Fela, the Afrobeat king: Popular music and cultural revitalization in West Africa.

Abstract

This is a study of the role of popular expressive culture in change in Africa. It examines musicians and the forms they create, showing how music and musicians can serve mediating and revitalizing purposes. The data for this study were gathered in West Africa, particularly in the city of Lagos, in southwestern Nigeria. They derive from participant observation, interviewing, and collection and analysis of musical compositions, song lyrics, public speeches and events, and press coverage. Chapter 1 discusses roles of African music in dynamic social contexts, and the idea of cultural revitalization. Chapter 2 provides general contextual background and musical background on Nigeria. Chapters 3 through 5 cover the nature and implications of the popular music profession in Nigeria. Chapter 3 deals with fundamental occupational aspects such as recruitment, leadership, and career development. Chapter 4 covers professional concerns and problems, as they pertain to the music industry in west Africa, and Chapter Five explores issues of cultural development related to music and musicians. Chapters 6 through Chapter 10 contain a case study of the famous musician and political figure Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Chapter 6 covers relevant aspects of ethnic, family, personal, and musical background. Chapter 7 analyzes, in musical and sociocultural terms, the creation of the Afrobeat musical idiom by Fela Kuti. Chapters 8 through 10 follow his career in political and musical terms, with particular attention to the interaction of personal considerations with larger societal issues. This study finds that there are strengths and liabilities perhaps inherent in charismatic leadership in Africa. In the case of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the thrust for cultural revitalization and political power is aimed at local problems, but also at a large, international system of neocolonialism and multi-dimensional dependency. Such a movement can be created dynamically in response to changing conditions and threats. Although charismatic leadership is uncommon and personalized, there are historical antecedents and contemporary models of movement and action in Africa--especially here, Pan-Africanist and populist models. Communication through music, for this kind of movement in Africa, is a particularly powerful tool in social criticism and action, and in presenting new models of identity.