Things Will Collide (Episode 9, Audio Only) | Fela Kuti: Fear No Man
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About this episode
In this powerful chapter of Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, host Jad Abumrad takes us deep into one of the most turbulent, inspiring, and devastating moments in modern African history.
1977—Nigeria is hosting FESTAC, a massive global festival celebrating Black and African arts and culture. Photographers, poets, dancers, and icons like Stevie Wonder, Sun Ra, Audre Lorde, and thousands more descend on Lagos for what many called “a halcyon moment of Pan-African possibility.”
But beneath the music, dancing, and unity, another story is brewing.
As Nigeria’s military government showcases its wealth to the world, Fela Kuti is becoming more politically outspoken, more influential, and more dangerous to those in power. When he refuses to play along—and instead launches a “Counter-FESTAC” at his legendary Shrine—the state responds with force.
What happens next becomes one of the darkest nights in Nigerian history: the brutal military attack on Fela’s Kalakuta Republic, the assault on his family and wives, the death of his mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, and the unraveling of the country’s political optimism.
Through first-person accounts from those who lived it—photographer Marilyn Nance, former wives Laide Kuti and Lara Shosaya, members of Fela’s movement, and Fela’s daughter Yeni Kuti—this episode reconstructs the joy, terror, and aftermath of a moment that changed everything.
About Fela Kuti: Fear No Man:
From Higher Ground Audio and Audible Originals comes an epic new documentary podcast from Jad Abumrad, creator of Radiolab and Dolly Parton’s America.
In a world on fire, what can art do? Fela Kuti: Fear No Man explores the life, music, and radical spirit of the Nigerian icon who invented Afrobeat — a sound that fused funk, jazz, and resistance into one of the most explosive musical movements of the 20th century.
Through vivid storytelling, original interviews, and rich archival sound, Jad Abumrad traces how Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s music became both a cultural revolution…
- Posted by
- Higher Ground Productions, the YouTube channel of HIGHER GROUND PRODUCTIONS, on 2025-12-02
- Rights holder
- HIGHER GROUND PRODUCTIONS, whose own site links this channel (checked 2026-10-31)
- Length
- 43 min
- Where it plays
- Wherever YouTube plays: its rights holder sets no limit
- Made for kids
- No, as YouTube designates it
- Language
- English, as YouTube records it
- What it is
- A full episode, as its rights holder calls it
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