Fela Kuti — Zombie
Zombie · 1976
Label: Kalakuta / Knitting Factory · Genre: Funk / Afrobeat · Country: Nigeria · From: Lagos, West Africa
Zombie is Fela Kuti's most dangerous record — dangerous because he released it knowing exactly what it would cost him. The title track is a twelve-minute instruction manual for mocking Nigerian soldiers, calling them brainless automatons who kill when told to kill and die when told to die. The military banned it from radio immediately. It played out of every window in Lagos. In 1977 the army sent a thousand soldiers to destroy Fela's commune, the Kalakuta Republic. They beat him, threw his elderly mother from a window, and burned everything down. She died of her injuries. He released an album called Unknown Soldier — the government's official explanation for who had done it.
Did you know: The Zombie album prompted one of the most extreme government responses to a piece of music in history. A thousand soldiers. One record. Fela's response was to keep recording — he released Unknown Soldier, then Coffin For Head of State, then Authority Stealing. The attacks made him more prolific, not less.
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