1986 - Fela Kuti

Story
- 1938Olufela Olusegun Oludoton Ransome-Kuti - Fela - is born on 15 October in Abeokuta, a town fifty miles north of Lagos.
- 1946Fela begins learning the piano, encouraged by his father, who believes studying music is an essential part of a good education.
- 1954On a visit to Lagos, Fela meets Jimo Kombi Braimah, known to everyone as JK, who will become his life-long friend and confidant.
- 1955Fela’s father, Reverend Israel Ransome-Kuti, dies.
- 1958Fela leaves Abeokuta for London. His parents had hoped he would study to become a doctor but Fela is determined to continue with music.
- 1959Fela forms his first group, Fela Ransome-Kuti and His Highlife Rakers. The band record four sides for Melodisc, one of Britain’s first independent African and Caribbean music labels.
- 1960Fela disbands the Highlife Rakers and forms Koola Lobitos, which has a line-up of West African and Caribbean musicians.
- 1961Fela marries Remi. His first daughter, Yeni, is born.
- 1962Fela graduates from Trinity College of Music. His first son, Femi, is born.
- 1963Fela forms the first edition of the Fela Ransome-Kuti Quintet.
- 1964NBC hires Fela as a junior producer. Drummer Tony Allen joins his band.
- 1965Fela is fired from NBC. He forms a second edition of Koola Lobitos.
- 1966Koola Lobitos becomes a popular presence on the Lagos music scene.
- 1967Trumpeter Tunde Williams (later a key member of Afrika 70) joins Koola Lobitos.
- 1968Fela’s first album, a compilation of Koola Lobitos singles, is released.
- 1969Fela and Koola Lobitos record a live album at the Afro-Spot and begin a 10-month tour in the US.
- 1970Fela and Nigeria 70 record ten tracks in Los Angeles, later released in Nigeria as Fela Fela Fela.
- 1971Fela changes his band’s name from Nigeria 70 to Africa 70.
- 1972Fela renames the Afro-Spot the Africa Shrine and brings it back to life.
- 1973Fela and Africa 70 release Gentleman, the first fully formed Afrobeat album.
- 1974Fela is wrongfully jailed for three days giving him material for future albums, Alagbon Close and Expensive Shit.
- 1975Fela changes his last name from Ransome-Kuti to Anikulapo-Kuti (“one who carries death in his pouch”).
- 1976Fela increases his involvement with the direct-action political movement the Young African Pioneers.
- 1977In an unprecedentedly brutal assault, 1,000 soldiers batter their way into Kalakuta and raze it to the ground.
- 1978Fela marries 27 women in a traditional Yoruba wedding ceremony in Lagos.
- 1979Fela and his political party Movement Of The People are banned from contesting Nigeria’s presidential election.
- 1980Fela resumes touring in Nigeria and is joined by US jazz-funk star Roy Ayers.
- 1981Fela renames Afrika 70 as Egypt 80 and tours Europe.
- 1982With no international record deal and an economic recession gripping Nigeria, this is a difficult year for Fela.
- 1983Fela’s son Seun is born. Fela makes his first appearance at Britain’s Glastonbury.
- 1984Fela is arrested and has to cancel an upcoming tour.
- 1985Fela is named a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International.
- 1986Fela is freed from jail. He announces that he will run for president.
- 1987A series of events are held in Lagos to commemorate the 1977 attack on Kalakuta.
- 1988Fela and Egypt 80 spend most of the year performing at the Shrine.
- 1989Fela and Egypt 80 resume international touring, including two shows in New York with James Brown.
- 1992Fela releases Underground System, which will be the final album of newly recorded studio.
- 1993 - 1994Fela’s high-profile campaign for the right to smoke weed continues, as does police harassment of him and the Shrine.
- 1997Fela dies. Over a million people gather to pay their final respects.
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1986

On 24 April, Fela is freed from jail. His release follows a press statement by Justice Gregory Okoro-Idogu, the judge at the 1984 trial, stating he had been pressured by the regime into giving Fela a disproportionately long sentence. The judge visits Fela in prison to apologise. Once released, Fela holds a press conference at the Shrine, announcing that he will revive his Movement of the People (MOP) party and run for the presidency. He and Egypt 80 play a comeback concert at the National Stadium in Lagos and then leave on a US tour.

After 20 months in prison on trumped up charges, Fela is free at last! And in defiant, uncompromising mood as he is welcomed home by the fans and by his manager, Rikki Stein. Photo by Godwin Usidamen.

1986

Fela speaking at the Amnesty International concert in New Jersey on the 16th June, 1986.

Live in Detroit (1986)

Fela Kuti

Live in Detroit (1986)

CD2×CD / FLAC / WAV / MP3

Teacher Don't Teach Me No Nonsense (1986)

Fela Kuti

Teacher Don't Teach Me No Nonsense (1986)

Vinyl / CD / FLAC / WAV / MP3

Fela releases two very different but equally distinguished albums. I Go Shout Plenty uses classic, gritty, in your face Afrobeat arrangements. The Wally Badarou-produced Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense is a one-off which uses lush, almost orchestral, multi-layered horns and keyboards arrangements.

1986

Fela with Grace Jones, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring, photo by Andy Warhol. — from the book ‘Warhol on Basquiat. Andy Warhol's Words and Pictures’ edited by Michael Dayton Hermann and Reuel Golden (Taschen, 2019).