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Rating:
After a recent and excellent review in Baccanali that mentioned this book, I suddenly felt the urge to rediscover a small drop of memory, like catching up with old friends you haven't seen in years. I first re-listened to a few records and, gradually, I ended up finding and reading in no time this old book that was recently reissued.
A fantastic character, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, little known to younger generations, undervalued, contradictory, irritating, nonconformist but also an extraordinary musician, innovator, and especially politically engaged.
It's futile to define Fela exactly, and this biography only partially captures his true essence, but enough to make us know and love him, certainly.
It was written back in 1981 when Fela was at the peak of his career and published the following year only in France and England.
It took thirty years to reach Italy, but better late than never.
The exiled Cuban Carlos Moore, a longtime friend, was the only one authorized to report Fela's stories, thoughts, and philosophy, interviewing his wives, friends, and those close to him.
A biography where it is Fela who speaks, who recounts. From his childhood to his first approaches to music, from discovering Black Power in America to creating the African Beat, from rebelling against the military regimes in Nigeria to the plethora of trials and imprisonments, from beatings and armed assaults on his commune in Lagos to his death from AIDS at only 58 years old.
Of course, his music is the heart of the story, about how he became the African musician who shocked the world with his insatiable thirst for justice for all Africans, how he influenced musicians worldwide, from Lester Bowie to David Byrne, from Michael Jackson to Ginger Baker and many others.
A book wonderfully written and full of information about the music of the time in Africa and beyond, with translations of the most important lyrics, images of his albums, and a complete discography (a whopping 77 albums).
The thing that immediately stands out is the attempt, quite successful, to provide as objective an image as possible of the man and the musician, highlighting both his qualities and flaws. Flaws he certainly had, something the author does not hide at all, and Fela himself never made any attempt to sweeten the story.
There's so much more to say, but I'll leave you the pleasure of discovering a fascinating and terrible world, and especially that Africa of the disinherited that, in Fela's dreams, was supposed to become one great nation beyond states and colonialisms.
At the beginning of a famous concert in Berlin, he said: "know that whatever you white people think you know about Africa is wrong".
A note of appreciation for the excellent translator Marco Zanotti and for the commendable Arcana Editrice.
Listen to Fela, rediscover his music, listen to those hypnotic rhythms and dance to them! It's shockingly relevant.
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