FELA THE PHILOSOPHER-SINGER THAT LIVES ON
By LANRE HASSAN
Born as Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti on 15 October 1938 to the family of Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti and Chief Mrs Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti in Abeokuta capital of present day Ogun state Nigeria, he died as Fela Anikulapo-Kuti on 2 August 1997 having spent some 56 years on earth most of which was dedicated to human emancipation and African liberation struggle.

He was from an aristocratic home of radical parents; the father was an Anglican reverend cum educationist who was the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers.

His mother was a feminist activist who gave the colonial government a run for their intelligence. She was popular for being the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria and reputed for removing the Alake of Egbaland from the palace.

After his secondary education at the Abeokuta Grammar School, he was sent to London in 1958 to study medicine alongside his other siblings Olikoye Ramsome-Kuti and Beekolari Ransome-Kuti (both of whom were successful medical practitioners in Nigeria), but taken after his parents independent mindedness Fela took to music as a course of study at the Trinity College of Music.

It was at the college that he formed his first musical band called Koola Lobitos dishing out a fusion of jazz and highlife. In 1967 during a visit to Ghana, Fela discovered another area of music genre which he called Afrobeat which of course was a combination of highlife, funk, jazz, salsa, calypso and traditional Nigerian music.
It was at this stage that he changed his music from mere entertainment to revolutionary. Through this band name Fela traverse the world up till 1970 when he returned to Nigeria and rechristened the band Afrika ’70 and himself was known till death as Baba ’70.

The songs of Fela from this period henceforward became concentrated on social and political issues confronting the authority in the face for a better continent. His called his residence in Lagos ‘Kalakuta Republic’ (a name derived from the black hole of Calcutta dungeon in India), a sort of commune for his band, fans and the homeless.

He established a recording studio within the republic probably to secure his creative songs from being plagiarized and more obviously to help nurture other talents that come to him on daily basis.

He established a night club in Empire hotel in Ojuelegba which he called Afro Spot and later African Shrine while he christened his residence on Pepple Street, Ikeja as Kalakuta Republic independent of the Nigerian State.

He embarked on these radical innovations to further drive home his ideal African societies which were contained in his music. He will want the government to be responsive, accountable and responsible to the people. Fela’s songs condemned and exposed misgovernance and corruption in government circle. He called for revolution, mass protest and rejection of military rule not only in Nigeria but all over Africa.

He considered African Heads of States as agents and stooges of foreign powers and thus does not have a mind of their own. He was always in support of popular struggle by the students and human rights activists. He wanted the best for his people and cannot stand the sight of cheating in any way possible. His songs were unique for he used Pidgin instead of the normal British English that had been adopted by the Nigeria state as official language.

Some of his popular songs are ‘The ’69 Los Angeles Sessions’, ‘Zombie’, ‘Coffin for Head of State’, ‘Unknown Soldiers’, ‘Beasts of No Nation’ and ‘I.T.T’ among others. For his anti-government songs Fela saw the wrath of the military government who sent soldiers to attack the Kalakuta Republic, burnt it into rashes and destroyed his studio.

His mother was attacked thrown through a window and eventually died I the hands of unknown soldiers. In 1980, Fela changed the name of his band to Egypt’80 with an assertion that the Egyptian civilization, knowledge, philosophy, mathematics and religious systems are the best for African countries.

Fela’s music was in a world of its own. He lived his entire lives differently from the norms in a society of predominantly docile nobles. He was said to have died of HIV related disease even though his fans believed that could be far from the truth since he divorced his numerous wives back in the 1980s.

While his representatives are keeping tight-lipped, reports have been circulating on social media of a new Tinie Tempah album with people questioning whether he will pick up right where he left off and deliver another excellent musical fare. Rumours of the British-based rapper/singer/songwriter working in recording studio are rife, with as many as eight songs having been put to tape.

“It’s still in the early stages,” said a source. “He’s got security on the doors to ensure no-one hears a whisper.”Tinie, born Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu, has been signed to Warner Music Group subsidiary Parlophone Records since 2009 with rumours a foot that he is planning a worldwide tour at the end of 2018. When contacted, a representative had no information on a new album, or any of Tempah’s future plans.

This isn’t the first time in recent memory reports have surfaced about Tinie Tempah recording sessions. Fans will be anxiously awaiting confirmation…or otherwise. After releasing a number of mix tapes, he released hislong-awaited debut album, Disc-Overy, in October 2010. Preceded by two British number-one singles, ‘Pass Out’and ‘Written in the Stars,’ the album charted at number one and was certified Platinum the next year.

