Music must awaken people to do their duty as citizens and act.
Fela KutiRead
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.
Interpretation
Fela Kuti expresses how his music embodies the essence and diversity of his cultural background.
In this quote, Fela Kuti highlights the intricate elements of his music, such as rhythm, sounds, and chord sequences, emphasizing that they collectively represent a rich tapestry of cultural heritage. He articulates that through these musical components, he conveys the depth and vibrancy of an entire continent, showcasing how music can serve as a powerful medium for cultural expression.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of cultural representation in the arts.
Music must awaken people to do their duty as citizens and act.
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.'
Music is a weapon of the future / music is the weapon of the progressives / music is the weapon of the givers of life
Capitalism and power politics have made our generation creatively sluggish, and our vital art is mired in a broad bourgeois philistinism.
The way to write a thriller is to ask a question at the beginning, and answer it at the end.
Almost 70 years have gone by, and I've still got that feeling when I write... Writing, for me, is still it. It has always been the basis of everything I do. I'm a writer who performs, not a performer who writes. I love the act of writing. It's still a thrill for me.
It's always a nice feeling, having people think that you feel things much deeper than you're allowed to say, but this isn't true. If you want to find out what a writer or a cartoonist really feels, look at his work. That's enough.
Elegance is usually confused with superficiality, fashion, lack of depth. This is a serious mistake: human beings need to have elegance in their actions and in their posture because this word is synonymous with good taste, amiability, equilibrium and harmony.
Most architects think in drawings, or did think in drawings; today, they think on the computer monitor. I always tried to think three dimensionally. The interior eye of the brain should be not flat but three dimensional so that everything is an object in space. We are not living in a two-dimensional world.
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