“…As far as Africa is concerned, music cannot be for enjoyment, music has to be for revolution. Music is the weapon.” – Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
It is only right that we begin with that analogy, identifying where this resistant-like culture sprung from. Nigeria, like many other nations, has encountered many events that threatened the unity and peace of the people, from colonialism to governmental/military oppression and even tribal differences that result in violence and confusion.
When I think about what music has done for generations of Nigerians, and what artist falls as the most influential, I think about Fela Anikulapo Kuti; the legend we all know and consider to be one of, if not the most controversial artist out of Africa. He was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria in 1938 and spent his adult days as a composer, instrumentalist, and most remarkably; a social critic, political activist, and devoted pan-Africanist.
Born into a family of socially conscious people, Fela’s mother Olufunmilayo was a political activist who challenged the ingrained patriarchal culture of the country and his father was a reverend and school principal. This upbringing shaped the musician’s life as an activist and started him on a road which later led to his unfortunate imprisonment by the Nigerian military government and made him a victim of regular police brutality and harassment.
Fela was known for how he intentionally and accurately combined messages and information in his sound. The artist began with Highlife music but later introduced a new genre in 1968 that we recognize today as Afrobeats; which is essentially a significant blend of African beats/instruments with jazz and funk. The new genre was adopted after Fela’s visit to the United States as he was exposed to black consciousness, injustice, and the civil rights movement.
Fela introduced his narration of the political unrest that was happening in Nigeria at the time; with lyrics that were often filled with symbolic interpretations of the country’s situation masked in satire and dry humour, something Nigerians are fond of and have grown to master. His sound also gave direction for protest; especially within his song lyrics which were often a combination of standard Nigerian English, pidgin English and Yoruba. Fela’s use of language was significant in the way that it reached his audience. He would often use Nigerian English to address the elitist society in Nigeria and pidgin to communicate with civil society. He also created words of his own to translate oppression and suffering in a way that Nigerians will understand; one of the most popular ones is ‘Ayakata’ which essentially means ‘E don scatter’ in Nigerian pidgin.
After his release from prison, Fela released a song titled Beasts of no Nation which illuminated his experience in prison and attempted to answer peoples questions while drawing their attention to the truth about the government.
In an interview that he did, he speaks about his song suffering and smiling and its attack on religion and the religious influence in things like police brutality and army oppression, all things that he was a victim too. In another interview, he suggests that music for him is a tool to introduce himself and to draw attention so that he can have an avenue to share his thoughts and beliefs. After his return to Nigeria, Fela opened a club, the Shrine which still exists today as a space for him and his band to play their music freely and live as explicitly as possible. Fela created over 70 albums and appeared in court over 200 times, he has maintained relevance for decades, he is and will always be the face of Afrobeats.
When speaking on activism in Nigeria through music, a notable duo that shaped the 60s to 80s are the Lijadu Sisters; Kehinde and Taiwo Lijadu. The sisters were born in Ibadan, Nigeria, and are popular for their unique sound which was a fusion of Afrobeats, Reggae, and Disco. The sisters like their cousin, Fela Kuti also often incorporated politics in their music. Their song Danger mirrored the political uncertainty of the ’70s and they often sang from a feminist approach challenging the woman’s place in society.
In the early 2000s, a time I was present for and while Nigerian music was becoming more and more recognized across came the breakthrough of another artist that had plenty to share. Port Harcourt born singer Inetimi ‘Timaya’ Odon raised eyebrows with his album True Story which expressed a wagon of oppression in Nigerian society specifically of the Niger Delta, where he was from. Timaya released accurate and explicit music videos to accompany his lyrics representing the reality of his people as a political statement and direct message to the government.
Like Timaya, Original Stereoman was another artist, who had a lot to say in lyrics and to show in the video with his popular anthem “E dey pain me gaga” which was rather upbeat which made it easy to be lost in translation. Regardless of this, the lyrics which were a combination of Nigerian pidgin and Warri language speak on the violence of the Warri war and disunity of the Nigerian society.
It is safe to say that there has hardly been a time, where Nigeria as a country and us as a society have not experienced injustice and inbred destruction. And as a response to this, artists and creative individuals often create avenues for expression and communication and more time to send a message that criticizes and discredits everything that the people are forced to live. Music is engraved in the culture of the country; in our very many languages, in the poems, bedtime stories, parables, there’s a song for basically everything passed through generations with meanings that remain relevant, fortunately, and unfortunately.
