Introduction

This chapter examines resistance and civic activism in the music of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Using Fela's album ‘Beasts of No Nation’ (1989) as entry point, I seek to create an understanding of African music and popular culture in general as ‘sites of ideological struggle and resistance’ (Darts 2004: 316). The chapter locates Fela's music within the sphere of nationalist resistance to hegemony and shows how he uses the popular art form to undermine the production and reproduction of dominant power structures at both the local and the global levels. Making use of interpretive textual analysis as analytical device, the chapter calls attention to the possibility of popular cultural forms relating to civil society discourses, making them more relevant beyond the common ascription of entertainment. It urges a move away from the normative search for civil society within the praxis of formal non-state institutions to a more nuanced appreciation of the potential of popular cultural forms as embodiment of the kinds of activism and resistance practice which define contemporary civil society. An incorporation of popular cultural forms within the scope of civil society will benefit the literature in many regards and ‘not only extend the boundaries of the idea, but also enrich our understanding of the (often inert) culture of protest in many African societies’ (Obadare 2009: 244).

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (1938–1997) remains one of the greatest musicians to have come out of Nigeria in recent times.