Some stakeholders in the music industry have continued to hailed the Afro-beat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti music, saying his songs are still relevant in correcting societal ills 20 years after his death.
The stakeholders, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews in Lagos on Wednesday in remembrance of the 20 years anniversary of Fela’s death, agreed that he left a legacy in the music industry.
Tope Babayemi, a musical producer said that the Fela, when alive impacted the African continent and the world at large, especially in drawing the attention of leaders to the ills of the society.
Babayemi also the Founder, Different Aesthetics, Arts and Culture Management, Lagos, said Fela’s messages and style of singing distinguished him and placed him in legendary status.
“The great Fela can never be forgotten because till date his songs are relevant in correcting societal ills.
“Everyone that heard him sing can testify that he lived for justice.
“During his reign as afro king, the government officials in power were conscious of every step they took and that made the polity a bit sane,” he said.
Babayemi said that even though it had been two decades since he died, his messages through his songs would forever live on in the minds of the people.
“It is important for musicians to emulate Fela and use their music to transform society and uphold the norms and values Fela lived and died for.
“Even in his grave his words still echo out to the thousands of fans who are still listening to his music in Nigeria and in the Diaspora,” he said.
Eugene Moses, a budding musician said that Fela’s work inspired him to take to the profession as a musician order to educate the masses through songs.
Moses said that music could be used as an instrument of learning to educate the masses on their cultural heritages thereby preserving culture.
The musician referred to Fela as a prophet whose messages through his songs were still evident in the society even after 20 years of his death.
Fela died of complications related HIV and AIDS on Aug. 2, 1997 and his elder brother, Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, a former Minister of Health, announced his death.
He was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, composer, pioneer of the Afro-beat music genre, human rights activist, Pan-Africanist, polygamist, mystic, legend and political maverick.
He was born on Oct. 13, 1938, in Abeokuta into an upper-middle class family.
His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a woman activist and his father, the Rev. Isreal Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, was an Anglican minister and school principal.
Fela was a cousin of Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.
He attended Abeokuta Grammar School and later went to London in 1958 to study medicine but instead studied music at Trinity College of Music.
Fela played musical instruments such as saxophone, keyboard, trumpet, guitar and drum.
He married his first wife, Remilekun Taylor in 1960 and in 1963, he moved back to Nigeria, re-formed Koola Lobitos and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.
As result of his social activism, he ran into trouble on many occasions with the military regimes in Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s and was jailed. (NAN)