"Everything Scatter," Fela Kuti (1975)

By Adrian Hedden

Few musicians embodied the militant spirit and unflinching political rebellion of the oppressed than Fela Kuti and his band the African 70. And the group’s 1975 release “Everything Scatter” was an aggressive peak in a prolific career that saw an estimated 77 records put out under Kuti’s name.

Originating in Lagos, Nigeria, Kuti’s group blended elements of American rock, fund and soul music with sounds of his native land in Gulf of Guinea on African’s western coast. The continent’s most populated nation, Nigeria is home to several different ethnic groups with their own customs, leading to frequent conflicts and perhaps providing the core inspiration for Kuti’s aggressive, universal blend of music that came to be known as “Afrobeat.”

“Everything Scatter” is situated amid Kuti’s renowned “purple period” in the mid-1970s known for increasingly political themes in the music, targeting what Kuti viewed as an oppressive government regime in Nigeria and urging his followers to stand against perceived injustice. Kuti’s group had first gained fame in the 1960s, leading to a U.S. tour in 1969 where Kuti met with the Black Power movement amid the U.S. Civil Rights Era.

Upon returning to Nigeria soon after, Kuti’s group took on this new direction, increasing the urgency and rebellion vocalized in both the music’s sound and lyrics. The decade saw Kuti’s group also increase in song production, with an estimated 23 albums release between 1974 and 1977, according to the liner notes of “Everything Scatter” which is one of five albums published just that year.

Kuti also formed his Kalakuta Republic commune during this time, living at the property with several other followers and Kuti’s multiple wives, and frequently running afoul of local authorities. Raids were frequent as the commune became regarded as inciting rebellion and harboring and using copious amounts of marijuana. The purple period ended when authorities raided the compound, burning it down in response to the hit album “Zombie” in 1977, which criticized military practices.

But before its destruction, Kuti’s group churned out album after album of groovy, eclectic protest music with a raw edge unmatched by other rebellious eras of music, notably the simultaneous punk rock movement in the 1970s in North American and England.

“Everything Scatter” may not be the record that led Kuti to international fame as “Zombie” did two years later, but it marks a time in the group’s history when its political narratives and attacks on those in power were at their more aggressive and targeted.

The record, like many of Kuti’s releases of the time, is made up of just two songs – one on each side at about 15 minutes each. This already departs from the typical structure of western music, abandoned the concept of “songs” and producing sonic movements that are more improvisational, and feel more alive than contrived, three-minute singles.

The title track opens the record, with Kuti’s saxophone clawing at the beat established by the initial bass solo, with several percussion instruments and chants gradually building up the rhythm before all the musicians drop back out, leaving just the bassline again but thrusting the band back into action seconds later. The Africa 70 are then led by an organ solo pushing the music on into its staccato, sax-driven refrain.

Fela Kuti, leader of the Africa 70

Several minutes into the song, we finally hear from bandleader Kuti as he closes out a dynamic solo speaking Pidgin English, also known as “broken English,” that became popular throughout the country’s diverse ethnicities at the time. Kuti unveils a story of an argument on public bus, between conservative supporters of the social order of the time and a group of rebels. The argument descends quickly into chaos, before the rebels are tried by a court locked into a Nigerian jail. Kuti describes this moment as the court “hand am to mosquito,” referring to the rumored practice in Nigeria of locating jails near malaria swamps.

The second track, and side, “Who Know Go Know” produces a similar Afrobeat sound with similar although more introspective political themes than the narrative of the first song. Here, Kuti’s lyrics arguing for unit among Africans to stand up to oppressors, perhaps providing the thematic purpose of the story told on side one.

Kuti would go down in history as one of the most unique and unflinchingly individual musicians known to the world. “Everything Scatter” is a perfect example of the power of Kuti and Africa 70 in the midst of their growing political movement.

Personnel:

Fela Kuti – tenor and alto sax, piano, vocals

Tunde Williams – trumpet

Tony Allen – drums

Lekan Animashau – baritone sax

Henry Kofi – first konga

Christopher Uwaifor – tenor sax

Ogene Kologbo – Tenor guitar

Ukem Stephen – second trumpet

Franco Aboddy – bass guitar

Leke Benson – rhythm guitar

Nicholas Addo – second konga

James Abayemi – sticks

Shina Abiodun – third konga

Chorus singers

·        Bernadette Oghomienor (lead)

·        Tejunmade Abeyiyi

·        Regina Osuhor

·        Felicia Idonije

·        Suru Eromata

·        Shade Shebindemi