This following story shows how Fela had a lot of integrity and always stood for the truth. This happened in the early 80s when Fela was going on his first Italian tour. The Italian Communist Party who were paying for his tickets invited him. Before they left Nigeria he had a meeting with everyone that was traveling, 70 of them, and said no one should carry igbo (that is, grass or marijuana). Everyone acknowledged this information.
The next day they were to board the plane and everyone except Fela had arrived at the airport. Anyone who knew Fela well knew he was late for everything and if you said, “Fela you are late,” he would say, “If I was late, I would be in the cemetery.”
I digress, back to my story. Everyone had checked in and had boarded the plane. In those days, there was no fear of terrorism, so when Fela did not get to the airport in time they sent everyone off the plane but the the luggage remained.
Fela was getting to the airport and when he saw the plane taking off without him, he could not believe it. The Airlines were more flexible then so their tickets were endorsed to go on KLM and they took the next flight out to Italy.
Meanwhile, I had gone ahead and was waiting for them at Malpensa Airport, when the Promoter found out Fela and the others were not on the plane but their luggage was, he said he would wait for the luggage while I went ahead to the house.
While I was waiting in the house, ID (one of the Young African Pioneers)* called to say they were in Amsterdam and would be coming in later if they could get a flight, then disaster struck. The promoter called from the airport to say 47 kilos of igbo had been found in Fela’s group luggage, and I should warn Fela to go straight back to Nigeria if he called. I was in shock. The promoter had a large igbo tree growing in his flat. He promptly told his wife to destroy it. He made my cousin and I, who had been staying at his place, leave because the police would be looking for anyone with the surname “Kuti.” I was so young then, I was so scared, but I knew Fela would never have done that.
When Fela found out what had happened, he could not believe it. He promptly assembled the whole group and asked them who had packed 47 kilos of igbo. Some confessed to having little amounts of it in powder dispensers, toothpaste tubes, things like that. Fela exclaimed he was not looking for a little igbo mixed in with powder, he was looking for 47 kilos! While the people argued back and forth, one of Fela’s wives heard some others whispering suspicious things, warning each other not to confess, and generally acting quite guilty. She said, “Fela, I’m hearing some things that I can’t understand here, I think you should question these people.” Fela called them to him and questioned them. They confessed that an American girl, Susan, who had been abandoned by her husband and was living in Nigeria, (and whom Fela had helped support and was trying to help get back to the United States) had given some of the wives eight suitcases lined with grass. Fela found this unacceptable. He called Susan and questioned her. Susan confessed everything to Fela. What she did not know was that my mother had planted a recorder under the bed and got the whole confession on tape.
Once Fela had that confession on tape, he said he was going to Italy. The promoter tried to dissuade him, but Fela did not agree. When the group got to Italy, they were thoroughly searched by police but they let everyone go to the hotels. (We were staying in two separate hotels since Fela had missed the flight.) We had our first show that night. The next morning, the police raided us. They searched all our rooms and manhandled some of us. Fela was in his room with one of his wives when they got there. Fela refused to put any clothes on and did not allow the wife to dress up either. His wife accepted a towel offered to her by the police, but Fela insisted on going completely naked since that was how they found him. They jailed Fela for seven days and the rest of us had to stay in a hostel. It was terrible, but Fela stood by his guns and insisted it was not his grass. He gave them the tape with Susan’s confession on and in the end they let him go and arrested Susan. We were in the papers every day, wandering around Italy for a month, selling Fela’s CDs to get money to eat as the authorities had seized our passports.
If you are wondering if Fela stayed naked – yes he did – he said later that he was Shakara,** but one of the prison wardens realized he was cold and gave him some clothes!
The point of that story is that he knew he was innocent and rather than run away like a coward he chose to face the music and became one of the if not the most popular African Artist in Italy till date.
Needless to say the communist party dropped Fela. Susan was released after a couple of weeks and was sent back to the States. What made me proud of Fela was that he stood by his guns.
~Femi Kuti
FROM: www.blog.felaonbroadway.com
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