By Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta
Introduction
Nigerian maverick songwriter, Fela Anikulapo Kuti (formerly Fela Ransome Kuti) used his rebel brand of music—Afrobeat—to articulate his ideas about black consciousness, social justice and respect for human rights. Instead of becoming a pawn in the political game, Fela used his musical genius to mobilize the people to fall behind him in defense of a common cause. Afrobeat is perceived by musicologists as the highest form of self-expression and an act of social commentary. The aim of this paper is to underscore the critical role played by Fela in fostering post-independence revolutionary ideas in Nigeria and Africa at large.
Fela had recourse to music in a bid to voice popular discontent against the corrupt government of President Obasanjo and subsequent regimes in Nigeria. Olaniyan notes that Fela’s music “reveals the peculiar character of the relations between art, specifically oppositional music, and a postcolonial African State” (2004: 2). He points out that evident in Fela’s music lies the gigantic urge to articulate, and name the incredible. If Fela remains Africa’s most revered musician, even posthumously, it is precisely on account of his complex response to Africa’s postcolonial incredibility. Fela is notorious for his acrimonious diatribes and invectives leveled at individuals and institutions he perceived as perpetrators of social anomie. Olaniyan observes that “By the time Fela died on August 2, 1997, he had successfully cultivated and made hegemonic in global consciousness an image of himself as a quintessentially ‘political musician’” (3). To put this differently, in his interviews, lectures and lyrics, he devoted his musical talents to the evocation, interrogation and castigation of partisan politicians who are self-seekers.
Fela’s musical brainchild code-named 'Afrobeat' made him a political activist. This musical novelty is anchored on a medley of thematic considerations— sex, gender, social stratification, oppositional politics, abuse of power, disempowerment, social identity, cultural authenticity, Afrocentrism, imperialism and more. In the eyes of his many fans (masses, students and youths), Fela was the charismatic face of Afrobeat, a kind of musical brand that harbored a worldview and attitude toward misgovernment and human rights abuses. Fela preached ‘Africanism’ as an antithesis to Western concepts like Marxism, communism, and capitalism whom he associated with exploitation of the masses. As Olaniyan would have it, “To listen to Fela’s music… is to listen to a kind of cultural, specifically musical ‘biography’ of the postcolonial African State: an account of the State’s crisis…” (5). In Fela’s own words, “I am using my music as a weapon. I play music as a weapon. The music is not coming from me as a subconscious thing. It’s conscious” (Olaniyan, 2004:58).
Fela commenced his tumultuous politically combative musical career in the 1970s with the composition of his famous song “Alagbon Close” (1974.) This song and “Upside Down” (1976) made him an indefatigable combatant who would become a thorn in the flesh of the powers-that-be in Nigeria for more than two decades. Through his musical combativeness, Fela soon become the voice of the voiceless. He was brash and outspoken, and created for himself the image of a charismatic antisocial rebel. It is necessary to dwell on the lyrics and signification of “Alagbon Close” because it is all invective and satire against the inept governments of Nigeria and its armed forces:
For Alagbon/Dem no get respect for human being/Dem no know say you get blood like them/Dem go send dem dog to bite you/ Dem go put dem gun for your face/The gun wey dem take your money buy/Dem go torture you and take your statement from you/Dem go lock you for months/Dem dey call am ‘investigation’ (Quoted in Olaniyan, 54).[i]
Needless to belabor the point that this song is a vitriolic lampoon on abuse of power in Nigeria; it is a satire on the uncouth comportment of Third World soldiers and elements of the police force. In Nigeria like in most African countries, the military displays an attitude of condescension toward civilians who are often tortured and rough-handled for no apparent reason. It is against this military brutality, callousness, and dereliction of duty that Fela raves and rants in his song titled “Zombie” (1976). The song dramatizes the intellectual shallowness of the military dictatorships rampaging not just Nigeria but the entire African continent. He draws attention to civilian discontent with soldiers turned tyrants. In fact, Fela portrays soldiers as social caricatures. This is true for the armed forces of all post-colonial African countries with very rare exceptions.
