On another weekend, I checked out Kalakuta Republic which is the house-turned-museum of the famous musician Fela Kuti. Fela was described to me as the “Bob Marley of Nigeria” since he is the progenitor of the Afrobeat musical genre: a mixture of jazz, funk, salsa, calypso, Ghanaian highlife, rock, and traditional West African music (Nigerian Yoruba). While taking the guided tour, I learned he was not just a musician, but also a very ardent social activist. He was arrested and imprisoned many times for speaking out and freely criticizing the government. Over his life, he also embraced Pan-Africanism and the Black Power movement, championing socialist causes which permeated his music.
Fela Kuti 
“If a man wants to enslave you forever he will never tell you the truth about your forefathers” 
View from the roof of Kalakuta Republic
Fela seemed larger-than-life, the tour guide liked to point out (multiple times) that Fela married 27 wives at once and fathered many children. His life is so fascinating that one could make a movie out of it, which in fact, he did. Unfortunately the film, called “Black President” for when he ran for political office, was lost in a fire during a police raid. However, his life is still told in story format as the Broadway Musical: Fela! *
To round out the Fela experience, I visited the New Afrika Shrine a few weeks later to watch his son, Femi, perform live. Femi and his band perform most Thursday and Sunday nights, and the Thursday nights are free which was incredible as the group was very good and could easily charge high ticket prices. The venue was quite large and people lounged on plastic chairs listening to the music or went up to the dance floor in front of the stage.
Spencer in Lagos 