Fela Kuti and the oppositional lyrical power

Abstract

The excess of power which plagues the postcolonial Africa was subject to Fela Kuti's politically engaged lyrical content, which is direct, confrontational and antagonistic. This article examines the oppositionality of Fela's lyrics and argues that his music is a weapon, and though it is not armed like the might of the state apparatus; but then, its power can be equated with it. The article then argues that his music was informed by a politics of commitment which cannot be reduced to a mere opposition but the subjectivity which articulates agency and structure. A politics of commitment means the steady force Fela had even when the state responded with violence, and he nevertheless continued his cause and could never be tamed or muzzled by the might of the state apparatus. The article will consider some of Fela's oppositional lyrics and make a case that the lyrical power can be found in the lyrical content, which is direct in style but ideologically ambivalent.