Fela is one name I grew up with, my father had his tapes, and before that his vinyls, not in the manner of liking him, but because his was one of the reigning songs in the record stores. Felas' was the type of songs, that after I'd grown hearing them, I still made mine. When we had to go to the village during "ósó Abiola" in 1993 (after the elections purportedly won by Chief M.K.O. Abiola was annulled by the IBB regime, and Igbos had to leave Lagos en masse , following threats by the predominantly Yoruba of the southwest on Igbo lives and property), and my father returned to Lagos to continue his business while we stayed back until tempers cooled; it was during this period that I bought my first Fela tape, as a fifteen years old. I was on an errand around Oye Agu, just before Abagana when I heard Fela's "Coffin For Head Of State", with the intro �Amen, Amen...�blaring from the speakers, outside the record store. The other Fela tapes I had were those I dubbed while Fela's song was playing on radio, that I must've lost as we packed almost all our belongings to leave for the homeland.


I did follow Fela's career, growing up. I remember that a girl my junior in primary school, a Gomez (with their family house along St. Finbarr's Road, Akoka) left home when we were in secondary school to join Fela, which totally scandalised the family, after they unsuccessfully tried to "rescue" her from the former's clutches. That was the closest anything that had to do with Fela got to me, otherwise it was just in his music that was rarely played on radio and TV, at the time either because it was highly critical of government, or that the song was too lengthy for most music shows, which had about thirty to forty-five minutes per episode, which may mean devoting much of, or the entire show to a Fela song, back in the day when there was no MTV or other stations devoted only to music, and ran for twenty-four hours nonstop.


After Fela died, it seemed natural that efforts will be made to immortalise him, but seeing as he was never in the good books of the Nigerian government, it behoved on members of his family and friends to do the needful. Interestingly, because he touched many lives with his music, even beyond the shores of Nigeria, many of those whose lives were so touched, took it upon themselves to immortalise him in their own unique way, usually after getting the requisite approvals from his family. So, while the family kept his legacy alive with The New African Shrine, and the Fela Museum, others found other ways, such as through works of art, or musicals dedicated to his memory, including "Fela! On Broadway"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXTU3GW_s0g

project, produced by hip hop legend, Jay Z to immortalise him. In the end, because Fela became immortalised in the hearts and minds of those he ministered to, he has achieved what politicians and megalomaniacs can only imagine or dream of.


Sadly, I missed out from seeing the show when it came to Nigeria, and now that I think of it, it was for no just cause. Maybe it was because I felt it will always be there, or that I'll eventually make out the time to go see it, till it was gone. So, when a friend bought tickets for us to go see the musical titled FELA'S REPUBLIC & THE KALAKUTA QUEENS, a Bolanle Austen-Peters Production, at Terra Kulture, in Victoria Island, Lagos, I didn't have to give it much thoughts before accepting to make myself available, regardless of the odds, even though I knew, simply from the title and the producer that it is different from the much acclaimed forerunner.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E3E6GLGw2A


The saying that a strong chick is known from the day it is hatched cannot be further from the truth with the introduction that greeted the audience at the start of the show. The sound from the live band, above the stage, coupled with the well choreographed movements, and the perfect timing of lights and lighting in the beginning, surely in my estimation, left the audience already salivating for more of the little they'd felt. Indeed, we weren't disappointed, as things only got better as the show wore on.


Fela was played by Laitan Adeniji, whom we were told much later, was the latest recruit as member of the troupe, even though he'd had no acting experience prior to his recruitment, which was based largely on his


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqU09JM2XNk

physique, mien and demeanour. Even I could see that he didn't have to work hard in his portrayal of the afrobeat legend, even with the way he handled the saxophone, when it looked apparent that no sound was coming from that instrument. It speaks to the ability of Bolanle (the producer) in noticing talent, and bringing out the best in such, to make her show one to not easily forget in a hurry.



As expected, there was not going to be a Fela show without a digging into some politics. Fela, in one of his songs, described Nigeria's democracy, as a "Demonstration Of Craze" or


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6cI2rgOw9Y

"Crazy Demonstration", sadly his insinuation is as true today, as it was in the early eighties when he did that song while Alhaji Shehu Shagari was in power. The heads that I saw bopping to the song in the theatre must definitely not just be only because of the rhythm, but also to the realisation that not much has changed. It seemed as if Fela
himself had returned to remind us of what he told us decades back, and how foolish we had been to allow history repeat itself. That part of the show was an occasion to weep for Nigeria, and it left me feeling unhappy and sad.