In 2011, he won two Brit Awards for Best British Breakthrough Actand Best British Single.In 2013, he released his second album, entitled ‘Demonstration.’ Preceded by top ten singles ‘Trampoline’ and ‘Children of the Sun,’ the album charted at number three and was certified gold by the BPI the next year. In 2015, he released ‘Not Letting Go,’ the first single from his third album ‘Youth.’ This gave Tempah his sixth UK number one, passing out Dizzee Rascal as the most by any rap artist.In 2007, along with his cousin, Dumi Oburota, he created his own record and fashion label Disturbing London Records.

Without a doubt, one of the most recognized Nigerian musicians in the world, singer/songwriter WizKid has swept practically all notable awards a Nigerian recording artist can think of and has been nominated for – including the 2017 Grammy Awards.

The artist, real name Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, recently signed a multi-album worldwide deal with RCA Records/Sony Music International.

At the tender age of 11 he kick started his music career when he released an album ‘Lil Prinz’ with the group Glorious 5 in 2001.

After the group disbanded he met top Nigerian music producer OJB Jezreel in Surulere.

Since then, at his studio he would see the likes of 2face Idibia, Sound Sultan and Rugged Man record some of their classic tracks.

After waiting in the wings, WizKid recorded his first song in OJB’s studio, and the song featured the legendary producer.

A.k.a. Starboy – he changed his name from Lil Prinz to WizKid in 2006 – he was ranked 5th on Forbes and Channel O’s 2013 list of the Top 10 Richest/Bankable African Artists.

In 2016, he achieved international recognition following his collaboration with Drake on the global hit, ‘One Dance,’ which reached number one in 15 countries, including the United States, the UK, Canada and Australia.

The founder of BEN TV,The founder of BEN TV,Alistair Soyode, is a quiet, reserved figure.Softly spoken, but witha purpose and direction to everyword he says. Growing up in the Northern part of Nigeria for most of his life, his parentswere from the North and South of the country, so he calls himself a‘Complete Nigerian.’

“The culture I grew up knowing is more the Northern culture, but asa person though I just want to be known as Nigerian.”Praising God as the one that gave him the strength and vision to do what he does, Alistair relives the CNN article that classified him as a farmer who became a global CEO.Alistair studied Agriculture and Irrigation Engineering in Katsina, before it was his love of sport that lead him to,at the time, find out what he wanted to do with his life.

“I tried a variety of sports over the years, but I settled on football, and was on the junior team playing for aclub, thinking that the bigger picture would be to find a foreign team and get signed to play.”More than two decades ago, Alistair arrived in the UK to play football, but with the cold, the snow, and coming from a hot climate in Africa, it was all too much and he realised that a football career wasn’t on the cards for him.“I thought, ‘there must be something else to do…’” explained Alistair, “so I tried various businesses to make ends meet.”“As an entrepreneur I started in the telecommunications industry, selling mobile phones as a retailer.

At that time Nigeria had just introduced the telecoms industry into the country, so I published the first magazine on telecommunicationsin Nigeria.”From telecommunications, Alistairmade a leap into the TV business with no formal television, media or communication background, Alistair did what many entrepreneurs do; he saw a gap in the market and he jumped on it.

“There was no representation of fully ethnic content on television at the time,” mused Alistair, “and with many people in the country that are from Africa, The Caribbean or indeed Black British, there was no representation for these people on TV.”“Back then, Nigeria as a nation was seen as a bad influence on the continent,with all Nigerians being tarred with the same brush,” Alistair reflected, “I with the same brush,” Alistair reflected, “I knew personally that there were many positive Nigerians doing wonderful things around the world, people in sports and movie industries,but you just don’t hear about them.”Alistair figured that if no one knows about Nigeria or the wider black community, then someone should show them the truth.

“Lets create something positive.”But moving from place to place, trying to find programmes and people who believed in the project that he had was difficult for Alistair.“Finding someone to give you what is intruth quite a lot of money to back your idea,when you have no experience was a challenge.”A few years before the launch, when he applied for the licence, it was very difficult, as noone had come across a channel like the onethat was being proposed, so BEN TV became aguinea pig for the changes in legislation.“Being the first black oriented TV stationthat is culturally original, based in the UK, started by myself and still broadcasting, still on air is a massive thing for me.

”Between 1998 and 2002, Alistair was lining up the facilities, satellites, resources, programmes and supplies to start the channel, before joining the satellite company that he has worked with forever in South America tosee the launching of his own particular satellite.“When the satellite was going up, wherever it was going to and knowing it was for me was an amazing feeling,” beamed Alistair.Based in the heart of London, BEN TV is byits own words, ‘Europe’s 1st Ethnic oriented Television Channel,’ and serves a huge audience,including a range of cultured programming to transform, empower and challenge the conventional perception of Africa, Caribbean and African-descendants in Diasporasince 2002.BEN TV doesn’t receive funding like the mainstream channels, nor through TV licencinglike the BBC, and for Alistair it is a Catch-22 situation.

