As a lifelong Fela fan, I dare not write an article—I’m even too lazy for that—and I may concede that both sides did not play it well in a way that embellishes Nigerian music. However, any controversy is good controversy for all musicians, including deceased ones like Fela. Still, Fela’s family are more wrong than they are right.
This same parochial thinking is what has ruined society; the same clannish way of thinking that emboldens nepotism. It is the thought process that something is closed and must not be examined—that something can be great without question. I daresay even if the answer is known and found to be the same all the time, the process of questioning is the point, the test, the truth, and the justice. Is this not why we have religions whose books cannot be questioned, with stories that cannot be rewritten, whose prophets are the last and most perfect, and whose evangelists cannot be challenged? It is the same modality of thought here.
Now that it seems I am writing an article, I would like to point out that Plato did write “…an unexamined life is not worth living”(attributed to Socrates). I am not going to take the path of examining numbers and history. As a Fela fan who grew up near a Fela shrine while he was still alive—raised from the cot on his percussion—and as someone whose dearest people love Fela enough to ink themselves with his picture and words, I surely know the history, the albums, and the music. Another thing I know is hogwash when I see it.
Fela has never stood as a sacrosanct figure who should not be questioned or compared; on the contrary, Fela was about questioning everything: governments, religions, systems, feminism, the United Nations, sexuality, and neo-colonialism. Nothing was above questioning. Fela navigated these systems, and not even the most beloved figures were spared. The point was not that he was always right, but that he was not afraid to ask, to hold an opinion, and to speak his truth.
When you listen to songs like Army Arrangement, you see this philosophy shining through. He says the equivalent of, “You may choose to talk or not, you may choose to believe me now or not, but I have chosen to say my truth.” Fela was unhinged and metaphorical, but above all else, he was for freedom of thought. He never forced his opinion; he lived his youth ransacking everything and living his truth. What I do not understand is how that message flew over people’s heads, leading Fela to be turned into an unquestionable institution—much like what he disliked. He didn’t value many of the awards he is being given posthumously. The man was about radicalism; he warned against the “follow follow,” “zombie” mentality. Many people never listened to Fela but claim to like his “greatness.” Is this not hypocrisy?
The thinking that anyone is not free to declare himself better than Fela is ludicrous—the idea that a hall of fame is closed and someone’s status cannot be touched. Freethinkers forge their works so that the future will question them and come to different conclusions. That is the art and the genius that makes up the fabric of Fela’s work. He is still so relevant that the biggest stars of a later generation test their ability through his music and seek ultimate status by claiming to surpass him; it is actually more flattering to Fela than anything else.
Taylor Swift, a musician I couldn’t care less about, is so beloved and has reached figures of legendary proportion. Nothing precludes Taylor Swift fans from saying she is bigger than, say, Dolly Parton. How about Beyoncé fans saying she is bigger than Aretha Franklin or Whitney Houston? Is anybody going to die from these comparisons? Are they totally wrong? The answer is no. We see how music changes with the times; instead of resisting change, we should embrace it. I wonder how fans of Nat King Cole or Bobby Womack feel today?
I recall a sagacious friend telling me that the United States is more powerful than Rome was. I at first laughed, knowing the influence of Rome, but he pointed out that Rome did not have access to weapons that could annihilate half the world. Many things are correct under different contexts and timelines; hence, there is no artist who is great in every respect of both the past and future.
While past artists deserve thanks for fighting for the recognition and copyright that current artists now enjoy, the living have made strides the past ones could only dream of. This is why Albert Einstein is arguably greater than Isaac Newton, and Wilbur Wright in a way greater than Leonardo da Vinci, if you consider context. Not even Michael Jackson or Bob Marley is safe from comparison. They were great artists, but they too benefited from the technology of their time and the influence of the past. No be person invent the saxophone Fela dey use? Do you know her name?
When comparisons like this are made, it benefits everyone for those in the conversation to bring out musical examples to buttress their points instead of resorting to cheap insults and blackmail. Art is promoted with art, not noise and vituperative outbursts.
[ Nneoma Nwamaka is a lazy writer, simply put; I wanted to cheekily name this article “the Felling of Fela” but for fear of being taken seriously 😂]