When artists vend flesh while the country burns

By OSA AMADI, Arts Editor

Before the Afrobeat king, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, met the American lady, Sandra Smith (now Sandra Izsadore) in 1969 in Los Angeles, the lyrics of Fela’s songs were irrelevant: how sweet his mama’s soup was and all that. This young lady, Sandra, changed Fela’s philosophical outlook. She found it ridiculous that Fela with his kind of powerful instrumentation was lyrically preoccupied with irrelevancies when his country and Africa, with its rich history, was in the grip of social, political and economic enslavement.

Sandra’s recollection of her meeting with Fela is quite inspiring: “When I heard Fela’s music, after we had been spending time together, I heard them rehearse, and I liked it, but I had no idea what he was saying. So I asked him, “Fela, what are you saying?” He said he…