I watched Fela! at the National Theatre at SE1, London very recently. I came away feeling both proud and sad.
I watched Fela! at the National Theatre at SE1, London very recently. I came away feeling both proud and sad.
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Where do I start?
I am faced with the danger of spoiling the show for those who are yet to see it but also brimming full with lots to talk about. I hope I find a balance.
For those who do not know Fela, Fela was born to Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti in Abeokuta. Funmilayo was the first woman in Nigeria to drive a car and ride a bike. She was a political maverick. Fela was one of her three sons that took after her in activism.
Fela chose to fight with his music, and the cast of Fela did a splendid job in trying to depict his life in a little less than 3 hours. They had me gyrating in my seat from the very first act. I did not need a second invitation when asked to join in the art of telling the time with our bums. Yes you are reading this correctly, the show teaches you how to tell the time with peculiar movements of the butt.
You may be aware that there is a ‘Naija’ version of English. Fela ‘no know book’. That was why when the lead player asked us to sing back ‘Original, no ar-ti-fi-ci-a-li-ty’ as if we all were a bunch of non Yoruba dudes (well of course the theatre was packed full with Caucasian folks, so it was not his fault whatsoever), my theatre partner and myself took it upon ourselves to show them how it is done and sang back the song with the correct Yoruba intonation. Well, it caught on, as we knew it would. The correct version is ‘sweeter’. Almost as ‘sweet’ as the Nigerian Natural Grass (NNG) that Fela loved oh so dearly, that he was arrested and would have spent 10 years in jail for, if the authorities had managed to get a hold of his ‘expensive shit’.
Fela’s mission was to change Nigeria and Africa. I daresay he did and his music is still doing so. His music may yet change the world.
I noted 2 key messages that came out of the show; “ We must take our destiny into our own hands” and “Rise up against our corrupt politicians and show the world the real Nigerians”
They could not have said it better. That is the summation of my pride and sadness. Pride that we are a great nation, and sadness that there is very little evidence of it. But for the mere fact that this is supposed to be a Fela! review, I would have digressed into a political rant of my own!
If I had any negative comment about the show, it would be the obvious omission that Fela died of AIDS. For some reason the producer chose not to mention this. His brother Olikoye showed great courage in disclosing to those living in Nigeria at that time through a press conference what caused his beloved brother’s death. It did not diminish our love for him. We loved and still love Fela. He was a voice of the voiceless. His music lives on.
My rating? 5 Stars. No hesitation.
A theatre goer we met in the elevators wondered how the cast managed all that energy every day of the show. He could not comprehend it. I told him Fela did it every week for most of his life. Comments like ‘mind blowing’ and ‘spectacular’ ‘pleasantly surprised’ were common during the intermission. What were they expecting? I pondered.
I do not hesitate in recommending the show to anyone in the UK before it goes to Nigeria. UK showings end in January.
I am glad they are taking the show to Nigeria. Will it ignite our docile youths? Time will tell...
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