I remember when Fela came out of Prison in the eighties. His first release after spending 20 months in prison was Teacher don't teach me nonsense proving he was still defiant, despite all the attempts of succesive Nigerian Governments to keep him quiet.
Where man and governments failed to keep him gagged, AIDS succeeded. In 1997 at the young age of 58, Fela passed away and his brother the former Nigerian Minister for health announced his death to the Nation and the World.
I wish Fela had lived another 20 years to excite us with his defiant songs and potent lyrics. I wonder what he would have made of Obasanjo & Yar Adua's regimes.
BFI Southbank are showing the movie "Music is the Weapon" tomorrow from 1:30pm. The film is a documentary featuring interviews with Fela and some of his performances at the "Shrine". For more information about the showing click here. I certainly recommend you make it down there if you can, in memory of the legend that was Fela Anikulapo Kuti - Baba 70.
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