“trampled on the rights of my family when he jailed my father”
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Fela Kuti
Fela Aníkúlápó Kútì was a Nigerian musician and political activist. He is regarded as the principal innovator of Afrobeat, a Nigerian music genre that combines West African music with American funk and jazz. At the height of his popularity, he was referred to as one of Africa's most "challenging and charismatic music performers". AllMusic described him as "a musical and sociopolitical voice" of in…
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entertainment · Nigerian musician and activist (1938–1997) · saxophonist · bandleader · singer-songwriter · conductor · singer · composer · activist · musician · also Fela Kuti, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Fela, Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti, Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, Abami Eda
Born 15 October 1938 · Died 2 August 1997 · Q313868
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2026· 17 entries
“re playing music and people don”
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“Stressing the point that I have to make Africans aware of the fact that Egyptian civilization belongs to the African. So that was the reason why I changed the name of my band to Egypt 80.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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trendyhiphop.com: Ginton – No Nation (Ayakata) Ft. Odumodublvck, Fela Kuti & Sholz
- #news
- #headline
Vistanaij: Ginton - No Nation (Ayakata) ft. ODUMODUBLVCK, Fela Kuti & Sholz | MP3 Audio Download
- #news
- #headline
Tooxclusive: Fela Kuti – Let’s Start
- #news
- #headline
Tribune Online: Tinubu is not Nigeria’s main problem — Femi Kuti
- #news
- #headline
Published video “Fela Kuti Jeopardy mention! 📺🇳🇬 #felakuti #nigeria #afrobeat”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
Published video ““I don’t smoke marijuana because I am a criminal” - Fela Kuti #420 #felakuti #stoner #afrobeat”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
Naija Gist - Latest: Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat Is the Sound of the Past, the Present, and the Future
- #news
- #headline
Published video “D’Angelo re-recording “Water No Get Enemy” at Electric Lady Studios in NYC #felakuti #dangelo”.
- #social
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- #self-published
Published video “Fela Kuti and Ginger Baker in 1971 #felakuti #gingerbaker #music #cream #70s”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
Published video “Children of Fela Kuti accept the Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of their beloved father.”.
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- #youtube
- #self-published
Yahoo: Fela Kuti becomes first African to get Grammys Lifetime Achievement Award
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- #headline
Indiatimes: Fela Kuti posthumously awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award: First African artist to achieve feat
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The Guardian: ‘You can’t drink Fanta. You have to smoke marijuana’: Fela Kuti’s artist recalls their wild collaborations
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- #headline
Kuti was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the early/musical influence category after two previous nominations
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2025· 14 entries
The Financial Express: Who is Fela Kuti? Afrobeat pioneer honoured with Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; Check full list here
- #news
- #headline
Published video “Fela Kuti’s Expensive Shit 💰💩 #fela #felakuti #expensive #expensiveshit #afrobeat”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
Published video “Explore the life of Fela Kuti, your favorite legend's favorite legend! #felakuti #fela”.
- #social
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- #self-published
Published video “Thank you, #barackobama #highergroundmedia. Fela Kuti: Fear No Man episodes 1-4 out now!”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
Forbes: How Fela Kuti’s Grandson Mádé Kuti Is Bringing Afrobeat To A New Era
- #news
- #headline
Okayplayer: Don't Teach Me Nonsense: Fela Kuti as a Sample in Rap
- #news
- #headline
Published video “Fela Kuti - Coffin for Head of State (Edit) [Official Audio]”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
Published video “Coffin for Head of State”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
Published video “Coffin for Head of State (Edit)”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
Deadline.com: The Obamas’ Higher Ground Sets Fela Kuti Podcast At Audible
- #news
- #headline
Published video “Fela Kuti - Let's Start (Edit with Intro) [Official Audio]”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
Published video “Let's Start (Edit)”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
Published video “Let's Start (Edit with Intro)”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
Published video “Let's Start”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
2024· 4 entries
Published video “International Thief Thief (I.T.T.)”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
- #corroborated
Published video “Zombie”.
