Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon: Amazon.co.uk: Michael E. Veal: Books

Review

"Michael Veal's book presents a vibrant multifaceted portrait of, as the subtitle explains, 'an African musical icon.'...With its exhaustive discography, archival photos, and vivid descriptions of Fela's life in performanceoboth on stage and offothis book provides a fantastic primer on one of the more intriguing musical personalities of the twentieth century." Ethnomusicology "Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon is both timely and bold... [It] has the potential of becoming a classic of African biography. It is written in an accessible style, rich in local color and musically informed... Veal's study is not the first book written of Fela. But it is by far the best." oVeit Erlman, Chair of Music History in the School of Music, University of Texas, Austin "I saw Fela perform in Nigeria nearly 30 years ago, and it remains my most powerful musical experience to this day. Michael Veal has written a fully comprehensive book on the life, music, and times of Nigeria's outstanding pop star, one which brings this complicated and controversial man back to life. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in Fela." oDr. John Collins, Professor of Music at University of Ghana, Legon, and author of Musicmakers of West Africa and West African Pop Roots "[Veal] has demonstrated a tremendous command of the literature, not merely on Fela and the Nigerian music scene, but the Nigerian context in which Fela grew and matured, the Afro-Diasporic musical context, and the kind of global/world music framework that has yet to appreciate Fela's contribution. This is more than a biography of one of Nigeria's most famous sons, it is a biography of an era, from the kind of pre-independence political and aesthetic culture of an anti-colonial elite through the trials and tribulations of the dictatorships of the late '80s and all of the '90s. Veal's command of the material is impressive, his knowledge of the music and music scene irreplaceable, and his contextualization of Fela's life essential to understanding the role that his music played." oWilliam Eric Perkins, editor of Droppin' Science and Senior Research Scholar with the African American Literacy and Culture Project "This is a well-written, well-researched, and highly entertaining biography." oMultiCultural Review "...a fascinating and thorough contextual biography...in his compelling book, Veal has produced a distinctive and thoroughly engaging analysis of afrobeat and its historical, ideological and material underpinnings. He is to be congratulated." oPopular Music "This exhaustive and objective profile, written by a Yale ethnomusicology professor, examines the Nigerian superstar's life and work from 1938 to his death in 1997...Veal has taken on the staggering task of portraying a musician/politician/rebel, and he executes it well." oPublishers Weekly

Product Description

Musician, political critic, and hedonist, international superstar Fela Anikulapo-Kuti created a sensation throughout his career. In his own country of Nigeria, he was simultaneously adulated and loathed, often by the same people at the same time. His outspoken political views and advocacy of marijuana smoking and sexual promiscuity offended many, even as his musical brilliance enthralled them. In his creation of afrobeat, he melded African traditions with African-American and Afro-Caribbean influences to revolutionize world music. Although harassed, beaten, and jailed by Nigerian authorities, he continued his outspoken and derisive criticism of political corruption at home and economic exploitation from abroad. A volatile mixture of personal characteristics charisma, musical talent, maverick lifestyle, populist ideology, and persistence in the face of persecution made him a legend throughout Africa and the world. Celebrated during the 1970's as a musical innovator and spokesman for the continent's oppressed masses, he enjoyed worldwide celebrity during the 1980's and was recognized in the 1990's as a major pioneer and elder statesman of African music. By the time of his death in 1997 from AIDS-related complications, Fela had become something of a Nigerian institution. In Africa, the idea of transnational alliance, once thought to be outmoded, has gained new currency. In African-America, during a period of increasing social conservatism and ethnic polarization, Africa has re-emerged as a symbol of cultural affirmation. At such a historical moment, Fela's music offers a perspective on race, class, and nation on both sides of the Atlantic. As Professor Veal demonstrates, over three decades Fela synthesized a unique musical language while also clearing if only temporarily a space for popular political dissent and a type of counter-cultural expression rarely seen in West Africa. In the midst of political turmoil in Africa, as well as renewal of pro-African cultural nationalism throughout the diaspora, Fela's political music functions as a post-colonial art form that uses cross-cultural exchange to voice a unique and powerful African essentialism. Author note: Michael E. Veal is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Yale University. In addition to being thoroughly grounded in the literature on Nigeria, African music, and the world music scene, he played as a guest saxophonist with Fela and his band Egypt 80, and has conducted interviews with Fela himself, and with his colleagues and other Nigerian musicians.

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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

You Can't Dash Me My Property 3 Jan 2002

By Ademola Soremekun

Format:Paperback

As I sit back to review this book...my mind races back and forth, I'm left in a dilema of where to start from.Micheal has done justice to a legends life - Disticntly and accurately describing not only the events and lifestyle of the High preist but also giving his readers an understanding into the reason for the lyrics of Fela. The fact that Fela was a man with balanced views who had no problems of telling 'it' as he saw, means his legacy needs to be lived on - it must to be passed onto generations to come, and Micheal has done this well in this extremely well documented memoir/testimonial of a legend. This will definately go on to be a Bible for every Kalakutacian. A great resources of information for music lovers,a strong reference for nigerians and africans outside the diaspora...a fact book for Fela's inconsiderate critics.
Just say Yeah,Yeah!

