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Today marks 27 years since the passing of Nigerian music star Fela Kuti. As musicologist Alaba Ilesanmi writes, Fela is more famous today than ever, immortalised in films, musicals and exhibitions, name-dropped by celebrities and a part of the soundtrack of black life protests the world over. How that happened has to do with more than politics: Fela created his own myth and fans lapped it up. It also has a lot to do with music, of course, and the power of the movement called Afrobeat that he birthed.
Fela is a common theme in our archive and another take on how Afrobeat lives on in today's Afrobeats is revealed by Garhe Osiebe, while Raimi Gbadamosi considers Fela's heady mix of sex and politics.
Some exciting news from Senegal - a giant pangolin has been photographed in the country for the first time since 1967. It was believed that they had gone extinct in the country. Wildlife ecologist Marine Drouilly describes how her team, who were actually looking for large carnivores, made the discovery.
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Alaba Ilesanmi, Florida State University
Fela Kuti created his own myth, and his fans did the rest. Today his music and politics are as relevant as they were before his death in 1997.
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Raimi Gbadamosi, University of Pretoria
Nigerian superstar Fela Kuti used his music as an art form that provoked. This wasn’t only through politics, but also sex.
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Garhe Osiebe, Rhodes University
How do elements of Fela Kuti’s music get reproduced by today’s pop musicians?
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Marine Drouilly, University of Cape Town
The giant pangolin had not been documented in Senegal since 1999, and no photographic evidence had been captured since 1967.
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Roger Southall, University of the Witwatersrand
The ANC leads the unity government. If it leads South Africa back to happier times, that is most likely to benefit the ANC, rather than the DA.
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Clement Sefa-Nyarko, King's College London
Ethnicity has been largely tamed in Ghanaian electoral politics.
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From our international editions
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Natasha Lindstaedt, University of Essex
The killing of a senior Hamas leader has led to heightened concern about escalation of violence in the region.
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Jonathan Morris, University of Hertfordshire
The head of the Lavazza coffee empire has warned that coffee prices may rise more than 20% - why is this happening?
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Rebecca Hanson, University of Florida; Verónica Zubillaga, Simón Bolívar University
President Nicolás Maduro claimed victory, but regional leaders and outside observers have cried foul.
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Sajia Ferdous, Queen's University Belfast
As a measure of economic contribution, age is a blunt instrument that should be considered alongside a raft of other factors.
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