Music Banter - View Single Post - It's Afro-Pop Week!
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Old 03-27-2012, 08:43 PM   #5 (permalink)
someonecompletelyrandom
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Join Date: Nov 2008
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This music makes me happy. I love love LOVE afro-pop in all its varieties. I'd be remissed if I didn't mention one of the absolute greats of afrobeat and jazz, Fela Kuti.



The above song actually sparked tremendous violence in Nigeria when it was released in 1977. The song is a biting satire of the Nigerian military of the time, using "zombie" as a metaphor for their military tactics. One thousand Nigerian soldiers attacked Kuti's commune where he lived with his family, friends, and fellow musicians. During the attack he was nearly beaten to death, and the soldiers threw his mother out of a window, sustaining injuries which killed her a few days later.

The government initially denied responsibility for the attacks, claiming it was the work of a lone, yet identified soldier. In response, he sent his mother's coffin to a Nigerian barracks.

Powerful stuff.
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