Through the 2000s, several Nigerian musicians communicated their anger and confusion towards an unjust system of governmental oppression, including; African China (Mr President; 2006), Eedris Abdulkhareem (Mr Lecturer 2003) which touched on rape culture in Nigerian universities, Eedris Abdulkhareem (Jaga Jaga 2004), Sound Sultan (Mathematics 2000), Danfo Drivers.
After highlighting the legendary Fela Kuti’s impact in our culture, it is important to note how his peculiar artistic journey has undoubtedly influenced Nigerian music today in many ways, especially that of the singer we recognize as Burna Boy. It is without question that Burna Boy is an incredibly talented musician that has proven to be Nigeria’s biggest bet on crossing over and maintaining worldwide relevance, especially after his Grammy nomination in 2020.
The most interesting aspect of the artist’s career, well for most people myself included, is how much of his craft he dedicates and is influenced by his icon, Fela. Besides being born into a family with close ties to the legend, Burna Boy tends to draw a whole lot of inspiration from his late mentors’ life and music. In terms of music and lyrics, It is not news that Burna Boy has sampled a couple of Fela’s songs on a majority of his songs; even the hits.
Much like Fela, Burna Boy has developed quite an outspoken and confident personality where he challenges any and everybody, and not just in the music too. In 2019, Burna Boy took to social media to express his rage after the Coachella line-up poster was released, and to his surprise was his name written in small fonts. Soon after, on the event of the BET awards, Burna Boy’s mother accepted his award for Best International Act on his behalf and gave a well-meaning speech with a loud and clear message uplifting the nation he’s from.
“The message from Burna I believe would be that every black person should please remember, you were African before you became anything else.”
Mama Burna
His fifth studio album released in 2019, African Giant was certainly a cultural fusion featuring artists like Future and Jeremih but also crossed over with powerful vocals from Angelique Kidjo and Damian Marley. The impressively put together Afrobeats album didn’t shy away from telling the truth and maintaining cultural relevance; in fact, the first minute of the 10th track Another Story is a constructed history lesson on the narrative behind Nigeria’s democracy. Burna has certainly proven his interest in the political uprising of his country and the due respect for Africa as a continent by the rest of the world.
I mean, Burna is certainly not the only musician basing his career on imitating Fela’s legacy. We’ve witnessed it with Wizkid in his videos at the shrine and even Skepta who continuously refers to himself as the ‘young Fela Kuti’ in his songs even though there’s literally no way to compare the two and one who stands out and has sparked up enough conversation to be compared to Fela in terms of speaking ‘the truth’ through his music; newbie to the industry compared to the previously named, FalzTheBadGuy.
In 2018, Falz released his fourth solo album Moral Instruction, a 9 track project painted with samples from Fela Kuti, using songs like Zombie, Johnny Just Drop and Coffin for head of state. The album gave room for comparison as it covers topics like the selfish behaviors of Nigerian politicians, the epidemic of greedy pastors which are both things that are prevalent in Nigerian societies; but he also speaks passionately on the immorality surrounding sex work which obviously drew particular attention as he only speaks on the women and not the men who patronize them. His misogynistic approach caused enough controversy to equate him with the late Fela Kuti who also had his fair share of similar criticism.
The most current representative of this expressive art is Naira Marley. The artist has briskly grown a solid fan base––Marlians––who have proven loyalty regardless of the amount of controversy that comes the artist’s way regularly. Naira’s music is a decent blend of humour and truth in what is mostly Yoruba Language and speaks well to a great population of Nigeria. His hit song Am I a Yahoo Boy highlights the wrongdoings of the EFCC and SARS; two policy organizations fond of criminalizing innocent Nigerian citizens especially young men for participating in fraudulent activities.
Another hit, Japa that presents the Nigerian dream which is to travel overseas and start a new life. All eyes are on Naira, who has become a voice for Nigerians in such a short period of time although we can’t deny his tendency to do some questionable things occasionally.
On a softer note, Soul singer Efe Oraka, has also taken to her music to express the hardships the not so average Nigerian faces in her 2018 single Nigerian Dream with lyrics that describes the reality of a Nigerian that “appear” happy.
All these musicians and many more have accurately expressed what being Nigerian means for them and others. Finding a medium or a new way to express thoughts and emotions whether, through music, poetry, art, and the likes is a practice human beings are keen on doing, mirroring the society that they’re in.
For Africans; and Nigerians particularly, music has been engraved in the culture from the very beginning. Ethnic groups in the country like the Yoruba used instruments and lyrics with peculiar messages in them to teach moral lessons to their children and generally assign meaning, definition, and explanation to the things they were experiencing. It is an interesting occasion to see how forms of art and the way they are used to influence what we know and how we feel about certain situations.
