The Kutis Is A Generation Of Protest Singers; A Review Of Mádé Kuti Album, Chapter 1: Where Does Happiness Come From?
The sophomore album of Mádé Kuti comes years after his debut, For(e)ward, from the two-album project that features his father, Femi Kuti. The album poses a question that might have tickled one’s curiosity at some point. A question that can be heard continuously in the feverish ending of the song, Story with Femi Kuti. Chapter 1: Where Does Happiness Come From? is an instrumental album that pushes the boundaries of Afrobeats with subtle influences from hip-hop, reggae and more in the production.
The legacy of Fela Kuti lays an obvious imprint in the Nigerian creative scene. Fela didn’t just make music, he was music. And following his death in 1997, he continued to be music as his bloodline went on to uphold the stronghold principles that runs in his songs. To Fela, music wasn’t just sounds and words thrown together for entertainment. Music was a tool for revolution. Music was a spiritual experience. This can be seen in the 1978 performance of ‘Pansa Pansa’ in Berlin where he implores the crowd to join the experience as he wildly gyrated to the protest song with lyrics, “as long as Africa dey suffer…/dem go hear pansa pansa ehh/pansa pansa.” Fela detested the corrupt bindings of the government and because of his outspoken critiques he became a target of military juntas in the 1980s.
Protest singing has always been a way to spark revolution and government reform. This legacy did not start and end with Fela. The likes of Eedris Abdulkareem, African China, Majek Fashek, and many more have used songs to highlight the political and economic hardships that run deep in the system. Fela’s sons, Femi and Seun Kuti, picked up this legacy. Femi Kuti was an active participant in the 2012 Fuel Subsidy Removal Protest and the famed 2020 End SARS Protest that led to the disbandment of the Nigeria Police Force Unit. His songs Sorry, Sorry, and the recent Politics Don Expose Them is a reflection of his commitment to a greater Nigeria. Seun Kuti and his late father’s band, Egypt 80 has also released songs like Rise and African Dreams. Both songs show the singer’s belief in Pan-Africanism. He has also shown interest in reviving his father’s now-defunct political party, Movement Of The People.
It’s no surprise that Fela’s grandson, Mádé Kuti, a Trinity College of Music alumni (the same college Fela attended) became the latest Kuti to embrace music and its role in activism. Chapter 1: Where Does Happiness Come From? is a 13-track album that took four years to reach completion. The majority of songs in this album are about five to seven minutes long, this is not an average Afrobeats release. The album begins with the track, Take It All In Before The Lights Go Out. This is a smooth introduction to the album and to first-time listeners of Mádé. The song’s cheerful instrumental is somewhat reminiscent of a marching band at a carnival and it sounds like the classical version of Rema’s Kelebu, a song that follows that exact cheer and energetic air. The album shows Mádé’s talent in composition as he doesn’t seem to limit himself. He is a multi-instrumentalist and the album shows him on the piano and saxophone. Oya Oya is a throwback to Fela’s political reverence as he documents the Lekki Massacre of 2020 End SARS protests.
The album feels like a slice of life from a modern Nollywood movie. It paints the imagery of the average Nigerian in buses, churches, and lush weddings where music acts as a binding tool. The instrumental is Afrobeats in its barest form, its rawest. Mádé’s scant lyricism draws attention to the instrumentals like he wants the music to speak for itself. Won Na Pa sounds like a musical rendition of a West African fable. Other tracks that reflect the gluttony of the upper class and the struggling lives of average Nigerians include, Life As We Know It, My Voice, and Our Own. The album ends on a hopeful note that is captured in the album cover, an art style that is common in illustrated literature books and book covers in Nigerian schools and libraries. It features Mádé in a river looking upwards at the sunset for a celestial answer or help.
Fela is credited as the father of Afrobeats as he figured out a unique blend of West African music with American Funk and Jazz. Afrobeats has evolved from its classical form into what it is today. Fela’s legacy has been packaged and rebranded for the young audience, so his history and influence is preserved. But in a generation of modern Afrobeats, do classical Afrobeats have any relevance? Mádé Kuti begs to differ. In a Pulse Breakdown interview, he talked about new and upcoming Afrobeats talents who are taking up the classical scene in Nigeria. But he agreed about modern Afrobeats taking the music market right now.
Through the lens of Afrobeats legends of the 2000s, Fela can be seen in songs like Burna Boy’s Dem Day, Falz’s Moral Instruction with Fela samples, Bella Shmurda’s New Born Fela, and AKA’s (feat Kiddominant) Fela In Versace. These songs act as a way for young people to engage with Fela in a musical language they best understand. The Kutis understand this and there have been cross-generational collaborations with artists like Fireboy, Ckay, Niniola, and many more. This reinterpretation of Afrobeats and collaboration with Afrobeats stars with different sounds, keeps Fela alive in Nigerian music.
