Fela’s Former Manager, Rikki Stein Explodes: 'Fela Died Disappointed'


At the age of 58, late Afro Beat icon, Fela Anikulapo Kuti had been arrested 200 times, contested for presidency and had married 27 women on the same day but to his manager, Rikki Stein, he remained an enigma and was first and foremost a friend whose bravery and resolve for change remains unrivaled.
For 15 years, Rikki Stein was Fela’s manager and during this period, he dedicated 15 years of his life towards working with a man whose ghost and message continued to haunt the very walls of Nigeria’s corridor of power.

In this interview Stein revealed how he met the fallen star, some of his unforgettable moments with him and how he came to respect the musical brand and person that Fela stood for.



In addition, Stein seemed to pull a cat out of the bag when he affirmed that despite Fela’s numerous battles and achievements, he still died disappointed. “He suffered enormously. He had scars all over his body and he was arrested 200 times but it never stopped him. He always bounced back – more out of order, more animated, more ferocious in his attacks,” Stein enthused.
Stein who was in the country a couple of months ago also spoke on the Fela! on the Broadway show, which he produced and brought to Nigeria from the United States of America.

He shared more than a few moments with Fela and it was interesting to discover which he would choose as his most unforgettable. His response appeared double-edged yet candid.

“I hate to say this but it was his funeral. You know what I’m saying. I saw millions of people come to pay their respect; even people who didn’t agree with him. They still came to pay their respect. He was a wonderful man. He was a courageous man. He was before his time and I think he died disappointed. I have to say this because he didn’t mind them and here I am 30 years after seeing the same damn nonsense still going on. The only thing I have to say is that Lagos looks cleaner than it did back then. But the same confusion still reins supreme – The same blackouts.

“When I saw this, I knew that Fela would have been disappointed to know that – because his words are still as relevant today as they were when he invented them when he came out of prison. This drives me even harder to give Nigeria an opportunity to pay homage to their favourite son because he should be recognized as a favourite son. I want to see Fela recognized in this country. It’s time for that and I hope that what we did with the show (FELA! on the Broadway) would perhaps, be the first step towards making something like that happen.”

Those familiar with Fela’s history will be familiar with details of his polygamous conquest, which saw him marry not one, not two but 27 wives in a single day.

As ironical as this might sound, Stein confessed that he and Fela shared the same physical and central fondness for women. “The only problem I had with Fela back then was that we both liked the same girls (Laughs out loud).”

With his music as his principal weapon, Fela openly fought for people powerless in self-defense and lyrically inspiring others to stand up together against the inequality of the government.

He was unarguably unconventional in ever facet of his life and Stein disclosed that he discovered Fela while lying in a heap of African dancers in the back of a Mercedes van.

Fela and Stein grew to become good friends and Stein respected the fact that he was never one to discriminate against the colour of a man’s skin. “Fela didn’t give a shit whether you were black or white. He took you for who you were. Fela didn’t care about that shit men. He cared about people and not whether you were white or black.”

To buttress the fact that he was fond of Stein, Fela gave him a nickname that comically suited his perception of him. “He was my friend and he always liked to call me ‘Mr. Reason.’  He would come with some outlandish shit and whenever I spot, he would say: ‘Ahan! Mr. Reason is coming with his own o.’”

The first time Stein came across Fela was while he was in a vehicle in transit. One of the passengers in the car slotted a cassette of Fela’s ‘Sorrow Tears and Blood’ into the car’s stereo system and he was instantly captivated by the lyrics and tunes that filtered into his attentive ears. “The lyrics went: ‘My people sef dey fear too much/We fear for the thing we no see/We fear for the air around us/We fear to fight for freedom…’ I was completely gobsmackedat what I was listening to. It just reached me as if the guy was talking directly to me. I was like, ‘What the hell is that?’”

He became enthralled with the possibility of meeting Fela one-on-one and when a friend arranged a meeting with Fela at a hotel in the Victoria area of London, Stein was more than eager to meet the man behind the lyrics of defiance and creative insolence. “A blast of heat hit me in the face and I stepped into the Afro Beat musician’s room. It was like a sauna bath in there because Fela used to carry extra heaters. He was sitting in his Speedos as usual with a room filled with lovely ladies.

“It was in the winter and I had a scarf, a hat, a sweater and an overcoat. They slowly came off and I didn’t finish off in my Speedos but I was seriously less encumbered than when I arrived. I regret not remembering the exact words of our exchange but what stuck in my mind for decades to come was the expression on Fela’s face. He looked up and in that instant, we were friends. We became friends. I can’t explain it but we became friends. I don’t know how to explain the friendship – you know. Things just started happening and from there, he asked me to do small things.”

It didn’t come as a surprise that they remained friends, which morphed into a working relationship that remained cordial until Fela died in 1997 of an HIV-related illness at the age of 58.

After Fela’s death, Stein remained in touch with the family (particularly with his son, Femi Kuti) up until the birth of FELA! on a Broadway. “We have a very good relationship with the family. We did FELA! on the Broadway with the family’s blessings. The families had a right to the play. They are the owners. We represent their interest and they are the ultimate beneficiaries and we had their full support. We aim to always provide opportunities and give the youth a good example to follow. Those are the things that Fela stood for and he paid the price man. They beat the shit out of him but he never stopped doing what he did and that’s one of the reasons why I loved him. It’s like we brought Fela back to life with the show,” Stein maintained.

After the Nigerian edition of the show, Stein dreams of bringing the show back to the nation’s National Theatre in Lagos (at a reasonable ticket price); all in his bid to immortalize his late friend. “Fortunately, for the first one, we had the funding to bring this massive enterprise; 40 tons of equipments, 80 people here in Nigeria from the United States.”

By Samod Biobaku
Sixthsense34@yahoo.com

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