Fela Kuti: Fear No Man — Episode 9: Things Will Collide

Podcast: Fela Kuti: Fear No Man
Host: Jad Abumrad (Higher Ground)
Date: November 19, 2025

Overview

Chapter 9, “Things Will Collide,” explores a turning point in Fela Kuti’s life and the fate of his music-driven movement. Against the backdrop of FESTAC ‘77 (the epochal pan-African cultural festival in Lagos, Nigeria), the episode recounts the collision of art, activism, and political violence. At the center: Fela’s radical resistance, his uneasy flirtation with the establishment, and the brutal state crackdown that followed. Through survivor accounts, journalism, and powerful archival interviews, the episode examines the transformative but dangerous power of art — and the devastating costs for Fela, his commune, and his family.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. FESTAC ‘77: A Pan-African Dream

Segment: 02:00 - 07:31

• FESTAC ‘77 (“African Woodstock”) represented an unprecedented cultural gathering:
  • 15,000 participants from 70+ countries, including luminaries like Stevie Wonder, Audre Lorde, and Sun Ra.
  • Marilyn Nance, an emerging photographer: “It was historic. It's like, I gotta be there.” (04:16)
• The festival was seen as Nigeria's "coming out party" after independence, fueled by oil wealth and national pride.
• “Nigeria somehow shook a lot of that off in that period and was clearly its own country, run by itself, for itself, for better or for worse.” — John Darten, NYT journalist (04:56)
• A sense of African diaspora connection: “The joy of finding each other and being together.” — Laide Kuti (07:31)
• FESTAC as a grand “comparing of notes” between African and diasporic cultures: “The Egyptians are looking at the Cameroonians and the Cameroonians are looking at the Senegalese, and the Senegalese are looking at the Americans...” — Marilyn Nance (07:09)

2. Fela’s Conflict with FESTAC and the State

Segment: 07:44 - 15:06

• Fela, at the peak of his power, confidence, and political ambition, was recruited to the FESTAC planning committee (08:05).
  • Fela’s song “Napoi” (“Things Will Collide”) — the basis for the episode’s title — represents his artistic/life collision with the establishment (08:05 - 09:38).
• He presented a radical nine-point program urging the festival to “redirect the thinking of the common man...re-educate Africans about colonization, history, and religion...rid the present generation of the imposed influence of foreign cultures...” (12:28).
  • The government “immediately rejected” his demands: “You are not here to give us idea...we already know what we are going to do for the festival.” — FESTAC chairman (13:39)
• Fela resigns in protest, seeing his intelligence sidelined. “I’m invited just because of my stature as a musician, not my stature as a thinker, as a politician. I resigned from this committee.” — Fela, via ID (14:14)
• He and the Young African Pioneers (YAP) go on the offensive, publishing critiques of government policies and corruption around FESTAC (15:10).

3. Counter-FESTAC: Fela’s Defiant Stage

Segment: 16:06 - 19:18

• In response to the official festival, Fela organizes a “Counter-FESTAC” — concerts at The Shrine, the nerve center of his movement.
  • International star power: visiting artists (e.g., Stevie Wonder) all gravitate to the Shrine.
  • “From the government’s point of view, this has gotta be the most annoying thing they've ever experienced.” — Jad Abumrad (17:01)
• These nights were “a symbolic fuck you to the government... in the purest, most refined form. And the government had paid for it.” — Ben Adair (19:02, 19:08)
• Fela performs songs like “Zombie,” a blistering satire of the military, which was banned from radio but not from the Shrine stage: “He played it every night during counter-FESTAC.” — Ben Adair (18:48)
• State security forces and soldiers are present in the audience.

4. The Personal Becomes Political: Old Enmities and Brewing Storm

Segment: 19:18 - 21:30

• Power shifts: The progressive General Murtala Muhammad is deposed and murdered; General Olusegun Obasanjo (Fela’s old rival from their shared home region) takes over and escalates tensions.
• Obasanjo presides over FESTAC’s infrastructure and legacy projects, setting the stage for a personal and political showdown.

