Skip to main content

In 1978, the pioneer of Afrobeats, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, married 27 women in one day.

In 1978, the pioneer of Afrobeats, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, married 27 women in one day. 


This should not be strange to those who know the life and style of the Nigerian music legend nicknamed Abami Eda (strange creature).

Many of Fela’s band members became homeless after the devastating soldier attack on Fela’s commune (Kalakuta Republic) in 1977. In order to keep them together, Fela decided to do the unusual.

He gave a piece of paper to his female band members requesting the names of those that would like to marry him; the entire twenty-seven female band members put down their names.

After getting their consent, Fela Kuti married the 27 women on the 20th of February, 1978, at the Parisona Hotel in Anthony, Lagos, with the blessings of twelve Ifa priests. It was alleged that some parents of the ladies objected the marriage.

Fela married the women to protect and keep them together. The marriage ceremony was attended by Fela’s families, friends and other band members.

During the marriage ceremony, Fela rendered a short speech, pressed naira notes on his new wives’ foreheads and gave them marriage certificates. Fela embraced a rotation system of 12 wives at a time. After the marriage, Fela took his 27 wives to Ghana for honeymoon.

However, in 1986, shortly after his release from prison, Fela Kuti divorced his 27 wives on the claim that marriage brings jealousy. 

It should be noted that they were not forced to leave his house after the divorce; some lived with him till his death in 1997.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.                                                                                      In April 1945, 2nd Lt. Peter During was a South African fighter pilot (N.7 Squadron) running missions over Italy when his Spitfire was shot down by German AA fire. He managed to crash land his plane behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured.   Whilst been escorted to a German Lufwaffe Prisoner of War (POW) camp (he was a pilot and thus his interrogation and imprisonment was the responsibility of the German airforce), he opened a conversation with his captors. He was quickly able to establish that they could already see the writing on the wall, that the war was at an end and Germany would lose it. ...

Mayuge Girl Defiled, Impregnated and Rotting From a Mysterious Infection.

Mayuge Girl Defiled, Impregnated and Rotting From a Mysterious Infection One poverty stricken family in Mayuge district is stranded with its young daughter, recently defiled, impregnated and now rotting at home after a mysterious infection attacking her breasts. The seventeen year old Jane (not her real name) residing with her parents at Mugeri village of Bukatube Sub county in Mayuge district was on August 8 visited by this publication and she tearfully narrated the pain she is experiencing at the moment. Displaying her swollen, elongated up to the waistline and near to decomposing breasts, Jane explained that it all started in December last year with some simple itching that was followed by the swelling that has with time resulted into the current situation. To make things even worse, Jane was in the recent past defiled and she is nine months pregnant hoping to be delivered a baby anytime whose father is away and on the run for fear of being arrested for the offence. “With these...

anesthetic for performing surgical operations was used....

anesthetic for performing surgical operations was used around 1846 (ether, by Dr. Robert Liston) But how did they do it before that time, when they had to operate on someone? Simple. The patient was kneeled with his head stuck inside a pot and placed on an anvil. At that point an employee hit the pot with a mallet, an action that made the unfortunate person lose consciousness for the duration of the operation. Of course it wasn't infallible, because either he didn't faint right away or they woke up during the operation.