Review of the Authorized Biography of Africa’s musical genius. FELA;This Bitch of a life. (BOOK REVIEW).

Finally got the book that had eluded me since last year, Fela;This Bitch of a Life, by Carlos Moore was on my 2017 to-read list. But the difficulty in getting the book this year, even if in e-book form at all, was maybe worth it in the end. 

Prior to this written testament of the eccentric and mavericks’ life, I had a great and detailed idea on the life and times of The Fela who was on stage, the people’s conscience. I had defined ideas on the history and politics behind his famous songs coupled with the chaotic and mosaic freedom of Kalakuta.  A good portion of the legendary life was already known to me, I needed a good back-story and I got more than I envisaged. The earlier documentaries I had watched provided excellent renditions to the magic of Felas’ lives. Then this book expands the narrative.

 Felas beginning was chronicled here and like all other children born into a fading colonialism by upper middle class parents, he was forced to behave and act in a way that differed markedly from how the larger environment, he perceived and saw, was. Flogged a lot, and having a particular penchant for being a chatterbox, Fela struggled in his academic work from the sprouting of his life, unlike his two other brothers who were both “brilliant”. 

Growing up, Fela was any other kid, full of chatter and pranks. An interesting point drawn out in the early part of the book which his bosom friend and he, himself corroborated is his story about growing up shy and “afraid” of women.  This would markedly differ from the deep patriarch and unrepentant misogynist Fela becomes in his later life. The convolutedness goes on.

The writing style of the book switches between the first person POV, trying very expressively to mirror Fela’s lucid mannerisms and speaking idiosyncrasies and a descriptive style that served as a back-story to the narrative. In this move, I felt the book struggled to create exactness of Felas’ emotion at times and created an exaggeration that presented him in a light that maybe was overly animated in many situations, where he might not have been. 

Moving on, the story of Fela’s enigmatic and gregarious life as we know it comes to life after he meets Sandra in the USA. Her struggles, and in a larger view, the black community struggle for racial equality brought to life the phoenix in the man. And after his famed reading of Malcom X’s biography, he awakened a politicial consciousness in him which many might want to relate to his genes. ( His mother was already very political in the nascent country, and his father a principal in Abeokuta who also commanded respect and adulation in his community).

Perhaps, the drabbest part of the book for me was the chapters dedicated to his 27 wives. About 15 of them were highlighted and interviewed but bar a few (The first four), the rest followed the same pattern. Young ladies smitten by his charm and the freedom the shrine came with eloped with Fela till they leave after any of the many brutal soldiers attack that becomes too difficult to bear. That part was a little painfully drawn out read.

Generally and personally, for such a long time I've always idolized the Fela on stage; fearless and daring, the voice of the subdued people whose military regimes had put them under so much duress. He spoke the truth unwashed, but behind the scenes on a regular day to day, he was still man. He was still “Normal”. Always under the influence, both by liquor or “spirits”, Fela fought with everyone that didn’t agree with him at a point in his life and a middle ground, most times, was difficult to find hence the increase in the number of ‘yes-men” who stayed with him after femi (his son) and his bosoms friends (ID and Braimah)left him due to differences in spiritual directions fela had taken . Even though his ideologies and political views were spot on, in going against the brazen inept leadership and in essence, galvanizing the peoples voice into great songs to fight against the establishment, he was still man and was still prone to more vanity and misguided actions and choices such as endorsing the regime of a despot who hid behind a pan-african cloak, President Idi-Amin of Uganda. 

Fela evidently drew strength from the love the people had for him and the strength of his mother. And towards the end, he lost his mother then the people left him. No, not left him. They refused to put up a sustained fight for freedom with him. He forgo many lucrative contracts from the mainstream industry that would have stifled his political voice or left him, not controlling his creative process. He gave them up for the people. They were the reason he continued and, of course his love for the sound. A people’s warrior, whose weapon was his music.

 Fela died alone in his room and that was such a stark end for a man who was always surrounded by many, by crowds but in the end It points back to the complexity of his life that millions trooped out, defied the military edits that banned public gatherings, to pay their last respects to the legend of the streets. The voice of the downtrodden, FELA, 25 years on, continues to be a benchmark not just for the afro-beat sound but his political proclivity for aiding the man on the streets and his unfazed quest for the ideal African society, where milk, honey, equity and freedom reigned supreme. The utopia still eludes us.