he who carries death in his pouch

fela anikulapo-kuti, whose name meant "he who carries death in his pouch," was a nigerian bandleader-protest singer-politician who made euro-american "political" rockers like u2, the clash, and the mc5 look like pikers. a sort of afrobeat dylan-marley-james brown, his band africa 70 could out-groove the j.b.'s, the family stone, and p-funk with their half-hour-long, horn-chorus-and-percussion-laden tribal stomps. in his days, he was repeatedly beaten and jailed, and had his compound (which he dubbed "the kalakuta republic") raided by government forces, who killed his mother and destroyed his equipment and master tapes. he delighted in taunting the government with sides like "zombie," "coffin for head of state," "unknown soldier," "expensive shit," and "international thief thief." he died in 1997 from complications of aids.