Kalakuta Republic

Common card · No. 252855

"Kalakuta Republic" was the name that Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti gave to the communal compound that housed his family, band members, and recording studio. Located at 14 Agege Motor Road, Idi-Oro, Mushin, Lagos, Nigeria, it had a free health clinic and a recording facility. Fela declared it independent from the state ruled by the military junta after he returned from the United States in 1970. The compound burned to the ground on February 18, 1977, after an assault by a thousand armed soldiers. "Kalakuta" was a mockery of a prison cell named "Calcutta" that Fela inhabited. The name was originally derived from the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta dungeon in India. Before the attack on Fela's home, he made a record called Zombie, about the Nigerian military regime. In the song, soldiers are called zombies for obeying orders blindly. One of the lines of the song, in West African Pidgin English, says, "Zombie no go walk unless you tell am to walk". Fela was frustrated...

Read on Wikipedia