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“MUSIC IS A SPIRITUAL THING. YOU DON’T PLAY MUSIC. IF YOU PLAY WITH MUSIC YOU WILL DIE YOUNG. WHEN THE HIGHER FORCES GIVE YOU GIFT OF MUSICIANSHIP, IT MUST BE WELL USED FOR THE GOOD OF HUMANITY.” Quote by fela 1938
Olufela Olusegun Oludoton Ransome-Kuti – Fela – is born on 15 October in Abeokuta, a town fifty miles north of Lagos. His family is relatively prosperous and it is among the few in Abeokuta with a car (Fela’s mother, Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti, a pioneering feminist, is one of the first Nigerian women to drive one). Fela’s father, the Reverend Israel Ransome-Kuti, is the Principal of Abeokuta Grammar School. Fela’s first cousin, Wole Soyinka, later a Nobel Prize-winning writer, sometimes spends his school holidays at the Ransome-Kuti home. Fela would later attribute many of his political ideas to his mother. He would also cite Nkrumah’s dictum, “The secret of life is to have no fear” – a belief he lived by throughout his life, whatever the consequences. Both Fela’s parents actively oppose British colonial rule. On one occasion, his father is slashed on the face with a soldier’s bayonet for refusing to remove his hat while walking past the British flag flying at the local army barracks. During the 1940s, Fela’s mother had become close friends with Kwame Nkrumah, the inaugural president of Ghana. In 1960, Ghana became the first black state in Africa to free itself from British rule. Fela’s mother and father were loving parents but they were also strict disciplinarians who beat Fela frequently when he was a child.
Fela’s paternal grandfather, the Reverend Josiah J. Canon Ransome-Kuti, was the first Ransome-Kuti to have a record released. In 1925, aged 70, he travelled to London, where he recorded some hymns sung in Yoruba for the Zonophone label. 1946
Fela begins learning the piano, encouraged by his father, who believes studying music is an essential part of a good education. Fela’s mother becomes the inaugural president of the Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU) and begins a lengthy, but ultimately successful, campaign to improve the trading rights of
market women in Abeokuta.
“TO UNDERSTAND WHAT TIME IS ABOUT, YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THERE IS TIME FOR EVERYTHING” Quote by Fela
FELA, THE MUSICAL
There is much that is surprising about Fela! The Musical. One surprise is that it happened at all. A gritty portrayal of Nigeria’s foremost revolutionary firebrand is not an obvious subject for musical theatre, let alone a smash hit on Broadway, where Fela! played to sold-out houses for nearly eighteen months from autumn 2009 to early 2011. To cap it all, the show was an authentic, immersive experience which was the next best thing to being at the real life Afrika Shrine.
The secret of Fela!’s success is that it was put together by aficionados. Producer Stephen Hendel, a New York commodities trader, discovered Afrobeat when on an impulse he bought a copy of the CD compilation The Best Of Fela. The album changed Hendel’s world. He became obsessed with creating a show telling Fela’s story and passed his enthusiasm on to the multi-award-winning African American choreographer and artistic director Bill T Jones.
Details
| Begin | 29.05.2025 H 7:30 pm |
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| End | 29.05.2025 H 11:30 pm |
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