Water Get No Enemy

 Funmilayo Kuti (left), Mother of Fela Kuti

Driving an hour in winter to see the simulcast of Fela! from London was well worth it. It is based on the life of Fela Kuti of Nigeria, who was the originator of the music known as Afrobeat.
There is much in the play about his relationship with his mother, Funmilayo Kuti, an anti-colonial activist. She eventually was killed by government soldiers who threw her from a second storey window of a building in Fela's compound in Nigeria. At the time, the government and army were under the control of General Obasanjo.
If you listen to his music and singing, be aware that he made a decision to use Nigerian Pidgin as a means to reach as large an audience as possible in Nigeria, since Nigeria has many languages and the pidgin was a lingua franca. 

When I wrote yesterday's post on Gardens, I was wary about being so obviously inspired by the film Being There. Then in Fela! I was surprised to find that Mrs. Kuti has a speech which is very similar and speaks of new blooms and growth. Furthermore, she had  told her son once that "Water get no enemy ", which means that if something - or someone - is so indispensable as water, anyone who speaks against you or raises a hand against you will look like a fool or a madman.

Gardens and water... so we had been in a conceptual loop: myself, Being There, and Fela!
Interesting thing about conceptual loops is that time does not seem to matter.

Oh, by the way, the entire African continent may be in revolt against its corrupt elites, following the leads of Tunisia and Egypt. 2011 and 2012 will be more of those darned "interesting" times.

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