5. Catastrophe at the Commune: The Attack on Kalakuta

Segment: 23:06 - 36:09

• Survivor testimonies (Fela’s wives and daughter) reconstruct the day soldiers razed the Kalakuta Republic:
  • The incident is triggered by a minor scuffle; the military demands the handover of a member from Fela’s commune.
  • Fela refuses: “You want me to produce somebody to you uniform people? You want to go and kill them? No.” — Laide Kuti, recounting Fela’s words (24:03)
• Tensions escalate:
  • Soldiers return in force — “as a thousand soldiers with their gun, everything” (26:41) — and power is cut to the neighborhood.
  • Fela taunts them by playing “Zombie” from the balcony (26:06).
  • The state head, Obasanjo, reportedly arrives in person and signals the order to burn the commune (27:46).
• Cataclysmic violence:
  • Soldiers storm in, set fires, destroy belongings, beat inhabitants.
  • Sexual violence and humiliation are rampant — “sexual violence was front and center in the invasion.” — Ben Adair (31:29)
  • Fela’s mother is thrown from a second-story window: “They threw that woman out of window.” — Laide Kuti (28:37)
  • Survivors describe horrific beatings, mutilations, and psychological trauma: “They started stabbing my head. Look at all my head. I had 16 stitches…” — Laide Kuti (29:47)
  • Lara Kuti loses an eye and endures sexual assault (30:25 - 30:41).
• Massive crowd witnesses the raid:
  • “There were about 60,000 people watching. This scene was like a big theater show.” — Fela Kuti (36:31)
  • Despite Fela’s attempt to rally support from the crowd, “nobody lifted a finger” to intervene (37:44 – 38:00).

6. Aftermath and Legacy

Segment: 35:17 - 42:00

• After the attack, Fela and his family are scattered in military hospitals, suffering from severe injuries and trauma.
• Fela’s mother never recovers, dying a year later: “She was never herself again after that.” — Yenni Kuti (35:37)
• The sexual violence and attack were designed to crush not only Fela but the powerful, matriarchal backbone of his movement.
• The episode is a national turning point, coinciding with economic collapse: “Suddenly the rice that her family bought at the store had stones in it...It was now impossible to ignore the problems that Fela had been railing about.”
• Fela transforms his pain and injustice into artistic testimony, e.g., the song “Unknown Soldier.”
• Questions linger about collective action, courage, and complicity: Did Fela expect too much of the bystanders? Would things be different in the age of social media? (38:00 – 39:05)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

(Timestamps in MM:SS format)

• “Brothers and sisters. The secret of life is to have no fear.” — Laide Kuti (00:27)
• “I'm invited just because of my stature as a musician, not my stature as a thinker, as a politician. I resigned from this committee.” — Fela Kuti via ID (14:14)
• “The joy of finding each other and being together.” — Laide Kuti (07:31)
• “Fela had electrified the fence.” — Ben Adair (25:33)
• “Zombie in particular was an attack on the military...it's basically calling the military Zombies.” — John Darten (18:26)
• “They threw that woman out of window.” — Laide Kuti, on Fela’s mother (28:37)
• “I had 16 stitches on my head.” — Laide Kuti (29:47)
• “He would dream that his house was still there. [...] I can't, because my own memory of the armed forces was brutal. Brutal.” — Yenni Kuti (33:52, 34:12)
• “There were about 60,000 people watching. This scene was like a big theater show.” — Fela Kuti (36:31)
• “Nobody lifted a finger. Nobody lifted a finger.” — Yenni Kuti (38:00)
• “Is it only the Kutis that must fight? [...] Stay here. Let's fight it. Together. Fela stayed here. Fela never left here. We the Kuchis have never left here. We are here inside these fight.” — Yenni Kuti (38:22)

Timestamps for Essential Segments

| Time | Segment | |----------|---------------------------------------------| | 02:00 | Introduction to FESTAC ‘77 | | 07:44 | Fela joins then quits FESTAC committee | | 11:35 | Fela’s political demands & government clash | | 16:06 | Counter-FESTAC described | | 18:26 | “Zombie” and its significance | | 23:19 | The day of the Kalakuta attack begins | | 26:06 | Fela plays “Zombie” to taunt soldiers | | 28:37 | Attack: Fela’s mother thrown from window | | 29:23 | Survivor testimony of violence | | 36:31 | Fela on the crowd witnessing the attack | | 38:22 | Yenni Kuti on collective action and legacy |

Tone and Style

The episode moves between oral history, survivor testimony, and investigative journalism. Selves are deeply personal, raw, and often emotional. Abumrad’s narration weaves context and empathy, while Fela and those around him speak fiercely, with a blend of righteous anger, heartbreak, and undimmed pride.

Conclusion

“Things Will Collide” powerfully illustrates the peril and possibility at the heart of Fela Kuti’s life’s work: music as a weapon, celebration as resistance, and art as an agent of social transformation — but never without risk. In the fires of FESTAC ‘77 and the ensuing state violence, the world witnesses both the cost of resistance and the enduring imprint of Afrobeat as a language of liberation.