'70 Fela albums now available all over the word' – Family

By Adedayo Odulaja

As lovers of Fela wait eagerly in anticipation of another edition of the annual Felabration, a massive week-long celebration of the ideals, life and times as well as legacies of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the world has been reminded that over 70 albums by Fela are available worldwide.

According to a post on the Felabration page, which is wholly dedicated to the celebration of the legend and hugely popular figure, the albums are all over the place due to wide and consistent demand for Fela’s songs.

‘Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was arrested more than two hundred times in his life, and charged with almost every conceivable crime, although only serving one eighteen-month sentence in jail for currency violation,’ the post began.

Going further on the doggedness of Fela, popularly known as Abami Eda, the strange one, the post says: ‘Despite this constant harassment, he continued to live in Nigeria event though, as an icon in the international world or rock and roll, soul, jazz and hip-hop, he could have at any point abandoned Nigeria and led the life of an international music superstar.

‘His death on August 3, 1997 of complications from AIDS deeply affected musicians and fans internationally, as a unique and ineffable musician and socio-political voice was lost.’

‘But the part that would, maybe not totally shocking to those very close to Fela and his several tunes but surely surprising to most comes last: ‘His incredible body of work, almost 70 albums, is now available, through public demand, all over the world.’

Widely regarded as an unbending musician with thorough means and deep consciousness, nothing could make Fela be friendly to successive military governments in his lifetime.

Not being clamped into detentions severally, not losing his house, not the fear of losing his children to the never-ending military raids or even the killing of his high-achieving mother, a point of real agony for him, could deter Fela.

But today, Fela has not only had uncountable mentions, books, several songs, documentaries and Broadway musical dwelling on him, he is highly revered in Nigeria and on the international scene.