Fela Kuti Print

This is a painting I did for the great afrobeat musician Fela Kuti. Fela is in the center playing his famous saxophone, the setting of the painting is based off of old images of the original Africa’s Shrine. The woman in the purple dress is his radicalizing girlfriend Sandra Iszadore doing the dance for his song ‘Zombie.’ The man playing guitar is his best friend JK Braimah, the woman sitting is his mother Funmilayo-Ransome Kuti who was a Nigerian educator, political campaigner, suffragist, and women’s rights activist. The man on the drums is the legendary drummer Tony Allen. Felt once said “without Tony Allen, there would be no afrobeat.” On the keyboard I painted the train pass for Malcolm X, to reference the time he worked for the New Haven Railroad. He was eventually fired, but continued to use his free train pass to follow the great jazz musicians of the 40s. I did this to reference Malcolm X’s Autobiography, which was a special book that Fela carried everywhere with him.