Fela Anikulapo Afrobeats Music as A Driving Force for Social Transformation

Abstract

This paper unravels the social transformation elements as embedded in Fela Anikulapo’s Afro beats pop music compositions. A composer is a creative individual communicating personal, original, and unique thoughts with a distinctive style and a particularized point of view and expression. This concept of the creative composer has made music scholars place greater emphasis on creative individuality, originality, and freedom. While exercising his freedom, Fela’s musical genre, being protest music, encompasses several correctional lyrics that stimulate the social ills and injustice in Nigeria. Several messages of awareness that stimulates the inspiration of didactic values were embodied in his music. Being a human right activist, his music naturally focuses on patriotism, freedom, egalitarian society, and overall Nigerian development. The central importance of his belief is freedom from the forces of colonialism and neocolonialism, while exposing him to risk. The significance and value of an idea or a work of art do not exist in pristine isolation; hence, the mixture of societal needs, aspirations, and Afro beats music. Therefore, this study employs a multidimensional approach in its methodology. The bibliography was used to source for data from journals, books, and discography of recorded albums. The study adopts textual analysis as its analytical strategy to describe and interpret Fela’s pop music. The findings reveal an unbiased Fela’s music as an agent of mass conscience and social transformation. Against this background, the significance is that the study challenged contemporary pop singers to emulate Fela’s kind of popular music for the emancipation of Nigeria from her woes.