Fela Kuti’s Spirituality through Fela’s life.
A while back I went to the screening of Fela NYC: Fresh from Africa. One thing bothered me throughout the documentary was the down playing of Fela’s African spirituality and the role Fela’s Queens played in his life & music. When the documentary makers were questioned about this they gave whimsical answers and avoided the answers.
Furthermore after the showing the Fela documentary, ancestral voices was aired in which numerous white people walked out. To a certain extent the documentary questions the whole whiteman saviour complex, the European Christianization of Africa (excluding the coptic ethiopian and egyptian coptic Churches) and the importance of African Spirituality.
At 2:43, you hear Fela praising orishas Ogun and Shango along with Malcom x, and kwame Nkrumah … Fela Genius!!! African Cultural heritage lives on in Latin America, where these orishas are still loved and praised. Specially in Brazil and Cuba. There is much dialogue that needs to be done between us all.
It appears easy to accept the creations from African culture however it’s difficult for the culture to be accepted particularly in Europe or the America’s where African’s are Type cast as ‘Black’ and marginalized.
Africans & Diaspora Abroad
We should fund our own things, such as music, Cinema, businesses and institutions or we will continue to be marginalized and not cast in our right light. We must do this so the legacies of those who came before us can be remembered in the right light & we can leave the next generation with more than we ever had.
Africans Back home
Proper dialogue and study of the way spiritual systems were imposed and put in place for foreign interest/benefit.
