Fela Kuti: Fear No Man
In a world that’s on fire, what is the role of art? What can music actually…do? Can a song save a life? Change a law? Topple a president? Get you killed? In Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, Jad Abumrad—creator of Radiolab, More Perfect, and Dolly Parton's America—tells the story of one of the great political awakenings in music: how a classically trained 'colonial boy' traveled to America, in search of Africa, only to return to Nigeria and transform his sound into a battering ram against the state—creating a new musical language of resistance called Afrobeat. For years, the world’s biggest stars made pilgrimages to Nigeria to experience Fela’s Shrine, the epicenter of his musical revolution. But when the mix of art and activism got too hot, the state pulled out its guns, and literally opened fire. Fela Kuti: Fear No Man is an uncategorizable mix of oral history, musicology, deep dive journalism, and cutting edge sound design that takes listeners deep inside Fela’s life, music, and legacy. Drawing from over 200 interviews with Fela Kuti’s family, friends, as well as scholars, activists, and luminaries like Burna Boy, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Santigold, and former President Barack Obama (just to name a few), Fela Kuti: Fear No Man journeys deep into the soul of Afrobeat to explore the transformative power of art and the role artists can play in this current moment of global unrest. An Audible Original presented by Audible and Higher Ground. Produced by Western Sound and Talkhouse. ©2025 Higher Ground, LLC (P)2025 Audible Originals, LLC.
Episodes
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Fela’s music had the power to move hearts, change minds, and in the case of one man, heal the deepest wounds.
Audio clip of Ayo Edebiri courtesy of Sundance Institute. Used by Permission.
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Every superhero – and superstar – has an origin story. For Fela, it happened in 1969 Los Angeles, where a potent mix of music and politics turned a “missionary boy” into a Pan-Africanist freedom fighter and ignited a musical firestorm.
Voice of America audio clips courtesy of voanews.com.
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Fela’s club, The Shrine, was an oasis of freedom amidst a brutal dictatorship. Once inside – and on the dancefloor – the music intoxicated, enraptured and, ultimately, inspired resistance.
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Origin story part 2. The “ideological genealogy” of Fela’s revolution actually extends back farther than 1969. Fela’s began twenty years earlier, when he was an 8 year old boy watching his mom make history.
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Fela was known almost as much for his hijinx as he was for his music. He took aim at the powers-that-be and, over and over, paid for it in blood. And yet, every provocation served as creative inspiration.
Audio clip of Konkombe courtesy Harcourt Films Ltd.
Lijadu Sisters appear courtesy of Secretly Publishing and Numero Group.
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According to some, the key to Afrobeat was its women. And one of the keys to understanding this “very complicated” man is how Fela both liberated and oppressed the women closest to him, depending on who you ask.
Audio clip of Ayo Edebiri courtesy of Sundance Institute. Used by Permission.
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...As Fela’s campaign against the state begins to take form, three young lieutenants rise up to lead his political charge.
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In January, 1976, Fela drops his most fiery, confrontational song – “Zombie” is a blistering attack on the army, soldiers, and everyone who “just follows orders” to protect those in power. The song inspires ordinary Nigerians to stand up against tyranny wherever they see it — from traffic cops on the beat to the powerful general / head-of-state. And the response from the government — and its army — is almost immediate...
After "Zombie," the military can no longer abide by Fela and his followers. A global celebration of Nigeria’s Pan-African ambitions turns into a brutal raid, torture and death, with thousands of people watching.
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Fela told his followers that he could never die. So what happens when the unthinkable finally happens?
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Thirty years after Fela’s death, Nigeria erupts — and Fela is again at the center of it.
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Is Fela’s music actually a weapon of the future? What does his legacy tell us about the real power of art and the artist?
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On the occasion of Fela's Lifetime Achievement Grammy, Jad is back to put his musical legacy in a very different context, with the help of Michael Veal, Randall Woolf, David Byrne and Brian Eno.
Thanks to LSO Live on behalf of the London Symphony Orchestra
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