Fela’s denigration of the military is evident in “Alagbon Close.” It should be noted that the word “close” refers to ‘military fatigues’ which Fela equates to ordinary plain cloth sown by a common tailor. This amounts to the songwriter’s attempt to diminish the importance of military uniform in the eyes of the populace:
If you know dem for Alagbon/
Make you tell dem make dem hear
Uniform na cloth, na tailor dey sew am/
Tailor dey sew am like your dress/
Tailor dey sew am like your dress /
Nothing special about uniform (Olaniyan, 54)[ii]
Fela’s anti-establishment lyrics enabled him to put up a good fight against emasculators of social justice in his homeland of Nigeria as seen in one of his distinctively poignant tracks “No agreement”(1977):
No agreement today/ No agreement tomorrow/ I no go gree
Make my brother hungry/Make I no talk/ I no go gree
Make my brother homeless /Make I no talk
No agreement now, later, never, never, and never (Quoted in Olaniyan, 56).[iii]
In this song, Fela assumes the posture of the spokesman of the wretched of the earth to borrow words from another illustrious son of Africa, Frantz Fanon (1966). He speaks for the downtrodden. He declares loud and clear that he will not stand mute, arms akimbo, and watch his countrymen and women suffer as a result of misgovernment. In sum, as long as injustice exists Fela would not shut up. In his lyrics, he blew the whistle on perpetrators of social ills and injustice. He called upon fellow Nigerians to rise up against oppressors. Fela was a defiant musical composer working under harrowing circumstances—constant harassment, arrests, and imprisonment. But this did not deter him. He remained unfazed until his demise. He sang about a vast array of social issues—dictatorship, corruption, abuse of power, influence peddling, ethnocentrism, tribalism, religious hypocrisy, and more. Fela articulated his disenchantment with governments that prey on the citizenry. He constantly called upon the government of Nigeria to respect the fundamental human rights of citizens. As Gecau opines, “By composing and producing a song, a singer insists on the right of the ordinary person to do this; interpret experiences and to bring to the public sphere alternative discourses which are absent from official discourses” (1)[iv]. Undoubtedly, Fela advocated alternative discourses in his lyrics; he vocalized the need for a political new deal, a sane economic order and respect for the social contract. Gecau views Fela’s Afrobeat music of resistance as “oral journalism” (1) because it takes the form of a narrative—the telling of stories of the people, the interpretation of the people’s history and lived experiences. Such songs serve to create among the disenchanted a feeling of ‘we-ness’ as a contradistinction to the ‘Others’ (Gecau, 2).Fela was a social critic with a consummate sense of humor. This derision is evident in “Expensive Shit” (1975) and “Shuffering and Shmiling” (1978).
Fela’s attitude toward Western religions, notably Christianity and Islam, is irreverent. There are reasons for his oppositional stance against both religions. The first reason is that these religions are alien to Africa. Fela resorts to the term ‘Africanism’ as an alternative to Western religions. The second reason is that the symbolic trappings of Christianity and Islam are instruments of exploitation. In Fela’s mind, religion becomes opium of the people (Karl Marx, 1848). He has nothing but disdain for Christianity’s promise of paradisiacal solace as compensation for hard times on earth. Olaniyan observes that “Scurrilous criticisms of the religions, mainly in the form of derision, became a staple of Fela’s performances both in his club and during concerts (60). Fela’s iconoclasm is evident in his song “Shuffering and Shmiling” (1978):
Suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer for world/Na your fault be that
Me I say na your fault be that…/suffer, suffer for world.
Chorus: Amen!