- #social
- #youtube
- #self-published
The Guardian: Seun Kuti and Egypt 80: Heavier Yet (Lays the Crownless Head) review – Fela’s legacy lives on
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: ‘Bass on one shoulder, bow and arrows on the other’: life with Fela Kuti on history’s most dangerous tour
- #news
- #headline
2023· 1 entry
Rolling Stone ranked Kuti at number 188 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2022· 1 entry
Kuti was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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- #event
2021· 5 entries
The Guardian: Lemi Ghariokwu, Fela Kuti’s artist: ‘He always had someone for rolling joints. It was a rockstar lifestyle’
- #news
- #headline
Released album “Box Set 5”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
fact checker rated the claim “Burna Boy, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Femi, and Made Kuti won Grammy Awards.” misleading.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
- #fact-check
- #rated
- #claim-about-figure
The Guardian: Different beat: how Fela Kuti’s son and grandson are modernising the dynasty
- #news
- #headline
Hulu released a six-episode documentary miniseries, McCartney 3,2,1, in which Paul McCartney is quoted as saying of a visit to see Fela Kuti at the African Shrine, Kuti's club outside of Lagos, in the early 1970s: "The m
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2020· 2 entries
Jazz: Fela Kuti: King Grenade
- #news
- #headline
Includes the track "Never (Lagos Never Gonna Be the Same)", a tribute to Kuti, through whom Allen and Masekela first met in the 1970s
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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2014· 3 entries
Released album “Finding Fela”.
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- #work
Awarded All African Music Legend Award (2014).
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- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
At the National Theatre and Freedom Park in Lagos
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2013· 1 entry
Released album “The Best of the Black President 2”.
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2011· 2 entries
Released album “Vinyl Box Set 1”.
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- #release
- #work
The London production of Fela
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2010· 3 entries
Released album “The Complete Works of Fela Anikulapo Kuti”.
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- #release
- #work
Released album “FELA! (Original Broadway Cast Recording)”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Fela Da Great Non Stop Mix Vol. 1 - Don't Worry About My Dress”.
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- #work
2009· 3 entries
Jazz: Fela Kuti: The Best Of The Black President
- #news
- #headline
Released album “Anthology 2”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Universal created a new deal for the US and Europe, with Knitting Factory Records and PIAS respectively, which included the release of the Broadway cast recording of the musical Fela
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2008· 2 entries
An off-Broadway production about Kuti's life, entitled Fela
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Released album “Lagos Baby 1963-1969”.
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- #release
- #work
2007· 2 entries
Released album “Alagbon Close / Why Black Man Dey Suffer”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Anthology 1”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
2005· 2 entries
Released album “Music Is the Weapon”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
The American operations of UMG licensed all of its world-music titles to the UK-based label Wrasse Records, which repackaged the same 26 discs for distribution in the United States (where they replaced the titles issues
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2004· 1 entry
Released album “The Best of Fela”.
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2003· 1 entry
The Black President exhibition debuted at the New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York, and featured concerts, symposia, films, and 39 international artists' works
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2001· 7 entries
Released album “Upside Down / Music of Many Colours”.
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Released album “J.J.D. / Unnecessary Begging”.
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Released album “Ikoyi Blindness / Kalakuta Show”.
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Released album “Open & Close / Afrodisiac”.
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- #work
Released album “Everything Scatter / Noise for Vendor Mouth”.
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- #release
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Released album “Monkey Banana / Excuse O”.
- #musicbrainz
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Released album “Beasts of No Nation / O.D.O.O.”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
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2000· 1 entry
Released album “Confusion / Gentleman”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1999· 10 entries
Released album “Expensive Shit / He Miss Road”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “King of Afrobeat: The Anthology”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Opposite People / Sorrow Tears and Blood”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “V.I.P. / Authority Stealing”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “The Best of Fela Kuti: The Black President”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
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Released album “Yellow Fever / Na Poi”.
- #musicbrainz
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- #work
Released album “The Two Sides of Fela: Jazz & Dance”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Universal Music France, under Francis Kertekian, remastered the 45 albums that it owned and released them on 26 compact discs
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Released album “Shuffering and Shmiling / No Agreement”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Stalemate / Fear Not for Man”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1998· 7 entries
Released album “Na Poi / Zombie”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Ikoyi Blindness / No Buredi”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Original Suffer Head / I.T.T.”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Music Is the Weapon of the Future”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Don't Gag Me”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Music Is the Weapon of the Future, Volume 2”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Perambulator / Original Sufferhead”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1997· 5 entries
Died 1997-08-02.
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- #death
Released album “Shakara / Fela’s London Scene”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
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Reissues and compilations of his music have been overseen by his son, Femi Kuti
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Released album “Coffin for Head of State / Unknown Soldier”.
- #musicbrainz
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There has been a revival of his influence in music and popular culture, culminating in another re-release of his catalog controlled by UMG, Broadway, and off-Broadway shows, and new bands, such as Antibalas, who carry th
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1994· 2 entries
Released album “Open & Close/He Miss Road”.
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Released album “Gentleman / Everything Scatter”.
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- #release
- #work
1993· 3 entries
Released album “Funkiest Grooves Vol. 2”.
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- #release
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Released album “Afrobeat”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Alagbon Close / Kalakuta Show”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1992· 2 entries
Released album “Black”.
