Kalakuta Republic
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Kalakuta Republic was the name musician and political activist Fela Kuti gave to the communal compound that housed his family, band members, and recording studio. Located at 14 Agege Motor Road, Idi-Oro, Mushin, Lagos, Nigeria it had a free health clinic, and recording facility. Fela declared it independent from the Nigerian government after he returned from the United States in 1970.
The word "kalakuta" is a swahili word meaning "rascally".[1] The compound burned to the ground on February 18, 1977 after an assault by a thousand armed soldiers. Before the attack on Fela's home, he made a record called Zombie, attacking the Nigerian military regime. In the song, soldiers are called zombies for obeying orders blindly. One of the lines of the song, in pidgin English says, "Zombie no go walk unless you tell am to walk", i.e., a zombie won't walk unless commanded to. While not criticising the idea of military service generally, Fela was frustrated with the Nigerian army's rank and file that allowed corruption and intimidation of their communities by the corrupt and rich top brass, while blindly following orders to intimidate Nigerians, e.g. whipping motorists in traffic jams.
The song was really popular with Nigerians. This upset the then President of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo. He had been a schoolmate of Fela's in primary school in Abeokuta. Following the song the military top brass were unhappy with Fela's constant criticism and said it was unseemly to have a republic within a republic. Nigerian tabloids carried lurid tales of girls who were lured there by his band members and corrupted. But none of these stories could be verified.
During the savage attack on Kalakuta Republic by 1,000 Nigerian soldiers, Fela's mother was thrown from a window and died after an 8-week coma.
Following this attack, Fela married 27 of his backing singers in a mass wedding ceremony at his lawyer's office, a Mr Tunji Braithwaite. He said he would not have normal marital relations with all of them as the tabloids kept suggesting, but had married them as none of them could find gainful employment after the recording studio had been burnt down. According to Fela, in African tradition, when a woman was in danger of being left destitute, it was the duty of a man in her community to marry her as a means of offering protection.
- ^ Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon By Michael E. Veal, p. 143
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