Away from political matters, attention soon shifted to the theme of the musical, the women in Fela's life. The very personal issues involving envy and jealousy amongst the women, including for a foreigner "Malaika", who initially claimed to have come for anthropological reasons, only to begin to get more interested in Fela, to the chagrin of the other women in his household. An example of the many


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdmrpmp_hqE

reasons, women flocked to Fela, and after having their curiosity (in KALAKONDO) satisfied, they tended to stay, beyond the welcome of the women they met on ground, or simply joined them, if they don't find themselves frustrated out of the house, like it came to be with Malaika. As for Fela, he simply enjoyed every bit of the attention showered on him by the ladies, which he reciprocated by offering them protection, including from parents or relatives of some of his women.


Then came the harassments, by the police and other security agents of government, for just about any other reason for which a man could run foul of the law. As is with Nigerian security agencies, where once they've determined that someone is a criminal, would move from the answer to the question, than the normal which is the opposite. In all of the


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu9n7x5nEco

harassment and brushes with the law, Fela's women stood by him, through thick and thin, sometimes staving off darts and acting as human shields for their beloved, except for Malaika, who was portrayed as always disappearing each time confrontations between Fela and security agents occur.


Fela's disposition to Nigeria's armed forces is relayed in "Zombie". People he considered not to have a mind of their own, only to follow orders from a commanding officer. He is portrayed in this musical, not to have


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEePZVTWLXk

the patience to engage in conversation with people who cannot speak of their own accord. Having nothing but disdain for all that they represented.


Another issue dealt with in this musical, is of how Fela saw his women. He indeed on occasions praised their agility in "African Woman", in the mould of his mother, but he also never shied away from wielding the big stick, to scold women verbally when he found their way and manner not to be in tandem with the promotion of African beauty and culture. It is one of such that he expressed in "Yellow Fever",


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI87Dn0SI8Q

where he denounced the penchant for African women to bleach their skins, in order to appear lighter. His contribution to the anti-bleaching campaign though laudable, cannot be said to have been well received by the Nigerian women of his day, nor by those of our days, and the evidence is there for all to see. It didn't matter whether different part of their body now had different colours and shades, as Fela succinctly put it in the song.


The burning of Fela's house, as part of the harassment he suffered at the hands of the military was also depicted in the show, including the part where his mother was thrown from the first floor of his house. As usual his women weren't left out of the melee


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3RTJo67oBQ

as they recounted their ordeal (beatings, torture, rape, amongst others) at the hands of the soldiers who invaded Fela's republic. Fela himself was badly beaten, and according to the show needed to be resuscitated while the women mourned their predicament,


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OStEb6YzcnE

and prayed for his return while nursing their injury. As if in answer to their prayers, Fela's spirit, which had earlier left his body returned, for which he proclaimed himself "Anikulapo", "the one who has death in his pouch".


Fela's women, according to the play, where also instrumental in forcing the hand of Decca, his recording company, to pay up outstanding debts owed him, as they declared a sit-in at the company, and remained there


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW0DZViPcqw

even after the arrest of their benefactor. It must be for this, and many other courageous acts, that Fela decided that the women shouldn't just be known as his women, rather his wives as he daringly wedded all of them, with the help of his friend, the late lawyer of repute, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite. The recognition he granted


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4k9e_BYsdY

those women by marrying them, meant that they couldn't be viewed as prostitutes anymore. Sadly, the contributions of these women have largely been relegated until this time, and it is commendable that someone had deemed it fit to remember these women, though only a few of them remained to tell their story, which according to Bolanle was what formed the basis upon which the musical was made.


It was a deeply enlightening time for me, especially the fact that it looked at Fela through the eyes of his women. All of a sudden, the women didn't look like runaways from decent homes, and delinquent girls, who were hooked on marijuana, like the one I talked about earlier. I saw parents who would've gone into fits on learning that a daughter of theirs was with Fela, give a round of applause to the actresses portraying Fela's women, and wondered if that could change their views had Fela been alive today. In all, the show was worth all of my time, and those of others who made time to be there, even though there were some imperfections, and areas, especially of the storytelling that needs a bit of touching up, but such can easily be overlooked in the overall interest of having a nice time. I hope we could tell more of our stories like this, and build this fine side of entertainment, where Nollywood have failed woefully to thread, in terms telling Nigeria's true stories.


'kovich



FELA'S REPUBLIC & THE KALAKUTA QUEENS https://madukovich./2019/12/31/felas-republic-the-kalakuta-queens/