The Kalakuta Republic: Fela Kuti’s revolutionary step away from military rule
“I refuse to live my life in fear” were the words once uttered by Fela Kuti. The pioneering Nigerian musician was noted not only for his incredible music but for his rebellion against authority and the military rule of his home country. An outspoken critic of Nigeria’s military juntas, Kuti was celebrated and targeted for his fearless political stance, which eventually led to the musician establishing the Kalakuta Republic.
Nigeria was at a tumultuous time in its history during Fela’s rise to success. In 1960, the country gained independence from the British Empire, but the succeeding government of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was fairly conservative and favoured maintaining ties with British rule. During the following years, the largely Anglo-centric government struggled to unite the various different ethnic and religious groups across the country; namely Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba groups. The fractious nature of Nigeria was worsened by the coup d’état, which occurred in 1966, leading to the establishment of a military government after a second coup later in the year. Tensions between this new military government of Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state that had declared its independence from the country in 1967, led to the Nigerian Civil War.
Fela had returned to Nigeria in 1963 after studying music in London. Although he had initially travelled to London to study medicine, he had discovered a love for music – and particularly the trumpet – during this period. Returning to his home country to witness the new state, independent from the colonial oppression of the British Empire, Kuti set about forming a band and developing his musical proficiency. Creating a genre-bending sound which he christened ‘Afrobeat’, Kuti became known for his amalgamation of Fuji music, jazz, funk and calypso, among other styles.
After a trip to the USA in the latter part of the 1960s, against the backdrop of the Nigerian Civil War in his home country, Kuti became much more politically conscious. Owing to the Black Panther Party and the fight for civil rights in the US, Kuti returned to Nigeria with a newfound sense of political rebellion. Almost immediately after coming back to Nigeria, the musician renamed his band the Africa ‘70 and established the Kalakuta Republic.
A commune that housed his family, band members, and various people connected to his music, the Kalakuta Republic was the apogee of everything Kuti was trying to achieve within his music. The commune also housed a recording studio, allowing Fela Kuti and the Africa ‘70 to be an entirely self-sustaining band, declaring itself as independent from the refractory state of Nigeria at the time. It took its name from ‘Calcutta’, which was the name of a prison cell that Kuti had once inhabited. The musician was arrested and imprisoned multiple times throughout his life, mainly resulting from his open criticism of Nigeria’s government.
Kalakuta was raided by soldiers in 1977. The attack came after Kuti had released the album Zombie, which heavily criticised the Nigerian government and military, comparing soldiers to zombies who mindlessly follow orders. During the invasion of the commune, Kuti’s mother was killed after being thrown from a window. After the compound was destroyed, Fela Kuti delivered the coffin of his mother to the residence of General Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s head of state.
Even though the Kalakuta Republic was snuffed out by the authoritarian regime of Nigeria, it was far from a failure. The real political activism that Fela Kuti not only sang about but put into practice cemented the figure as a true cultural revolutionary. To this day, Fela Kuti’s music remains some of the greatest evidence for music being an effective means of political rebellion. Kalakuta was much more than a commune; it represented an idea of joy as an act of defiance, and that idea has remained long after Fela Kuti passed away.
