Finding Fela (15)
Jazz pioneer, politically potent performer, and gleefully unconventional. Fela Kuti’s life in the spotlight.
Finding Fela tells the story of Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s life, his music and his social and political importance. He created a new musical movement, Afrobeat, using the genre to express his revolutionary political opinions against the dictatorial Nigerian government of the 1970s and 1980s.
His influence helped bring a change towards democracy in Nigeria and promoted pan-Africanist politics to the world. This winding, jazz-jam of a documentary doesn’t shy away from Fela’s sometimes eyebrow-raising life with his many mistresses, a time heavy with marijuana smoke and ego.?
However, the power and potency of Fela’s message is undimmed and still expressed in the political movements of oppressed people, who embrace Fela’s music and message in their struggle for freedom.
Part of Hidden Beach: Winter of Culture curated by Remi Vibesman.