In 1974, Fela built a fence around his house and declared it to be an independent state: The Kalakuta Republic. Kalakuta was the name of a cell Fela had occupied after being arrested in April 1974. In 1975, Fela changed his middle name to Anikulapo (He who carries death in his pouch).
In 1977, Fela and the Afrika ’70 released the album 'Zombie', a powerful attack on Nigerian soldiers. The government was infuriated and Kalakuta was raided by about 1,000 soldiers, who burnt down Fela’s house and beat many of its occupants, even throwing Fela’s elderly mother out of a window.
Fela Kuti has released some of the best and most important music of the past century and has been revered by musicians the world over such as Paul McCartney, ?Uestlove from The Roots, Thom Yorke from Radiohead, Miles Davis, Bono from U2 and many more.
Fela’s death on 2nd August 1997 was mourned by the Nigerian nation, with over a million people attending his funeral.
Felabration marks the birthday of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the defining creator of the funk, jazz and rhythmic force that is Afrobeat, which emerged in Nigeria in the 1970s. As well as a composer and multi-instrumentalist genius, Fela was a human rights activist and defiant political and social maverick whose influence continues to reverberate throughout Africa and beyond. Fela passed away 19 years ago; his funeral in Lagos was attended by more than one million people. This October Fela would have turned 78.
But Felabration is not only an annual event in Lagos but also a global one: last year more than 20 Felabrations took place around the world, in major cities across the United States and Europe, and in such unexpected locations as Jakarta, Indonesia, Osaka, Japan and Reykjavik, Iceland.