Enjoy for heaven/Christians go dey yab/ In spiritus hevinus
Moslems go dey call/Alaahu Akbar… Open your eye everywhere
Archbishop na miliki/ Pope na enjoyment/ Iman na gbaladum…
Archbishop dey enjoy/ Pope himself dey enjoy/ Iman self dey enjoy
Oga na wetin you say? / My brother wetin you say? (Quoted in Olaniyan, 62-63)[v]
It is interesting to note that Fela’s criticism in this song is not directed toward the hypocritical leaders of both religions. Rather he addresses his message directly to victims of religious brainwashing: “Oga na wetin you say? / My brother wetin you say?” These interrogatives are meant to serve as a call to an examination of conscience. Olaniyan certainly has a point when he maintains that “The song is an unapologetic assault on the suffering masses who run to all kinds of religious charlatans and illusions for comfort rather than fight their oppressors” (61). There is hilarity in this song but no one is laughing. This is attributable to the solemnity of the subject matter under discussion. Fela’s message is poignant and solemn. It brooks no laughter. It is a clarion call to all Africans to wake up and see reality instead of trooping to Rome and Mecca year in year out. This message is an appeal for attention to Christians and Moslems who sheepishly congregate in their places of worship without really knowing what they are worshiping.
In sum, Fela Anikulapo Kuti could be portrayed as a talented musical virtuoso who plays several roles at once: entertainer, social critic, bard, humorist, counselor, and chronicler—all functions he fulfills with remarkable success. Given that his messages are directed at a specific audience—the masses, Fela steers clear of linguistic sophistry. In fact, most of the time he sings in West Africa’s lingua franca—Pidgin English, a language spoken by almost everyone in Nigeria. He has no compunction about resorting to profanity when he deems it an appropriate tool to communicate his intended messages and pent-up emotions. For example, his song “M.A.S.S” (Movement Against Second Slavery, 1990) is replete with profane expressions: “I don’t understand that shit”, “Allaaaaahu Akbar na bullshit”, Allaaaaahu Akbar na motherfucker.” Colloquialisms are part and parcel of Fela’s lexical arsenal: “Any goddam mosque”, “Any goddam Celestical”, and “Out of those goddam places.” Proficiency in Pidgin English would be necessary if members of the audience were to successfully decode the semantics of Fela’s lyrics. Words like “yap”, “yabis”, and “juba” could be semantically challenging for those of his fans who are not Pidginophones. Fela’s music is weighty and communicatively incisive. He isunafraid to tell Nigerian governors and the governed to their face how he feels about them.The question that arises at this juncture is the following: what are the ramifications of the foregoing discourse to instructors of African music? How could music instructors utilize this information profitably in developing and teaching basic level music courses?
Pedagogical Implications for Music Instructors
Interpreting music can be a daunting task, the more so because each musical composition harbors textual and non-textual elements. Arguing along the same lines, Scheub maintains:
The problem for the translator of oral materials into a written form are enormous, some of them insurmountable except by extensive multi-media production, and even then the impact of the original performance is diminished. The problem of developing literary correspondences for oral non-verbal artistic techniques is staggering, for the translation of a single narrative–performance involves profound transformations which defy equivalence (“Translation of African Oral Narrative Performance,’’ 28).
Given the enormity of the problem that faces the translator of African music, instructors charged with the critical task of teaching protest music originating from the African continent need to conceive dependable multidimensional paradigms that would guarantee not only the holistic interpretation of musical compositions and but also the attainment of outcomes of learning. In this paper, I shed ample light on three tried and tested pedagogical models:
Bloom’s Taxonomy
In his Taxonomy, Bloom (1956) postulated that effective textual analysis could be achieved as follows:
§ Evaluation: making value judgments about issues, resolving controversies, assessing theories, composing ideas, evaluating outcomes;
§ Synthesis: creating a unique original product that may be a combination of ideas to form a new whole, using old concepts to create new ones;
§ Analysis: organizing ideas and recognizing trends, finding the underlying structure of communication, identifying motives;
§ Application: using knowledge, facts and principles to facilitate problem-solving;
§ Comprehension: interpreting and translating information from one medium to the other; and
§ Knowledge: recall of information, discovery, and observation.
