Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Fela: the authorised biography

First published in 1982, Fela: This Bitch of a Life is the authoritative text on the life and times of Africa's greatest ever musician.

In just under 350 pages, the reader is invited to the living room of Fela’s iconoclastic mind, discovering from the inside the key turning points in his life – his childhood in Abeokuta and the forceful influence of his parents, especially his mother; student life in England; his coming to black consciousness in America (and his encounters with Funk and some of the key players in African-American musical and political culture); his return to Nigeria and setting up the Shrine and Kalakuta Republic and his increasingly painful struggles with the authorities in Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s.

Reading about Fela brings to life post-Independence African history in all its turbulence and drama. The book also includes interviews with some of Fela’s wives, allowing the reader to get an intimate perspective on Fela as a husband and as a lover.

Where to buy the book:
The Life House, 33 Sinari Daranijo St, off Younis Bashoroun St, off Ajose Adeogun, VI, Lagos. Click for map.
House of Makeda, 7 Manuwa St, off Keffi St, off Awolowo Road, Ikoyi.
XO, 82 Raymond Njoku, off Awolowo Road, Ikoyi.

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