria. Kuti set up a commune in Lagos, that also included a recording studio. He dropped Ransome from his name, as he regarded it as a slave name, and replaced it with Anikulapo-\u201che who carries death in his pocket.\u201d He also renamed his Afro Spot club Afrika Shrine. Paul McCartney saw him perform there, and declared, \u201cThey were the best band I had ever seen live. I just couldn&#8217;t stop weeping with joy. It was a very moving experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Another famous British musician who made his way to Lagos around this time was drummer Ginger Baker. The two had met in London, and Baker played alongside Tony Allen on <i>Fela\u2019s London Scene, <\/i>an album recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London in 1971.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">When Baker visited Lagos, he worked with Kuti on <i>Why Black Man Dey Suffer\u00b8 <\/i>recorded in Arc Studio in 1971. It was the title track of this album that moved McCartney to tears. Kuti and Africa \u201970 recorded several more albums in 1971. <i>Na Poi<\/i> had strong funk influences and lyrics so sexually explicit that the album was banned by Nigerian radio. <i>Open &amp; Close <\/i>has been described \u201ca trance-inducing groove-fest,\u201d and there was a live album called simply, <i>Live!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>RUSH OF CREATIVITY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti\u2019s extraordinary creative peak continued in 1972 with the albums <i>Shakara <\/i>and <i>Roforofo Fight, <\/i>and in 1973 with <i>Gentleman <\/i>and<i> Afrodisiac<\/i>. <i>Gentleman <\/i>has been credited with being his \u201cfirst fully formed Afrobeat\u201d album. <i>Afrodisiac <\/i>was again recorded at Abbey Road, and contains Kuti\u2019s biggest hit in Nigeria, \u201cJeun Ko Ku,\u201d a satire of gluttony.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Not long after its release, Brian Eno bought <i>Afrodisiac<\/i> in a London record shop, on a whim, as he had no idea who Fela Kuti was. Eno later stated that it sounded to him like music of the future, and that it changed his life. He used the album to introduce countless people, including the Talking Heads, to the music of Kuti. There indeed are strong echoes of the album on <i>Remain In Light.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Almost all albums recorded by Kuti and Africa 70 from 1973 until the end of the seventies are today regarded as classics, and fully-released expressions of his Afrobeat direction. However, some people say that the band leader\u2019s true purple patch, with his most \u201cmature Afrobeat,\u201d occurred from 1974 until the dramatic events of 1977, when his commune was burnt down by the Nigerian army.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">During these three years Kuti did indeed, as the captions state, \u201ctore it up in a rush of creativity,\u201d releasing a stunning 23 albums with new material. These albums include tour de forces like <i>Alagbon Close <\/i>and<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><i> Expensive Shit, <\/i>with lyrics referencing Kuti\u2019s wrongful imprisonment in 1974, and <i>Confusion Kalakuta Show, Ikoyi Blindness, Unnecessary Begging,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Upside Down, Yellow Fever, <\/i>and <i>Zombie<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>LONG-FORM AFROBEAT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti\u2019s fully-realized Afrobeat was performed by large ensemble, with the leader himself on vocals, electric piano, organ, and tenor and alto saxophone. The brass section could consist of up to three trumpeters and one or more saxophonists, there could be up to three guitarists, a bassist, Tony Allen on drums, up to five percussionists, and sometimes as many as ten female backing<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>vocalists.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The rhythms were essentially African, with highlife and Yoruban foundations, but also with powerful funk influences, and elements of calypso, reggae, and jazz, because Tony Allen was strongly influenced by jazz drummer Max Roach.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The guitars and bass would play interlocking, two-bar phrases a lot of time, creating a complicated multi-layered mosaic of rhythms. The brass section either contributed to the rhythm, or would play melodies or riffs, often in call and response with Kuti\u2019s singing, as did the backing vocalists. Vamps and melodies would often be modal.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti\u2019s long-form songs would often introduce the instruments one by one, after which there would be a long introductory section. Various instruments would then jam and solo, including Kuti on saxophone or a keyboard. The vocals would often not come in until halfway the track. When Kuti was once asked why he used the long-form, he again referenced Western music, replying, \u201cBach and Beethoven did not play short.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>THE ATTACK ON KALAKUTA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">By the early seventies Kuti was singing mostly in Pidgin English, or \u2018Broken English\u2019, so his lyrics could be understood all over Africa. His lyrics became more and more explicitly and aggressively political, increasingly threatening and taunting the military dictatorship in Nigeria. This boiled over after he released <i>Zombie <\/i>at the end of 1977, which was his most explicit attack on the military attack yet.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti was a thorn in the side of the authorities and raids on his house, with arrests and beatings, were commonplace. On top of this, Kuti\u2019s commune, which he called Kalakuta, became more and more difficult for the military to accept. He declared the commune a Republic, independent from the Nigerian state, which was yet another provocation that was unacceptable to the military. They were looking for an excuse to close down the commune.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The lyrics of the title song of the <i>Zombie <\/i>album, which mocked soldiers for slavishly following orders, was the last straw. The military\u2019s response was vicious. On February 18<span class=\"s1\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span>, 1000 soldiers descended on Kalakuta, beat and forcefully evicted everyone and set the house on fire. Kuti\u2019s club, The Shrine, was also destroyed, and he was nearly killed. The event gathered international headlines and outrage.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">More consequentially and painfully for Kuti than the injuries he sustained, and the fact that many instruments and master tapes were destroyed, was the fact that his mother was thrown from a first floor window. She died soon afterwards from her injuries.