The framework described above is germane for interpreting songs originating from Africa given the multi-faceted nature of the musical compositions, the multiplicity of messages they convey, and the plethora of rhetorical devices utilized by songwriters. Bloom’s Model is particularly useful for unraveling the significations embedded in both the linguistic and extra-linguistic components of musical compositions. With the kernel of the lyrics laid bare, music instructors would be in a position to design a blend of lower-order and higher-order thinking tasks that would enable learners to achieve outcomes of learning.
The Hermeneutic Model
The Theory of Hermeneutics propounded by Schleiermacher (1834) underscores the importance of interpreting, not only the implied meanings embedded in a culture-rich text but also unravelling the situational dimensions that constitute the matrix in which the cultural text is rooted. The most vital feature of the theory of hermeneutics is the concept of Hermeneutic Circle. The Hermeneutic Circle refers to the situation in which when learners encounter an oral text they tend to make sense of it with reference to other texts. Thus, their understanding of the other text is modified by their understanding of the text they are analyzing. The hermeneutic circle enables learners of new cultures to come to grips with the circularity inherent in the cultural, historical, linguistic and non-linguistic components of a culture-based text. The Hermeneutic Model is particularly suited for interpreting musical compositions from Africa because of the palimpsestical nature of musical compositions originating from the continent.
Chantal Zabus defines the African palimpsest as “the writer’s attempt at textualizing linguistic differentiation and conveying African concepts, thought patterns and linguistic concepts through the ex-colonizer’s language” (23). Most musical compositions emanating from contemporary Africa are calqued on oral performances of the past. In order words, modern songwriters tend to borrow not only the themes but also the esthetics of traditional oral performers. Scheub sheds light on four major characteristics of oral performance that the contemporary songwriter must understand and deal with in the compositional process. These include the verbal and non-verbal elements of the performance, their structural characteristics, and the broad matrix from which individual images emerge. By “structures” Scheub is referring to the organization, arrangement and relationship of the various parts of the oral production, as well as the nonverbal components of the narrative such as tone of voice, rhythm, facial expressions, gestures, bodily movements, particularly images created by sound, body and the imagination. The structural manipulation of these images creates plot and reveals themes. African songwriters who borrow from oral traditions are conversant with the motifs and symbols developed on the surface of the performance. Above all, they are sensitive to the poetic use of culture-based tropes.
The Hermeneutic Model is particularly suitable for teaching African protest music given that it enables the instructor to interpret the musical composition from the perspective of Essential Elements of Information (EEIs) embedded in the lyrics—what, who, where, why, when and how factors.
Styles-and Strategies-Based Instructional Model (SSBI)
Styles-and Strategies-Based Instruction (SSBI) is a learner-focused approach to teaching that explicitly combines styles and strategy instructional activities with everyday classroom instruction (Oxford, 1990; Cohen and Dornyei, 2002; Cohen and Weaver, 2006). The principle that undergirds the SSBI approach is that learners should be given the opportunity to understand not only what they are learning in the classroom but also how they are learning the material the way do. Though conceived for language instruction, the SSBI model has now become a boon for music instructors on account of the unquestionable correlation between musical and linguistic competencies. The Styles-and Strategies-Based Instructional Model is anchored on the theory of scaffolding—the idea that at the beginning of the learning process, learners need a great deal of support; gradually, this support is taken away to allow students to develop a sense of self-directedness in the learning process.Cohen and Weaver termed this sense of autonomy the gradual release of responsibility. Other facets of the SSBI model include: modelling, collaborative learning, activation of prior knowledge, student choices and self-initiated learning.
The Styles-and Strategies-Based Model is a learner-focused approach that calls into question conventional practices and the belief in the lecture as an effective paradigm for engaging learners in self-empowering critical thinking, and problem-based learning. It shifts the focus of pedagogy from a passive teacher-centered approach to a learner-focused collaborative transaction. The thing that makes this model appropriate for teaching music from Africa is the fact that it underscores self-directed learning and learner autonomy in the performance of learning tasks.
