Who Was Fela Kuti And Why Is He Headed For The Rock Hall Of Fame?

By | March 19, 2021

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Fela Kuti live at The Academy, Brixton, London 1983 (Photo by David Corio/Redferns)

The late Fela Kuti, inventor of the Afrobeat genre of music, emerged from Nigeria to become both a musical and cultural messiah for his country in the '70s -- and in fact, he was a figure that all of Africa rallied around. He's sometimes compared to Bob Marley, in terms of his importance, although the comparison has some major flaws. As wildly popular as Kuti was in Africa, he never made the kind of connection with American or European audiences that Marley did. Kuti's music was also more overtly political, with albums consisting of extended jams that married withering criticism of authority figures to rump-shaking, hypnotic Afrobeat rhythm.

Afrobeat combines traditional African chants and rhythms with a mosaic of jazz, funk, and psychedelic rock. His music directly spoke to the destitute and disadvantaged people of Africa

An Afrobeat Inventor Leading The Hall Of Fame Voting

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Fela Kuti in many ways became Africa's Bob Marley. (pinterest)

Because of his outspoken criticism of authority figures -- the authoritarian leaders who've vexed Africa, really -- Kuti has also been compared to the Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara and the South African political prisoner Nelson Mandela. Obviously, his social efforts fell short of those of Mandela -- Kuti was a political philosopher and a rhetorical bomb-thrower, but he was not an organizer. But to many Africans he was both a musician and a revolutionary.

That brings us to the fan voting for the 2021 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Kuti was announced as one of the 16 nominees for 2021, in a field that includes Tina Turner, Devo, the Go-Go's, Carole King and others. When the voting was opened to the public, Kuti jumped out to a commanding lead, with votes pouring in, presumably, from Nigeria if not all of Africa. Kuti and the Afrobeat genre he invented may not have broken through to American audiences during his lifetime, but his African fans may help raise his profile more than 20 years after his death.