Viva Nigeria

Album: The '69 Los Angeles Sessions (1969)
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Songfacts®:

  • According to Tejumola Olaniyan in his Indiana University Press biography, Arrest the Music! Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics, "Viva Nigeria" turned out to be the composer's "most politically scandalous and compromising composition."

    Although it is written in his trademark Afrobeat style, it is not a typical Fela Kuti song. For one thing, he doesn't actually sing but talks throughout, calling for peace, love, and the brotherhood of all Africans, especially his fellow Nigerians. Running to only 3 minutes 45 seconds - very short for him - it was actually recorded in Los Angeles in 1969 during the Biafran War, thus for the casual listener in the next millennium, its full significance will be far from obvious. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

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