We say congratulations to friends and fans of BEATS on the occasion of our 37th year in the business.
We also appreciate all those who have invested in whatever form, either in cash or kind in this project. We thank you all.
The maiden edition of BEATS Entertainment Weekly rolled out of the press on the 25th of April, 1985. It was a dream come true.
The paper was rested in 2023, but has since made a bold resurgence with our online editions, which began on Friday, November 5, 2021. Since then, beatsinfotainment.com, as we’re now known, has remained a hit on the online publishing circuit.
To celebrate our anniversary, the BEATS board of editors decided to do a story on two major music icons whose stardoms, dominate their eras and impacted their generation the most.
This is why you are reading The Tale of Two Icons, Fela Anikulapo- Kuti and Chris Okotie. Why these guys? The duo best capture the BEATS spirit, what we represent; the innovation, audacity, and the elements of a refreshingly different artistic talent and style. BEATS is an exciting story of two artistes with two contrasting styles, which are a true reflection of both stars.
Fela and Okotie cannot be compared in terms of musical styles, because they were in different genres. And moreover, they were contemporaries but not peers in the real sense of the word.
Fela, Orlando Julius, Segun Bucknor, Joni Haastrue, Rex Lawson, etc, were peers and contemporaries, while Okotie’s dramatic emergence in1980, inspired the likes of Felix Liberty, Jide Obi, and others who became both his peers and contemporaries.
However, only Okotie and Fela ran parallel careers in the Afrofusion/pop idioms with emphatic dominance of their distinctive genres and epochs.
Fela embodied Afrobeat, of which he was the Chief exponent, although, much more than his music, his frequent skirmishes with government officials and his protest music which highlights societal ills and corruption in government, turned him into the phenomenon he eventually became, not forgetting his bohemian lifestyle.
Fela didn’t care about sales figures, always arguing that his music is not for enjoyment but for ‘suffering people’.
But Fela’s career didn’t begin with protest music. He began as an Afro-jazz -highlife artiste, leading the Koola Lobitos brand back then in the late’60s- early 70s.
Rex Lawson, Victor Uwaifo, Segun Bucknor, Orlando Julius Ekemode, Joni Haastrup, and others, like the older stars, Bobby Benson, Victor Olaiya, E.C.Arinze were his peers then.
Fela began to create his own niche, and with his hit single, Jeun Kooku, he appeared to establish his own identity.
Years down the line, his music evolved gradually; instead of the trumpet-driven sounds he played, Fela began using the horns, which ultimately projects the power of his music, now rechristened Afrobeat.
With this new genre of Afrofusion, played with some jazzy keyboards, he began to churn out hit albums like Lady/Shakara, Palavar, Gentleman, Ojuelegba, and Water No Get Enemy, Na Swuegbe, Open and Close, etc.
Fela’s stardom spread across musical frontiers, becoming the first star to cross the ethnic barrier in Nigeria. He was our first national folk hero and musical titan.
However, after his tour of America and his relationship with Sandra, an American lady in the Black Consciousness movement, Fela’s music became more nationalistic in content and orientation.
He began his own Black Power philosophy, which invariably influenced his musical direction. With this directional shift towards protesting the ills of society, the alleged colonial mentality of our leaders, and corruption in government; a new Fela was born.
His music now emphasized protest, as against melody or mega-sales, because his direct confrontations with law enforcement agents like police and soldiers, gave him the mass appeal he wanted.
When we talk about Fela today, we remember his bohemian lifestyle, his marriage to 27 wives, the burning of his home (Kalakuta Republic), and the scores of protest songs he waxed to drive his message.
The Fela persona is etched in the memory of his fans.
It’s doubtful if Fela reached his full potential before his untimely death from a fatal AIDS infection. But his reputation as a cultural icon and Nigeria’s first global star or superstar, if you like, cannot be disputed.
Like Fela, Okotie’s musical career was a game-changer. He emerged from nowhere in 1980, about five years after the schoolboy group, Ofege, stormed the scene with a popular album, then another before the boys faded into oblivion.
However, with his hit debut,I Need Someone, Okotie announced himself as the first national youth star, with an identity, like Fela’s, that erased cultural and ethnic barriers. Although Okotie is Urhobo, nobody bothered about his origins other than the awareness that a youth from the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus had emerged on the pop scene with an album that topped the chart for almost a year.
In those days, Radio Nigeria 2, ran a Top Ten music chart, conducted by Research and Marketing Services,RMS,a reputable company in Lagos then. The chart featured all the commercial music in the market regardless of musical idioms.
Okotie’s other album, Just For You, the follow-up to I Need Someone, which it outsold, dominated the chart, like his other album, Show Me Your Back Side.
However, unlike the one-hit wonders that populate the scene today, Okotie’s musical talent spurned an array of beautiful and memorable songs, like Fine Mama, which a popular beer brand used for its promo for a long time on NTA.
There were also the anthemia, ABC, so popular with children, Carolina, a lover’s favourite, I Like You, Am A Little Boy, etc.
However, Okotie also didn’t reach his full potential, when in 1987, he answered the call to serve God in the vineyard and suddenly announced the end of his music career, breaking the hearts of millions of adoring fans.
The Okotie story has not ended, though as he continues to sing self-composed inspirational music in his church, Household of God, Oregun, Lagos.
We hope to interview Okotie and the producer of I Need Someone and other hits, Odion Iruoje.
Watch out!
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