Biography
In 1958, Fela Kuti moved to London, where he began studying music. He soon formed a group called Koola Lobitos, which was later renamed Nigeria 70. Throughout his life, Fela contended that AfroBeat was a modern form of danceable, African classical music with an urgent message for interested people. Created out of Funk, Jazz, Salsa and Calypso with Juju, Highlife and African percussive patterns. But to Fela it was a political weapon.
Afterwhile Fela refused to bow to the music industry’s preference for 3-minute tracks, nor did he buckle under appeal to moderate his overwhelmingly political lyrics. He went down in 1997 still railing against the consumerist gimmicks that taint pop music, with the aim, he felt, of promoting and imposing homogeneous aesthetic standards worldwide.
After a long lifetime of work, and making his trademark, Fela died. Fela pasted away of AIDS at 58 on August 2ND, in 1997. But the good thing about that is he left a great legacy.