Mini-Review: Fela Kuti: Music is the Weapon (1982)

Fela Kuti: Music is the Weapon [Musique au poing] (1982)

Starring Fela Kuti

Directed by Jean-Jacques Flori & Stéphane Tchalgadjieff

Expectations: Very High. I love Fela Kuti.

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Fela Kuti is one of my favorite musical artists. He created the Afrobeat genre and sound together with his band the Africa ’70 (and later the Egypt ’80). He seems to have entered more of the mainstream conciousness with the recent success of the Broadway musical “Fela!” but the real heart of his music lies in Nigeria and the political struggles he faced there.

This film features a couple of live performances from Fela and the band, none of them full songs, but enough to allow you to get a sense of his personal style on-stage. The film also covers a history of Fela and his music, covering his trip to America where he met Black Panthers who inspired him to become more political in his own country. The problem is, if you know much of anything about Fela and his music, this documentary doesn’t offer much that you haven’t already heard. It’s not that big of a problem though, as any Fela fan will enjoy the live performances and the extensive interviews with Fela himself.

The film does do a good job of showing the poor living conditions in the Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos. These scenes are cut to Fela’s song “Sorrow, Tears, and Blood” and it is a perfect choice. The images of people’s everyday struggles echo the lyrics to the song and like never before I was really able to grasp the power of his words. His music is so much fun, but underlying that is the immense Nigerian social problems. Seeing it all at once brought it home and shows how Fela was so much more than just a bandleader. He sought above all to improve the lives of the Nigerian people through his music.

Music is the weapon.

[Update: I screwed up. The song I was referring to in the film is not Confusion, but “Sorrow, Tears, and Blood”. I knew I should have double checked it, but I was trying to get this up quick and I figured I was right. So all mentions to the song Confusion have been removed and replaced with the accurate info. In any case, both songs are excellent.]

I’ll leave you with some of the lyrics to the song I mentioned above, “Sorrow, Tears, and Blood.” Seek it out if you’ve never heard it.

Everybody run run run
Everybody scatter scatter
Some people lost some bread
Some one nearly die
Some one just die
Police dey come, Army dey come
Confusion everywhere

Seven minutes later
All done cool down, brother
Police don go away
Army don disappear

Dem leave Sorrow, Tears, and Blood (2x)
Dem regular trade mark
*(CHORUS) DEM REGULAR TRADE MARK
Dem regular trade mark
*(CHORUS) DEM REGULAR TRADE MARK

My people self dey fear too much
Dem fear for the thing we no see
Dem fear for the air around us

We fear to fight for freedom
We fear to fight for liberty
We fear to fight for justice
We fear to fight for happiness
We always get reason to fear

We no want die
We no want quench** **(destroy)
Mama dey for house
Papa dey for house
I get one wife
I get one car
I get one house
I just build house
I wan enjoy

So policeman go slap your face
You no go talk
Army man go whip your yansh** **(ass)
You go dey look like donkey
Rhodesia dey do dem own
Our leaders dey yab for nothing
South Africa dey do dem own

Dem leave Sorrow, Tears, and Blood
*(CHORUS) DEM REGULAR TRADE MARK
Dem regular trade mark
*(CHORUS) DEM REGULAR TRADE MARK

That is why-y-y

Everybody run run run
Everybody scatter scatter
Some people lost some bread
Some one nearly die
Some one just die
Police dey come, Army dey come
Confusion everywhere

Time dey go
Time no wait for nobody
Police dey come
Like this
**[make siren noise with voice]