Fela kuti activist
A military coup immediately followed the elections and the new government renewed its attacks on Kuti. In the early 1980s, Kuti - born Fela Anikulapo Kuti in 1938 - created his own political party, the Movement of the People, MOP, "to clean up society like a mop," and ran for president of Nigeria. About 1,000 soldiers soon descended on his commune and burned down the house, cracking the activist's skull and throwing his mother, then in her seventies, out of a window. Nigerian Youth Battle Gambling Addictions at the Racesīy the the late 1970s, Kuti had become a symbol of the struggle against military dictators. In 1977, his smash hit "Zombie" infuriated the military by accusing soldiers of being violent, brainless automata. Kuti also created the Kalakuta Republic: a collection of living areas, a recording studio, and ground zero for a socio-political movement which he later declared as being independent of the Nigerian state. He was an icon for the Black Power movement in the U.S. The musician became something of a maverick during his lifetime, describing Nigeria as a "prison of peoples" and campaigning passionately for Pan-Africanism. His signature sound uses multiple instruments, vocal lines and musical structures, all of which are held together by an "endless groove." Kuti is considered the father of Afrobeat, which integrates elements of funk, jazz, salsa, calypso, juju, highlife and traditional African percussions with anti-colonialist politics. Kuti, who died in 1997 at the age of 58, electrified not just Nigerians but music lovers the world over with his hip-shaking, strangely hypnotic blend of jazz, funk and West African folk rhythms. Indeed, at times when I am away in the United States and I take a cab, the music I hear is that of great Fela himself." Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who also attended the opening, said that "the Kuti family is one of those illustrious families that conquered the world, not only Ogun State or Abeokuta or Nigeria. Therefore, this attempt by the government at immortalizing the family by preserving and restoring the ancestral home is very commendable." "The family, as you know, represents different things to different people, whether you talk about education, emancipation, music or entertainment. "This project, which is going to immortalize the Ransome-Kuti family, is laudable and admirable." "We have always said that one of the important assets we have is our cultural heritage, our history," said Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed at the Wednesday launch. Suicide Bomber Kills 13 Others in Northeast Nigerian City Nigeria has opened a new museum honoring "King of Afrobeat" Fela Kuti at the start of a week-long annual "Felabration" in Lagos to mark the 74th anniversary of the activist musician's birth.