Kalakuta Republic
Encyclopedia
Kalakuta Republic was the name musician and political activist Fela Kuti
gave to the communal compound that housed his family, band members, and recording studio. Located at 14 Agege Motor Road, Idi-Oro, Mushin
, Lagos
, Nigeria
it had a free health clinic, and recording facility. Fela declared it independent from the Nigerian government after he returned from the United States
in 1970.
The word "kalakuta" was a caricature of a prison cell named Calcutta that fela inhabited. The compound burned to the ground on February 18, 1977 after an assault by a thousand armed soldiers.
Before the attack on Fela's home, he made a record called Zombie
, about the Nigerian military regime. In the song, soldiers are called zombie
s for obeying orders blindly. One of the lines of the song, in pidgin English says, "Zombie no go walk unless you tell am to walk", i.e., a zombie won't walk unless commanded to. While not criticising the idea of military service generally, Fela was frustrated with the Nigerian army's rank and file that allowed corruption and intimidation
of their communities by the corrupt and rich top brass, while blindly following orders to intimidate Nigerians.
The song was popular in Nigeria, upsetting then President General Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo had been a schoolmate of Fela's in primary school in Abeokuta. The military was unhappy with Fela's constant criticism and said it was unseemly to have a republic within a republic. Nigerian tabloids carried lurid but unverified tales of girls lured to the compound by Fela's band members and corrupted.
During the attack on Kalakuta Republic by Nigerian soldiers, Fela's mother was thrown from a window and died after an 8-week coma.
Following this attack, Fela married 27 of his backing singers in a mass wedding ceremony at the office of his lawyer, Tunji Braithwaite. Fela said he would not have marital relations with all of the women as the tabloids suggested, but had married them as they could not find employment after the recording studio had been burnt down. According to Fela, in African tradition, when a woman was in danger of being left destitute, it was the duty of a man in her community to marry her as a means of offering protection.
Fela Kuti
Fela Anikulapo Kuti , or simply Fela , was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.-Biography:...
gave to the communal compound that housed his family, band members, and recording studio. Located at 14 Agege Motor Road, Idi-Oro, Mushin
Mushin, Nigeria
Mushin is a suburb of Lagos, located in Lagos State, Nigeria, and is one of Nigeria's 774 Local Government Areas. It is located 10 km north of the Lagos city core, adjacent to the main road to Ikeja, and is a largely a congested residential area with inadequate sanitation and low-quality housing....
, Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
it had a free health clinic, and recording facility. Fela declared it independent from the Nigerian government after he returned from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1970.
The word "kalakuta" was a caricature of a prison cell named Calcutta that fela inhabited. The compound burned to the ground on February 18, 1977 after an assault by a thousand armed soldiers.
Before the attack on Fela's home, he made a record called Zombie
Zombie (album)
Zombie is the 27th full-length album by afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. The album criticised the Nigerian government and resulted in the murder of Kuti's mother and the destruction of his commune by the military.-Controversy and fallout:...
, about the Nigerian military regime. In the song, soldiers are called zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
s for obeying orders blindly. One of the lines of the song, in pidgin English says, "Zombie no go walk unless you tell am to walk", i.e., a zombie won't walk unless commanded to. While not criticising the idea of military service generally, Fela was frustrated with the Nigerian army's rank and file that allowed corruption and intimidation
Intimidation
Intimidation is intentional behavior "which would cause a person of ordinary sensibilities" fear of injury or harm. It's not necessary to prove that the behavior was so violent as to cause terror or that the victim was actually frightened.Criminal threatening is the crime of intentionally or...
of their communities by the corrupt and rich top brass, while blindly following orders to intimidate Nigerians.
The song was popular in Nigeria, upsetting then President General Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo had been a schoolmate of Fela's in primary school in Abeokuta. The military was unhappy with Fela's constant criticism and said it was unseemly to have a republic within a republic. Nigerian tabloids carried lurid but unverified tales of girls lured to the compound by Fela's band members and corrupted.
During the attack on Kalakuta Republic by Nigerian soldiers, Fela's mother was thrown from a window and died after an 8-week coma.
Following this attack, Fela married 27 of his backing singers in a mass wedding ceremony at the office of his lawyer, Tunji Braithwaite. Fela said he would not have marital relations with all of the women as the tabloids suggested, but had married them as they could not find employment after the recording studio had been burnt down. According to Fela, in African tradition, when a woman was in danger of being left destitute, it was the duty of a man in her community to marry her as a means of offering protection.