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- #release
- #work
Released album “Underground System”.
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- #release
- #work
1991· 2 entries
Released album “Just Like That”.
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- #release
- #work
Released album “Original Suffer Head”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1990· 2 entries
Released album “Music Is the Weapon of the Future Volume 2 (1981-1984)”.
- #musicbrainz
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- #work
Released album “Confusion Break Bones”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1989· 3 entries
Released album “ODOO (Overtake Don Overtake Overtake)”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
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Kuti and Egypt 80 released the anti-apartheid album Beasts of No Nation that depicted U
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Released album “Beasts of No Nation”.
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- #release
- #work
1986· 4 entries
Performed in Giants Stadium in New Jersey as part of Amnesty International's A Conspiracy of Hope concert along with Bono, Carlos Santana, and the Neville Brothers
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Released album “I Go Shout Plenty!!!”.
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Released album “Mr. Follow Follow”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1984· 4 entries
Released album “Army Arrangement”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Career landmark: prisoner of conscience.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
Muhammadu Buhari's government, of which Kuti was a vocal opponent, jailed him on a charge of currency smuggling
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Critiqued and insulted the authoritarian then-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari
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1983· 2 entries
Kuti nominated himself for president in Nigeria's first elections in decades, but his candidature was refused
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Released album “Perambulator”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1981· 3 entries
Released album “Original Sufferhead”.
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- #release
- #work
Released album “Coffin for Head of State”.
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- #release
- #work
Released album “Black President”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1980· 4 entries
Kuti signed an exclusive management deal with French producer Martin Meissonnier, who secured a record deal with Arista Records London through A&R Tarquin Gotch
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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With the former being a live performance done in Berlin, West Germany
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Released album “Music of Many Colours”.
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- #release
- #work
Released album “Authority Stealing”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1979· 3 entries
Released album “International Thief Thief (I.T.T.)”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Kuti formed his political party, which he called Movement of the People (MOP), to "clean up society like a mop", but it quickly became inactive due to his confrontations with the government of the day
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Released album “Unknown Soldier”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1978· 5 entries
Married 27 women, many of whom were dancers, composers, and singers with whom he worked
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Released album “Shuffering and Shmiling / Perambulator”.
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- #release
- #work
Kuti married 27 women simultaneously in 1978.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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- #life
- #personal-life
Released album “Shuffering and Shmiling”.
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- #release
- #work
Kuti became a polygamist when he simultaneously married 27 women
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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- #event
1977· 8 entries
Released album “No Agreement”.
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- #release
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Released album “Opposite People”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Vol. 1 & 2”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Fear Not for Man”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Sorrow Tears and Blood”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
And also formalized Kuti's relationships with the women living with him; this legal status prevented the Nigerian government from raiding Kuti's compound on the grounds that Kuti had kidnapped the women
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Released album “Stalemate”.
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- #release
- #work
Kuti and Africa 70 released the album Zombie, which heavily criticized Nigerian soldiers, and used the zombie metaphor to describe the Nigerian military's methods
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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- #event
1976· 7 entries
Released album “Up Side Down”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “No Bread”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Ikoyi Blindness”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Yellow Fever”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Zombie”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Excuse O”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Kalakuta Show”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1975· 5 entries
Released album “Expensive Shit”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “He Miss Road”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Before I Jump Like Monkey Give Me Banana”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Noise for Vendor Mouth”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Everything Scatter”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1974· 2 entries
Released album “Alagbon Close”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Confusion”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1973· 2 entries
Released album “Afrodisiac”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Gentleman”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1972· 2 entries
Released album “Shakara”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Roforofo Fight”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1971· 4 entries
Released album “Na Poi”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Why Black Man Dey Suffer”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Fela's London Scene”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
Released album “Open & Close”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1970· 1 entry
Founded the Kalakuta Republic commune, which declared itself independent from military rule
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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1969· 3 entries
Released album “The ’69 Los Angeles Sessions”.
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- #work
Kuti took the band to the United States and spent ten months in Los Angeles
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Released album “Afro Beat Live”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1965· 1 entry
Released album “Fela Ransome Kuti and His Koola Lobitos”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
1963· 1 entry
Kuti moved back to the newly independent Federation of Nigeria, re-formed Koola Lobitos, and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1960· 1 entry
Kuti married his first wife, Remilekun (Remi) Taylor with whom he had three children (Yeni, Femi, and Sola)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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- #event
1958· 2 entries
Was invited to London by his younger brother Beko (a medical student at the time), to study music at the Trinity College of Music, with the trumpet being his preferred instrument
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
And was studying music at Trinity College
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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- #event
1938· 1 entry
Born 1938-10-15.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth