This week we feature, once more, the great Nigerian multi-talented musician, Afro-centric political activist and Pan-Africanist, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
This is because the late Fela, who was born in 1938 and passed away in 1997 was no ordinary musician. Through his music he dealt with most of the issues affecting Africans and Black people all over the world.
Issues like the African disease of "one-way" thinking encouraged and promoted by most African leaders who are in reality pathetic puppets of so-called rich countries in the West and Asia (notably China) bent on stealing Africa’s wealth, by creating ephemeral "growth rates" that mean nothing to the suffering African masses who continue to wallow in abject poverty. For instance, diamonds have been mined in the Kono district of Sierra Leone for decades but the people of that district and the rest of Sierra Leone have nothing to show for it. Absolutely nothing, no clean drinking water, no well-equipped hospitals or schools, no good roads. Nothing, natin, dondo (as our people would say).
Fela, when he was alive, continuously sang against this injustice in his native Nigeria, a country with enormous oil wealth but with almost nothing to show for it in terms of the per capita income of most Nigerians. Fela’s solution was Africans themselves should take charge of their destiny but getting involved not only in politics but in entrepreneurship so that Africa’s wealth could remain in Africa. Foreign companies are in Africa to make money and we should not expect them to keep their money in Africa or to solve Africa’s numerous problems.
However, some companies genuinely try to help Africans but these are rare. In Sierra Leone only two companies, Sierra Rutile and London Mining can be said to be genuinely interested in Sierra Leone and Sierra Leoneans’ progress. The rest are just exploiters filling the pockets of traditional rulers and government officials while fattening their bank accounts abroad.
Fela, who sang mainly in Nigerian Pidgin English and Yoruba, also preached against racism and physical abuse of Africans, especially African women in various ways. In Sierra Leone we frequently hear of some foreigners insulting Sierra Leoneans almost on a daily basis without being sanctioned. Sierra Leoneans workers especially in the mining and hospitality industries (especially restaurants and hotels) are routinely called "Black Monkeys" and "Bush Pigs" without punishment, something that will immediately trigger severe consequences in many African countries today.
In the song we are featuring today, Zombie, Fela is singing not only about the Nigerian military’s "one-way" thinking but also the thinking of all sectors of Nigerian society including the media, academia, so-called civil society etc. We saw this kind of thinking in Sierra Leone during the civil war. The government then only encouraged one-way or zombie thinking and anybody that challenged the official thinking was either jailed, forced into exile or simply killed. We still have that kind of thinking in our country today expressed in mass hysteria during political and emotional crises and worship for foreigners with enough cash to throw around. Little or effort is made to encourage genuine Sierra Leonean investors. For example most of the contracts for infrastructural projects in Sierra Leone today go to foreigners, mainly the Chinese.
One of Fela’s most popular songs is Zombie (perhaps the best), which essentially captures the state of mind of many Africans, not just the Nigerian military or police. Like most of Fela’s recordings, the first part is instrumental to be followed by Fela’s dramatic entry. Please click on the clip below to listen to Zombie which was recorded in 1976:
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