Kalakuta Museum: Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s Home In Lagos State.

Kalakuta Museum, located on Gbemisola Street, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, is
the renovated last residence of Fela Kuti, the late Afrobeat king,
where he lived prior to his death in 1997. On display are his personal
items, artifacts and various artworks.

In collaboration with the Lagos State Government, the family of the
late Afrobeat icon, Fela Kuti, has converted his last home at 8,
Gbemisola Street, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, into a museum. The Kalakuta
Museum is named after the fictional Kalakuta Republic, the musical
commune founded by Fela as part of his Afrobeat socio-political
revolution. The musuem is curated by Lemmy Gariokwu (painter and
illustrator/designer of Fela's album covers) and houses a rich
collection of the late musician's personal items - from his shoes,
clothes and saxophone, to a collection of his signature underpants.

There are also photographs, wall murials, various art works as well as
mock ups of Fela's private quarters such as his bedroom.

Fela's popularity grew when he began singing about local realities as
Nigerians experienced rising levels of poverty despite a stream of
petrodollars flowing into the country after Nigeria gained
independence in 1960. Twenty years later, absolute poverty had doubled
to 30% of the population.

Fela's son Femi kuti, whose own music has won him countless awards,
says the museum is not a sign that the Kuti family's attitude towards
the authorities has softened. But any form of government endorsement
would have been unthinkable in the 1970s, when Fela created Afrobeat –
a blend of traditional Yoruba music laced with jazz, brass sounds and
stinging political messages that made him the constant target of
government beatings, harassment and jailings.

Yeni Kuti, daughter of Fela also said the public will be able to see
the last bedsheet Fela used before he died in 1997, his saxophone and
others. Fela's producer and artist, Lemmy Gariokwu, the curator of the
museum, said by the time other necessary things have been put in place
people will be seeing Fela as in his real life.

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