InterPress News Service (IPS); Tuesday, 5 August 1997
Remi Oyo and Toye Olori

"He died yesterday (Saturday) in a hospital at approximately 5:30 pm. The immediate cause of the death is heart failure, but he had many complications arising from the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome," his elder brother Olikoye Ransome-Kuti told a crowded press conference on Sunday.

The famed musician, who was the first Nigerian to use his lyrics to criticise social ills and oppressive government, would have turned 59 on Oct. 15.

Even in death, Fela remains an enigma. Instead of following the expected family tradition of studying medicine, he chose music.

Educated at the Trinity College of Music in Oxford, England between 1959 and 1962, Fela formed his first musical group, 'Koo la Lobitos' in 1959 in London. Before turning to music full-time, Fela briefly worked as a producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.

Blending high-life, soul and jazz to form the now internationally known Afro-beat music, Fela churned out more than 40 albums with lyrics in his native Yoruba and in pidgin English, which is popularly spoken in Nigeria and anglophone West Africa.

The lyrics were sometimes so lewd and offensive, that they were banned on most radio and television stations.

The popular musician had many brushes with the Nigerian authorities. In 1977, the military government of Olusegun Obasanjo accused him of defiling underaged girls in secondary schools near his Lagos home, which he called the 'Kalakuta Republic'.

His home was attacked by the military and according to the reports, his elderly mother was thrown from a first floor window during the ensuing fire. When his mother died soon after, Fela carried an empty coffin to Dodan Barracks in Lagos, the then seat of power. He fought in vain for compensation from Obasanjo's government.

Lagos residents recall several encounters with Fela's bouncers who at the time ruled the area under the strong arm of their chief, boxer Lat Darassin.

Fela's public marriage to 27 women, including daughters of the elite, also put him in a class of his own. Many of his wives were part of the musician's band, and only his first wife Remi, whom he married in 1961, was separated from him.

The famed musician will always be remembered for his music which reflected the mood of a nation that was in turmoil and moral and economic depression for most of its 37 years of independence.

His lyrics championed reforms, although critics paid more attention to his open disregard for conventional morality. Fela's personal life was an open book. He talked and sang publicly about free sex.

Unfortunately, it was his free sex lifestyle that made him vulnerable to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which causes AIDS.

"My brother, who I loved so much has died of AIDS. I do not want anyone of you to lose your loved ones to AIDS," Ransome-Kuti, a former Minister of Health, said at the weekend press conference.

According to his brother, the disease was diagnosed after a blood test only 10 days before Fela's death. Other sources however said that the musician had Kaposi's sarcoma, a malignant cancer which AIDS patients often suffer from.

Ransome-Kuti also took the opportunity to warn others against contracting the disease. "Don't leave this place sniggering about Fela," he said. " The same fate can befall anyone of you. We believe that if Fela were alive and (if) he had known how serious his condition was, he would have told you, because he fought for the welfare of the people".

He added when asked whether Fela's wives would be tested that "it is up to the wives of Fela to decide whether to go for the AIDS test".

Fela also defied the law by openly smoking hemp, and had been detained several times for offences which ranged from smoking marijuana to attempts to export foreign exchange.

Fondly called 'Abami Eda' (the strange one) by his fans and cohorts, Fela's lyrics went beyond the boundaries of Nigeria. He commented on the lives of Africans throughout the diaspora.

"Why blackman dey suffer today," he once sang. "Why blackman no go get money today...some people come from far away land, dem fight us, dem take our land, dem take our people and spoil our land... na since den trouble start o".

And, he also championed African nationalism. The late African leaders Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso and Sekou Toure of Guinea were his idols.

"Nkrumah shout for togetherness we no hear... we let am die, we no hear... Nkrumah dey shout for black power we no hear... Sekou Toure em own we no hear...," Fela sang.

He tried his hands at politics in 1978, but his attempt to register his Movement of the People party was thwarted, making it impossible for Fela to test his political popularity.

Fellow musician and fan Charles Oputa, known as 'Charly Boy', told IPS that Fela will be missed by his colleagues. "He is my idol. His music, message, antics and all the crazy things he used to do will be missed," he said.

Fela's death will also have an economic impact on the more than 100 members of his family and on the workers at the musician's club known as the Africa Shrine.

"Fela's death is a great blow to us. I don't know what his death is going to do to my business. I have made money from those who have come to the shrine," Mary Akpan, a petty trader told IPS. "Nobody can bring that crowd back here after Fela." (END/IPS/RO/TO/PM/97)

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