Celebrating Fela and Dagrin

By Dimeji Ogedengbe

It was a total coincidence. But you’d be forgiven if you thought some clever people arranged to have the coming of Broadway musical FELA! coincide with the first anniversary of the death of beloved rapper Dagrin.

Dagrin, who died in his prime, leaving us all shocked and bewildered, would look back and smile, if he were to catch a glimpse of ‘Ghetto Dreamz’ – the Ope Banwo story chronicling his ‘life and times’. Sources say the producers spent in excess of N20M – an investment they are set to recoup, considering the huge success the movie, according to pundits, will likely make at the cinemas. The Dagrin biopic is the first in the history of Nigerian music.

The 26-year-old rapper passed away at 6.00pm on Thursday, April 22 2010, eight days after he was involved in a ghastly in front of Alakara Police station, off Agege motor road, Mushin, Lagos. And this was at the time his fan-base was consistently hitting high numbers as he had already sealed his rap lines and choruses on almost every young Nigerians’ lips. Clubs, bars, eateries, radio and TV stations seemed obliged to play his music constantly to retain their patronage. It was a case of ‘no Dagrin, no show or concert’. Yes, everyone was infected by his music.

Then, there’s Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. A Pan-African commune king, spiritualist, composer, saxophonist, keyboardist, vocalist, dancer and the grandfather of Afro beat. The man, who, with 77 albums, 27 wives, over two hundred court appearances, scores of harassment and jail cases became one of Nigeria’s most respected ‘rascal-activists’; securing an enviable place for himself on the podium of world music legends. Fela died at about 4pm on Saturday August 2, 1997 after reportedly suffering complications due to AIDS.

14 years after, he’s still putting Nigeria and Africa’s name on the global map. For the first time, a Broadway show is on the African continent, in Lagos precisely. The Tony awards winning show FELA! which chronicles the life and times of the Abami Eda (strange one) as Fela referred himself showed in Lagos last month, to widespread commendation.

Despite being outside the mainstream of the American culture; Americans in their hundreds and thousands have fallen in love with Fela as a man, and as a musician;  and the outstanding adaptation of a raunchy, politically-conscious character like Fela has become a major hit across the US and Europe. ‘The musical is a pulsating production that brings the late Afro-beat king and social maverick, Abami Eda back to life‘, Wole Soyinka says. ‘It revitalizes the music scene and reignites memories of friends, critics, persecutors and admirers in a variety of responses. Fela Anikulapo Kuti was not a denizen of Broad Street Prisons – those prisons having been closed down before his prison odyssey.‘

He did, however, undergo the same rites of passage as some of the other legends of the Nigerian nation who passed through the Broad Street gates, Soyinka added.

‘It’s absolutely exciting and challenging to be one of Fela’s queens, since I was cast as Alake, I had been researching about the character and I think I’ve lived up to it. Fela was a great man and it feels good that he’s a link that brings us all back home as African-Americans‘, Lauren De Veaux, one of Fela’s wives in the Broadway show tells Nigerian Entertainment Today (NET).

Although critics tok the producers up on issues concerning casting, choreography, band formation and ticket cost, producer, Stephen Hendel insisted the show was never designed as a Nigerian show but more for Americans and the global community. He stressed Fela! is a story of humanity.

‘Fela!’s story is not a Nigerian story, it’s a universal one. We didn’t choose to would play what role, there was an open audition and the best persons were cast for each character‘, Hendel told us. ‘The show specifically asks the questions of; ‘what I’m doing here? What are you committed to? What do you stand for? And that’s a universal question. I hope the audience here feels that the world is getting smaller and that the world has recognized something out of Nigeria’s cultural and political history.’

According to the producer, Jay Z, Will Smith and Jada Pinket made significant financial contribution to the show – the sum he preferred to conceal. He however emphasizes that their contribution is ‘significant’.  ‘After they watched FELA! They were moved‘, Mr. Hendel tells us.

‘They were inspired by Fela. They thought it was important for people to know who he’s. To understand the empowerment and the importance of social justice. That’s what motivated them. Not because they wanted to make a lot of money but because they wanted to be part of the cultural message, and I’m honoured and thrilled that they wanted to participate‘; he added.

Fela’s music is that of steadfastness and endurance, of uncompromising determination. It’s also, of course, dance music, made for long nights in clubs. Within the grooves, Fela’s lyrics denounce corruption and injustice, call for African values and challenge authority. He was defiant by both instinct and ideology, and he was repeatedly arrested, beaten and imprisoned for his opposition to a succession of Nigerian regimes. In 1977, soldiers burned down the compound where he lived with his wives, musicians and entourage. Afterwards, Fela changed his name from Fela Ransome Kuti to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. ‘Anikulapo means ‘one who has death in his pouch’. And Fela preferred that, to Ransome which, according to him, had a colonial connotation.

‘It’s an understatement to say Fela is a great man. Many years after his death, the world is still telling his story. And you can’t tell his story well without referencing his soil (Nigeria and Africa). We’re happy the Broadway show is here‘, Fela’s Eldest daughter Yeni Kuti tells Nigeria Entertainment Today (NET).

Meanwhile, as we watched and marvelled at the beauty of the production of Fela!, different youth factions; colleagues, friends and the followers of Dagrin hosted a one-year death anniversary tribute for fast-rising street rapper beginning on April 22. The ceremonies will run into early May, as his biopic continues to show at the Cinemas. A memorial lecture, inaugurated by this Newspaper, is also scheduled to hold in a matter of weeks.

Arriving on foot, motorcycles, young men of all backgrounds; some with same facial and body frame as him while others radiate his easy-flowing but hard-to-imitate style – they all came out en masse for the open casting for the role of ‘Dagrin’ in ‘Ghetto Dreamz’ in Lagos, early this year. Up comer, Trybson Dudukoko eventually beat others to clinch the lead role.

Of course, disentangling fact from myth is not always easy. Hip-hop thrives on the tension between realness and embellishment, artfully blurring the line between raw testimony and fantastical exaggeration. Barack ‘O Grin, one of several pseudonyms acquired by Olaitan Olanipekun in the course of his short, but brilliant career, put himself forward with his Yoruba-laced flow both as a fearless street truth-teller and as a bonafide hustler. Dagrin was sure of his talent, he bragged about it in his music;referring to himself as the ‘best’ and constantly reiterating his emergence as a ‘take-over’. Like Fela, Bob Marley, Notorious B.I.G, Tupac Shakur; Dagrin didn’t hide his rascality. He was super confident. And it showed.

He portrayed it in his no-hold-bared lyrics; he flaunted his women, sexuality and street principles that was about to earn him a spot in superstardom before he succumbed to the call of death. The spirit of steadfastness and consistent trial irrespective of the hardship is the lesson the Dagrin story tells – and, according to the late rapper, ‘giving up isn’t an option’.

But, while Fela! is getting critical acclaim and unanimous commendation, Ghetto Dreamz has failed to impress critics. From faulty story lines to questionable casting, continuity issues and total theme misfit, those who have seen the biopic insist it could have been better.