While Wings were recording Band On The Run in Lagos, McCartney was accused of stealing African music and rhythms. The person accusing him of cultural appropriation was Fela Aníkúlápó Kútì. A very popular figure with the people of Nigeria, Kútì was a pioneer of Afrobeat, a prolific songwriter, a multi-instrumentalist, a political activist, a thorn in the side of the military government, and a strong advocate for Anti Colonial Nationalism. Kútì publicly accused McCartney and had a much publicised standoff with the ex-Beatle. Although McCartney and Laine enjoyed African music, and subsequently claimed that it influenced the mood of the album, they were not there to steal local music.
McCartney arranged to see Kútì perform at a nightclub the musician owned, the Africa Shrine. It would be another unforgettable experience that went from sublime to unnerving. Thanks to some strong local cannabis, McCartney was high as a kite and was moved to tears by the music of Kútì’s band Africa '70 who performed ‘Why Black Man Dey Suffer’. “I had this fantastic evening, really quite, sort of, wild, experience there,” McCartney recalled. “When I heard [the music], due to the circumstances of the evening, I mean you were right in the depths of Africa here. Talk about the black experience. We were the only white people there, and it was very intense. When this music broke, I ended up weeping. It was one of the most amazing musical moments of my life.”
McCartney’s euphoria soon disappeared when, during a break, several members of Africa ’70 approached him and accused him of stealing their music. Lady Luck smiled on McCartney for a second time. Ginger Baker had accompanied them to the nightclub and intervened. Bake had become good friends with Kuti in the 1960s when they were bothing living in London. Baker relocated to Lagos in 1971 and substituted for Tony Allen, the drummer with Africa 70, on tours of Nigeria. Baker formally introduced McCartney to Kútì and assured him that he was not there to steal African music. “I think old Fela, when he found us in Lagos, thought, ‘Hello, why have they come to Lagos?’ And the only reason he could think of was that we must be stealing black music, black African music, the Lagos sound, we'd come down there to pick it up,” McCartney told Paul Gambaccini. “So I said, ‘Do us a favour, we do OK as it is, we're not pinching your music.’” Kútì temporarily put his concerns to one side and in a public show of unity invited McCartney on stage at the end of the performance.
A photograph of them smiling and holding hands was printed in the local paper, suggesting that everything had been smoothed over. However, Geoff Emerick later recalled that the confrontation scared McCartney, and far from being placated Kútì went on the radio to, once again, accuse him of stealing African music. McCartney was certainly unsettled by the experience. It was still on his mind when he spoke to Chris Welch of the Melody Maker a few weeks after returning to London. McCartney said of Kútì’s accusations: “Fela Ransome Kuti accused us of trying to steal black African music. And he’s welcome to their music, It’s very nice. I love it, and wish I could do it, but he’s welcome to it. But he does have a fantastic band out there, one of the best live bands I've ever heard. It's funky and not very sophisticated. You saw it in Ginger Baker's film, but it didn't come off at all well in the film. There was one and a half weeks of pretty bad vibes. It felt a bit dangerous, and raw, and you're not sure how you're going to figure.”
If McCartney hadn’t been so stoned, he may have been able to comprehend the meaning of the song that moved him to tears. Had he been paying attention; he may have better understood what Kútì was fighting for. As it was he failed to understand the song’s message or Kútì or the continent’s colonial past. ‘Why Black Man Dey Suffer’ is an anti-colonial anthem, a call for post-colonial Nationalism, a cry of dismay at what white men had done to Africa and Africans, and a call for Africans to defy their colonial oppressors and embrace their own culture. Unknown to McCartney, he represented everything that Kútì opposed.
Why black man dey suffer today
Why black man no get money today
Why black man no go for moon today
This is the reason why (tell me now)
This is the reason why
We dey sit down for our landi jeje
We dey mind our business jeje
Some people come from far away land
Dem fight us and take our land
Dem take our people and spoil our towns
Na since den trouble starti oh (huh, huh)
Our riches dem take away to their land
In return dem give us their colony
Dem take our culture away from us
Dem give us dem culture we no understand
Black people, we no know ourselves
We no know our ancestral heritage
A few days later, Kútì visited EMI Lagos to further quiz McCartney about his reasons for visiting Lagos. He was played what Wings had been recording to prove that they hadn’t stolen any African rhythms. Once again Ginger Baker was on hand to intervene and help ease the tension. Many years later, McCartney recalled his meeting with Kuti. However, over forty years had passed and while McCartney can still recall the tune he heard but not the song's title. It was ‘Why Black Man Dey Suffer’.
Comments