FELA For Ever Lives Afrika

This is a tribute to the great African musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the Chief priest of African shrine, the originator of Afrobeat.a pan-African... more

by Bankole Abe

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Price

$1,500

Dimensions

24.000 x 34.000 inches

Title

FELA For Ever Lives Afrika

Artist

Bankole Abe

Medium

Painting - Charcoal On Paper

Description

this is a tribute to the great African musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the Chief priest of African shrine, the originator of Afrobeat.a pan-African preacher, activist, social commentator and a prophet of African liberty who came to use his music as a weapon to fight and change the society. the man whose name was FELA (he who emanates greatness) ANIKULAPO (he who have death in his pouch) and KUTI means (he who never dies).

19 YEARS AFTER FELA
There he lies in the sleep of eternity. The Chief Priest of Egypt ‘80 embalmed, mummified like an Egyptian Pharaoh to be preserved in the pyramids of our minds.
,. . .There he lies. the man whose name was Death, who mocked and defied death, whose name means: “Death I have pocketed you, I refuse to die” - Anikulapo Kuti.
The Chief priest of our musical shrine is gone. No libation, no ogogoro poured on the ground would bring him back from the land of the dead. No sound of music belching from his golden saxophone will rouse him now. No smell of igbo from the finest grass in Africa will tempt him now. . .No NDLEA agents coming with their guns to arrest and disturb his peace anymore. No battalion of soldiers marching left right, down to burn his Kalakuta Republic anymore. . . No idiagbon or Buhari putting him in jail for trying to carry one thousand dollar out of Nigeria. No Shagari men beating him and leaving him with so many stitches on his head. No Bamaiyi handcuffing him and chaining his legs like an armed robber, all because off smoking his favorite igbo.. .
. .Fela is free. Free at last. Thank God Almighty. Free from the confusion of Ojuelegba, the Ojuelegba that is the metaphor for Nigeria. Free from punishment… the punishment for crying out against injustice. The punishment for fighting government and standing by the side of the people. The punishment for being misunderstood.
There he lies, the prophet. . . The man who sang and cried himself hoarse, singing for a better Nigeria. A Nigeria where NEPA and water and fuel won’t disappear Just Like That.
Fela was a prophet. A prophet of the black race singing about Why Black Man Dey Suffer , . Singing about a continent where people are Suffering and Smiling. Singing about the hypocrisy and corruption in high places, one government after the other looting the national coffers and turning Nigeria into a hell instead of the paradise that God originally planned it to be.
Nobody was spared in Fela’s songs. Not archbishops, not Imams. Not even Pope. Everybody who stole in the name of the Lord or cheated the masses under the cover of religion was lampooned. Fela never claimed to be a saint. He wouldn’t even mind if you call him the devil.
HE WAS SIMPLY A UNIQUE MAN WHO CAME TO CHANGE THE SOCIETY WITH HIS MUSIC.
- written by Mike Awoyinfa (August 1997)

Uploaded

July 9th, 2016