#22B. HAVE YOU SEEN THE KALAKUTA SHOW?

In praise of Fela on the occasion of 85th Post-Humous Birthday

Enjoy this review of John Collin’s Kalakuta Notes, one of the essential texts written about Fela. Collins visited Fela’s Kalakuta Republic in the 70s. Playing a minor role in Fela’s lost film, The Black President, this rollicking genre-blending narrative about his observations on Fela, his Afrobeat music and his unconventional lifestyle.

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, arguably Africa’s greatest musician, has a place in the pantheon of African thought leaders of the 20th century, along with Frantz Fanon, Marcus Garvey and Nelson Mandela. Years after his death, his life continues to be a focus of intellectual discussion; his music remains an edifying staple and a new book about his life surfaces every few years.

Who better to write about Fela Anikulapo-Kuti than John Collins, one of the leading figures of West African music scholarship? Collins, a naturalised Ghanaian of Irish descent, moved to Ghana in the early 1950s, at a time when E.T. Mensah and his Highlife band, The Tempos, were crisscrossin…