Summary Fela – The Life & Times of an African Musical Icon
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Course
UIC1581-01-00
Institution
Yonsei University
Book
Fela
In chapter 5 of Michael Veal's Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon, the reader is taken along through the personal life of Fella and his close supporters during the tumultous times of late 20th century Nigeria. A popular modern artist Fella's story remains a powerful symbol of the p...
Fela – The Life & Times of an African Musical Icon
● “The Black President” (1974-1979)
● Nigeria → “Think African. Make students read African history”
National Problems, Official Sensitivities
1974 oil-fueled prosperity (world petroleum shortage and embargo of Arab oil to US)
● Nigeria: largest standing army, most prosperous economy, most diverse
population–military, economics, and cultural leadership of Africa
Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, and Olusegun Obasanjo
● “transformed Nigeria in ways unimaginable just a decade earlier, multiplying its exports
ten times, and eventually providing 80 percent of the revenue” (122).
OIL BOOM PERIOD
“The social optimism and economic prosperity of the oil boom period were accompanied by an
equal degree of civil chaos, as expectations were continuously outstripped by a grossly
inadequate civil and organizational infrastructure” (122).
● Gowon government: Second National Development Plan
○ Public funds to educational systems, more housing in cities, new national census,
infrastructure (transportation and communications)
■ Unsuccessful: shortage of trained professionals and pervasive corruption
■ “Civil projects became mired in webs of inefficiency, corruption, and
bureaucratic red tape” (122).
○ Apapa ports in Lagos (congested, spoil of goods and large fines)
○ Ikeja International Airport in Lagos
○ “Widespread corruption–as much as it undermined efficiency and
accountability–may have reflected traditionally egalitarian attitudes regarding
the importance of sharing and recirculating one’s accumulated wealth” (122).
○ Maintained the political and administrative apparatus established by the departed
British colonists
Theme from readings: maintaining order (social, political, economical → castes in India,
Nigeria post independence, Anyuan mine revolution) What does it take? And what makes
change successful and sustainable? → leadership
- “The country also lacked a charismatic leader like Nkrumah, Senghor, or Toure who
could galvanize the diverse population around a specific ideology or social agenda”
(123).
● Urbanization : movement to cities
, ○ Unsanitary living conditions, no central sewage system, housing, inadequate
water, healthcare, electricity, “neglect of the country’s once-profitable agricultural
sector”(123).
● Armed robberies, hustler city, quick buck
● “Nigeria had the world’s worst road safety record, and its roads functioned as a metaphor
for the entire nation and its difficulty in adhering to a vision of national unity” (123).
● Gowon
○ Symbolic victories
■ Organization of African Unity in 1974
■ Catalyst behind the 1975 formation of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS)
■ Host FESTAC (African Festival of Arts and Culture)
Fela and Afrika 70
- “Fela’s afrobeat was a rallying point for fellow musicians, urban dwellers, social rebels,
and progressive students” (125).
“Don’t Worry about My Mouth-O”: Social Criticism and Derisive Singing
Praise singers
Roots of Abuse Singing
“Ridicule is relied upon heavily as a character-molding device, as well as a corrective remedy in
the maintenance of social equilibrium” (129).
“A musician fashioning himself as an activist and champion of the poort could not participate in
such ostentation” (131).
“The Janus-faced relationship of praise and abuse” (132).
“Kalakuta Republic”: The Rise of an African Subculture
“Youth action”
“Public scandal caused by their anti-establishment lifestyle”
“the popular sandal of Nigerian society” (133).
- “Tabloids abounded with sensationalized accounts of rampant drug use and promiscuity”
- “Marijuana smoking was not only generally looked down upon as a degenerate habit, but
was also highly illegal”
- Controversial character: drugs, sexuality, no restraint
- “Countercultural heroes” (136).
- “The thrill of being on the edge of social mores and, sometimes, the law itself. This,
along with his semi-nude public appearance, his expressed indulgence in habits
considered degenerate, his embrace of street language and profanity, and even the alleged
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