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Very happy Afrobeat recipient! 25 May 2011

By Khove

After a ton of research, I bought this book for a friend whose extensive knowledge of music in general and Afrobeat in particular is intimidating, to say the least (in a nice way, he's a lovely man!). You can imagine my anxiety as I handed it over worrying that a) he already had it and b) he already knew much of what was contained. THEN imagine my happiness that neither of those things were true, and that he LOVED it and devoured it in the space of a week.
I'd read on quite a few Afrobeat fora that this was the ultimate Fela book, and the feedback I received from the birthday boy definitely backs that up! Enjoy.

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Amazon.com: 8 reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful

Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense 7 Sep 2000

By Arash Saedinia - Published on Amazon.com

A timely exploration of the father of Afro-beat. Veal, who we learn had occasion to play with Fela and spent time at the Shrine, is obviously a fan of the music and his enthusiasm is palpable. Veal's work is distinguished on many levels. As an ethnomusicologist, Veal offers rigorous descriptions and insights into the compositional aspects of Fela's work. We are given the specifics of Fela's innovations and refinements with Afro-beat. Veal locates Fela's accomplishments within the context of its forbears (E.T. Mensah, James Brown, John Coltrane, etc.)and 20th century African/Afrodiaporic music in general. From Nkrumah to Obasanjo, Veal's discussion of Nigerian/African culture and politics is well researched and thoughtful. There are great nuggets of biographical information from Fela's brief feud with Paul McCartney to November 14th, "Fela Day" in Berkeley (go figure). Veal offers a wealth of information on Fela's family and the impact his parents (his mother in particular) had on his musical and political development. We get the blow-by-blow account of Fela's confrontations with the Nigerian authorities (often, as with the Kalakuta Massacre, in harrowing detail). On the critical throretical tip, Veal 'samples' Gilroy, Jameson, Fanon, Spivak (and others), engaging in a extended discussion of Fela's compositions as postcolonial 'texts.' Though at times distractingly academic, Veal is rigorous in his deconstruction of Fela and gender, the "specific symbolic and psychological functions" of strategic historical essentialism, mysticism, etc., avoiding the cheap and oversimplistic assessments that often surround the man (often, as Veal notes, in service of hegemonic notions of "civilization"). There is much I loved about this book: the bits about Fela's "punk" approach, the rejoinder to jazzbo(zos) and their complaints about the lack of technical virtuosity in Fela's playing, the similarities between Fela's work and blaxploitation cinema, the Yoruban (tragic) basis of his music, his later compositions as underrated "African symphonies." Veal isn't afraid to write about Fela's misguided relationship with Professor Hindu, the emptiness of Fela's vaguely anarchic rhetoric as a concrete political agenda (Fela wasn't kidding about his aspirations), the problematics of Fela's lifestyle (too much pot, rampant and unprotected sex) and the effect of his lifestyle on his wives. I would have liked to have seen more on the parallels between Fela's development of Afro-beat and the stylistic exchanges with the J.B.s, and the Afrodiasporic interchanges that led to the development of hip-hop and modern dancehall. More on Dennis Bovell's involvement with Fela and more than passing reference to the Biafran conflict. The passage on Fela's continuing influence (and the intense rediscovery taking place as we speak by a new generation of musicians and music lovers) is all too brief. But these are minor quibbles. Veal has written a marvelous book on a man who was, by turns, confrontational, generous, autocratic, wild, and always brilliant. Essential reading on an essential figure. Long live Fela!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

It's about time! 1 Aug 2000

By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com

Fela is almost as important as Bob Marley in the world of black music, but no one has really written a serious book about him until now, and Michael Veal's book is an excellent one in my opinion. Sometimes it's a bit academic but it still provides a lot of detail on Fela's entire life, on the music of his entire career, and all of the Nigerian political backgound, which is substantial. I love Fela's music and I knew he was a legend, but I never quite realized how he put his life on the line to make the music he made and say the things he said, and how heavy it became between him and the Nigerian government. And I also never realized how crazy he was - not surprising considering the fact that he was a brilliant (insane?) artist, and also considering how heavy things became as time went on. That this man managed to survive as long as he did and turn out so much great music is nothing short of miraculous! I think the book is an invaluable document of the political and musical legacy of the 1960s as it developed in Africa during the 1970s and 1980s. I learned a lot about Africa, not only musically but culturally and politically too.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

An excellent biography of a great African musician 20 Aug 2000

This book is possibly the best biography of any African musician I have read (I've also read biographies/autobiographies of Franco, Miriam Makeba, Manu Dibango and a different one on Fela). If all you know of Fela Kuti is the sensationalized stuff (i.e. 27 wives, pot smoking, etc.), it would make sense to publish this alongside all the cheap and easy bios of other controversial pop stars. But when you really get into the Fela story it is complex, encompassing Nigerian music, Nigerian and African politics, and the influence of African-American culture and politics in Africa. I think the author has done an admirable job and produced an African biography that will stand the test of time.

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Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon [Paperback]

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