In a nutshell, teaching music creatively would be a win-win for both instructors and students. Instructional innovation calls for a blend of tried and tested paradigms such as the ones discussed in this paper. Teachers who resort to multidimensional instructional models inevitably derive immense benefit and satisfaction from the design and implementation of learning tasks that result in the accomplishment of intended learning outcomes. Instructors charged with the critical task of teaching African protest music should realize that no one size fits all.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, the critical analysis in this paper brooks no doubt that Fela’s resistance music is rich and teachable. His songs of protest tend to address Africa’s perennial problems. He calls upon perpetrators and victims of human rights abuses to make a volte-face. The rationale for Fela’s musical compositions is to raise awareness in the hope of galvanizing the populace into open revolt. Mandela aptly captures the quintessence of protest music when he observes that African music is often about the aspirations of African people, and it can ignite the political resolve of those who might otherwise be indifferent to politics (Long Walk to Freedom, 1994). Fela Anikulapo Kuti is a protest songwriter whose lyrics harbor seeds of a revolution. His danceable lyrics translate mixed messages of hope and despair. The motif that runs through the songs of this combative musician is fundamental freedoms. His songs have produced a tonic effect on the younger generation who are motivated to take their destiny into their own hands by all means necessary. Language is a mighty tool at the disposal of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. He wields it tactfully in order to attain his objectives. Fela has distinguished himself as a musical genius endowed with a versatile mind. His creation, Afrobeat, has earned encomium at home and abroad.
Notes
[i] In Alabong / They have no respect for human beings/ They don’t know you are a person like them/
They will send their dogs to bite you/They will point their guns at you/
The guns they bought with your money(taxes)/ They will torture you to make a statement/
They will imprison you for months/ They call it ‘investigation’
[ii] If you know them in Alagbon/ Tell them loud and clear/
Their uniform is ordinary cloth, sewn by a tailor/
Sewn by a tailor just like your dress/ Sewn by a tailor just like your dress
There is nothing special about a uniform
[iii] If you suffer in this world/that is your own fault
I say that is your fault/ Suffer in this world
Chorus: Amen!
And Enjoy in heaven/ Christians will fool you/ In spiritus hevinus/
Moslems will dupe you/ Alaahu Akbar… Wake up and see reality
Archbishop lives lavishly/ Pope basks in opulence / Iman revels in abundance…
Archbishop lives in luxury / And pope in maximum comfort / Imam too in great splendor
Master what do you say to that? / My brother what do you say? (…)[iii]
I won’t agree/ to see my brother go hungry /And be silent
I won’t agree to see my brother homeless/ And keep quiet
No agreement now, later, never, never and never.
[iv] “The World has no owner: Everyday Resistance in Songs of Africa.” Retrieved March 17,2012 from http://waccglobal.org/en/19962-communication-as-everyday-resistance/975-The-World-has
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Discography
Anikulapo-Kuti, Fela (formerly Fela Ransome-Kuti):
Alagbon Close/Kalakuta Show, Victor, 1994. “Alagbon Close”(1974), “I No Get eye for Back”(1974), “Kalakuta Show”(1976),
“Don’t make Ganran Ganran” (1976).
Expensive Shit/He Miss Road, MCA 2000. “Expensive Shit” (1975),“Water No Get Enemy”(1975), “He Miss Road”(1975),”Monday
Morning in Lagos” (1975), “It’s Not Possible” (1975).
Zombie, MCA (2001). “Zombie” (1976), “Mister Follow Follow” (1976), “Observation is No Crime” (1977), “Mistake” (Live at
Berlin Jazz Festival, 1978).
Upside Down/Music of Many Colors, MCA 2001. “Upside Down” (1976), “Go Slow” (1976), “2000 Blacks Got to Be Free” (1980),
“Africa Centre of the World” (1980).
Shuffering and Shmiling/No Agreement, MCA 2000. “Shuffering and Shmiling” (1978), “No Agreement” (1977),”Dog Eat Dog”
(1977).
M.A.S.S. (Music Against Second Slavery), 1990.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta is Professor at the United States Department of Defense Language Institute in Monterey-California. He blogs at http://www.vakunta.blogspot.com
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