“For us to go more mainstreamand reach a bigger audience, we need the financial backing, but by doing so we could lost touch with the communities that make us who we are.”Next on the horizon for BEN – massive capital intensive business. “The community is not made up of big time spenders, how many companies do we have that are African or Caribbean owned with large spending power, that’s not many, you can probably count themon one hand.”

“What I stand for, what I’ve always stood for and what I will keep standing for is the integrity of the people. I would love to take the platform bigger in the weeks and months to come.”As the interview continued, you couldn’t help but be taken in by his manner, his charm,and most importantly his belief in what he was saying. Every word was carefully chosen with a clear end picture in sight.Television isn’t the only love of Alistair’s lifethough, “For me personally the only thing I live and breathe and get excited about right now is Nigeria,” explained Alistair, “I don’t see the challenges, I see the opportunities.”challenges, I see the opportunities.

”Alistair isn’t just looking at investment in thecountry, he is looking at change, and reform for the country.“Optimistically dreaming, if we stand for thechange, we will be there to create the change. As long as we stand there and believe, we will be victorious.”Alistair is looking for Nigerians who are professionals,businesspeople and entrepreneurs to look at the political parties and find one that aligns withyou that they can join.“The Elders have said that the youth should join politics, and it is now with humility and respect that we are answering the call, we are here andready.

”Passionately, almost worth of standing at a podiumin front of a huge crowd at a rally, Alistair continued,“I see no state, no religion, the only thing Isee is one Nigeria. I don’t believe we need to fight,I don’t believe we need to be at war, I believe that we need to give peace a chance. A peace that we have never experienced before is coming, but only if we elect the right people.“Yes we can, yes we will make Nigeria better and greater, yes people who are positive about a greater country will support us. We want to better Nigeria, have an equal Nigeria with a better education system. Alistair believes that a team of younginspired people alongside the elders could rule Nigeria in 2019, to help start to create the change that is so needed.

“I am not in business to make money, but to sustain. We are not going into politics to make money, but because we believe that this ideal of a new Nigeria is enough.“With almost every industry in the world having a Nigerian in it, and the richest people in Africa of Nigerian descent, Nigeria as a nation need to give their people a chance.”To showcase these people, engaging them and the youth to push forward to a better tomorrow for Nigeria is very high on Alistair’slist of priorities.For the young people, regardless of your cultural heritage, Alistair has a few words of wisdom that is sage advice from someone who has lived by his words.“Regardless what you want to do with your life, just look at what you want to achieve, who do you want to work with? Always look to the top, whether that is a singer, an actor, a presenter, a business owner, look at the mand ask how did they get there.Start to emulate what they did and you’ll be well on your way.”

The Olojo Festival is known as the celebration of creation, and The Phoenix Newspaper, being the official media partner for the celebration was on the ground to cover all of the events all the way from the United Kingdom. This years event started with His Royal Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi Ojaja 11,Oonirisa of Ife Land, going into seclusion, where he remained in communicado for some days before the main event started, when he came out for everyone to see.

During the seclusion period the Ooni is expected to offer prayers for the land and the country at large, for peace and unity to rain in the country, and it’s believed that prayers offered at this period by the Ooni receive prompt answer.It is believed that during the seclusion the ancestors are usually appeased and after that here emerged on the Saturday when the grand finale took place and the rites were be concluded.

One unique thing about this years celebration is that it’s the second Olojo Festival being performed by His Imperial Majesty Oba Adeyeye Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi OjajaII, since he was enthroned.Visitors from all part of the world were not left out, to witness the culture that depicts the creation of life which cannot be found anywhere else, only in Osun State, precisely in Ile-Ife.The significance of the festival is that it’s the celebration of first dusk and dawn, and the creation dusk and dawn, and the creation of the universe.

The Ooni noted that he will ensure that the culture of the Yoruba kingdom is well promoted, promising to work in that direction.During this festival the Ooni,put on the sacred Aare crown amidst lots of jubilations and cultural displays, gun salute from all direction by the locals.

He then embarks on a very symbolic tour, from his Palaceto Oke Mogun shrine, to mark the Oloja festival celebration.Part of the activities, during this year Olojo festival featured cultural displays and traditional acrobatics, meant to entertain visitors who have come from far and near.Each day is announced for the Ooni by praise singers at the entrance to his house, to alert him that the day is dawn while he is still on bed, this they did from one group to another.