Fela Kuti

It's almost impossible to overstate the impact and importance of Fela Anikulapo (Ransome) Kuti -- or just Fela, as he's more commonly known -- to the global musical village. As a producer, multi-instrumentalist, and bandleader with a larger than life personality, Kuti combined the raw guitars and jazzy undercurrents of traditional highlife with tight horn arrangements, electrifying polyrhythms, and politically charged lyrical content for the creation of Afrobeat. Kuti had an unparalleled hot streak throughout the '70s with frequent electrifying concert performances and genre-d...