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Fela: This Bitch of A Life

Somebody said that Fela's colourful,but troubled life shadowed his music. In this authorized biography, Fela - This Bitch of A Life, Carlos Moore documents Fela in his unadulterated form. The book is in first person singular, as if Fela himself wrote it. Fela Anikulapo-Ransome Kuti was born on 15 October 1938, in Abeokuta, Nigeria to middle class parents. His father Reverend I.O. Ransome-Kuti was a man of the cloth, and his mother Funmilayo was a woman's lib activist. What is quite clear is that Fela was not always radical. He started out as jazz artist following his music education in the UK. His parents wanted him to become a medical doctor,but he chose music. It was after he met an African-American lady, Sandra Smith, who was a radical Black Panther activist that Fela started to gain African consciousness. Sandra would help Fela and his band, Koola Lobitos during difficult times in the US. During this time Nigeria was under military junta of Olusegun Obasanjo. Fela's eyes were opened when the military junta refused Sandra a visa to visit Nigeria. This would be Fela's earliest run in with the law authorities. He pushed boundaries, and eventually ensured that Sandra, his girlfriend visited Nigeria. When she arrived, the military police ensured that she does not spend a day upon expiry of her visa. ....to continue

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