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>SUFFERHEADS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In part in an attempt to come to terms with the dramatic and painful events of February 18<span class=\"s1\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span>, 1977, Kuti continued recording a string of albums. He changed the spelling of his band\u2019s name to Afrika 70, and the albums he released during this time include, <i>No Agreement, Sorrow Tears and Blood, Shuffering and Shmiling<\/i>, <i>Stalemate, <\/i>and <i>Unknown Soldier.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti had also lost most of his money in the raid of 1977, so he eagerly accepted an invitation to perform at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1978, with the offer of a six-figure fee. The Berlin concert, which was professionally shot on video, was a triumph, but also the end of Afrika 70, and Kuti\u2019s association with Tony Allen.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">According to Allen, the musicians had not or barely been paid for many months, and the band, technical crew and management added up to 28 people, which made touring expensive enough. When they found that an amazing 71 people went to Berlin, many of the musicians left after the concert.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti formed a new band, Egypt 80, which contained many young musicians. One of the resulting albums was <i>Original Sufferhead <\/i>(1981), which describes another savage beating by the police that he had endured, with Kuti drawing parallels with the callous treatment of ordinary Nigerians, which he called sufferheads. Kuti appeared at Glastonbury in 1984, and that same year his album <i>Army Arrangement <\/i>was released.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>FINAL YEARS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In September 1984, Kuti was arrested on trumped-up money laundering charges, and he ended up spending 20 months in prison.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Amnesty International took on Kuti\u2019s case, and declared him a prisoner of conscience. Kuti was released from prison in 1986, and in June he appeared at Amnesty International\u2019s <i>A Conspiracy of Hope<\/i> concert in New Jersey, along with Carlos Santana, the Neville Brothers and Bono.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">More albums followed, including <i>Teacher Don\u2019t Teach Me Nonsense <\/i>(1986), with a slick, Western production by Level 42 producer Wally Badarou, which Kuti did like. Kuti\u2019s next album <i>Beast Of No Nation <\/i>was released in 1989. It had anti-apartheid and anti-corruption themes. Kuti\u2019s last album of new material was <i>Underground System, <\/i>which was released in 1992.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">As the 90s progressed, Kuti continued to perform, and the police continued to harass him. But he appeared increasingly in ill health, and there were rumors of him having a mystery illness. In fact, Kuti had AIDS, but refused to be tested, and he put his faith in African medicine. The subject of AIDS was taboo in Nigeria at the time.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti\u2019s brother, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, made the announcement that the bandleader had died from AIDS complications on August 2, 1997. Over one million people turned up for the funeral to say farewell to Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the weird one who was \u2018carrying death in his pocket.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">POWERFUL LEGACY<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">No-one knows whether Kuti, in fact, chose the moment of his passing. But what is for sure is that Miles Davis was not alone in calling him a \u201clife-transforming artist.\u201d The countless Nigerians who expressed their gratitude to Kuti during the funeral clearly felt that he changed their lives for the better.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The same can be said for the many millions of musicians and listeners whose lives he touched with his Afrobeat. Afrobeat has influenced countless musicians in pretty much all genres, from Branford Marsalis to Miles Davis in jazz, to Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Vampire Weekend and Foals in rock and folk. Moreover, Kuti\u2019s sons Femi and Sean are still active Afrobeat musicians today.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Afrobeat also became a strong influence on the short-form and very different Afrobeats pop genre, which uses the latest music technology, and is dominant in the charts today, with chart-topping artists like Burna Boy, Kanye West, Drake, and many others, all incorporating elements in their music.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kuti and Afrobeat have left a powerful legacy, that has changed the world in many different ways. In so doing, Kuti fulfilled his purpose as a musician, which he once described like this,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cMusic is supposed to have an effect. If you&#8217;re playing music and people don\u2019t feel something, you\u2019re not doing shit. When you hear something, you must move. I want to move people to dance, but also to think. Music wants to dictate a better life.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">By Paul Tingen,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tingen.org\"><strong>www.tingen.org<\/strong><\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwd2lkdGglM0QlMjI1NjAlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjIzMTUlMjIlMjBzcmMlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbSUyRmVtYmVkJTJGREdzMDd4ZWR3Q0klMjIlMjB0aXRsZSUzRCUyMllvdVR1YmUlMjB2aWRlbyUyMHBsYXllciUyMiUyMGZyYW1lYm9yZGVyJTNEJTIyMCUyMiUyMGFsbG93JTNEJTIyYWNjZWxlcm9tZXRlciUzQiUyMGF1dG9wbGF5JTNCJTIwY2xpcGJvYXJkLXdyaXRlJTNCJTIwZW5jcnlwdGVkLW1lZGlhJTNCJTIwZ3lyb3Njb3BlJTNCJTIwcGljdHVyZS1pbi1waWN0dXJlJTIyJTIwYWxsb3dmdWxsc2NyZWVuJTNFJTNDJTJGaWZyYW1lJTNF[\/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text] Fel\u00e1 Ransome K\u00fat\u00ec was a global icon, a Pan-Africanist, and a political activist who spoke up for the poor and oppressed, and one of the most important and influential African musicians of the 20th century.\u00a0 Kuti was one of the first to blend Western African music, mostly from Nigeria and neighboring countries, with Western&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":54804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gear-review"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Artists Who Changed Music: Fela Kuti - Produce Like A Pro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cRunning Up That Hill,\u201d must have a set a new record for the longest time period between a song\u2019s release, and it reaching the American top 10. 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