Music must awaken people to do their duty as citizens and act.
Fela KutiRead
Being African didn't mean anything to me until later in my life.
Interpretation
This quote reflects a journey of self-discovery and the growing appreciation of oneβs cultural identity over time.
Fela Kuti's quote expresses the idea that one's sense of identity and connection to cultural heritage can evolve with experience and maturity. Initially, being African may not have held significance, but as one grows and experiences life, there can be a deeper understanding and pride in that identity, highlighting the importance of cultural awareness and self-acceptance.
In practice
Use this quote in a discussion about the importance of cultural heritage in personal identity.
Music must awaken people to do their duty as citizens and act.
The rhythm, the sounds, the tonality, the chord sequences, the individual effect of each instrument and each section of the band - I'm talking about a whole continent in my music.
I'm playing deep African music.
The art, the greatness of the music, the experience of the music is what I'm about. I think most African artists have destroyed their artistry by commercialization, and I don't want to belong to that bag.
The human spirit is stronger than any government or institution.
My message was 'Think African. Make schools read African history.'
Do not fix hopes on your health, and do not laugh away life. Remember how they walked and now all their joints lie separately, and the tongue with which they talked lightly is eaten away by the worms
Making fake biography, false history, concocting a half-imaginary existence out of the actual drama of my life is my life.
I remember myself, age five, sitting on a porch overlooking a very muddy road. The day was rainy. I was wearing rubber boots, yellow - no, not yellow, green - and for all I know, I'm still there.
While football embarrassingly exposes the excesses of capitalism, the Olympic sports have been used to propagate the neoliberal mantra that success is simply a matter of hard work.
You are not in the world...the world is in you," what did he mean? [That is, you are not in the world," that is, there is no "you" that is real or in any world. "The world is in you" means that the world is in your "mind" and is nothing more than a figment of your programming-and-conditioning-induced imaginings.]
Everything must be free to be written and published without restraint.
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