Nigerian Singer, Musician, Composer Fela Kuti - "Pansa Pansa" (lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series about Nigerian composer, musician, singer Fela Kuti's song "Pansa Pansa".

Part II provides lyrics to Fela Kuti's song "Pansa Pansa" that I found online as well as some meanings for some of the words to that song that I found online or conjecture from my reading. I also share what I think is the full meaning of this song.

I invite those who know Yoruba to share what these words mean and what this song means in its entirety.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/11/nigerian-singer-musician-composer-fela.html for Part I of this series. Part I showcases a YouTube video of Fela Kuti's song "Pansa Pansa". Part I also provides information about Fela Kuti.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/11/nigerian-singer-musician-composer-fela_79.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. Part III presents some comments from the discussion thread for this embedded video of Fela Kuti's song "Pansa Pansa" as well as from the discussion threads for Part 1 and Part 2 of other YouTube videos of that performance.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Fela Kuti for his musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of these YouTube videos.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Fela Kuti & Africa 70 - Pansa Pansa - FULL HD (Berlin 1978)




Alain Guilloux, Aug 27, 2017

One of the few pro-shot concerts of legendary musician Fela Kuti with his band Africa 70, playing for the jazz festival in Berlin, 1978. Fela was a social activist and leader who fought for freedom and justice in Nigeria. He died in 1997.

DVD taken from "Fela Kuti Anthology"

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LYRICS- PANSA PANSA
(Fela Kuti)

I go someplace
I see the place
I sing this
I sing Alagbon
eh Alagbon o *
Them vex, them pain dem say
I sing this song
I sing calacuta show ooo
Calacuta show
I sing zombie
I sing no bread
I sing monkey, Dey walk baboon Dey chop

I sing song
Before I jump like monkey give me banana
Yes sir
Before I jump like monkey
Yes sire
Give me banana
Yes sir
Them vex, them play them say I take their place
Before I sing go slow-o
Go slow
But me I swear,
But me I swear But me I swear as long as Africa Dey suffer
Africa no unite.
No freedom,
No happiness.
No belonging
Dem go hear pansa pansa
Pansa pansa
Vex complain dey say I guard em face
Pansa pansa
Dem go hear pansa pansa
Pansa pansa
Pansa pansa
Pansa pansa
Pansa pansa
Pansa pansa
Pansa pansa
Pansa pansa
-snip-
https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Fela-Kuti/Pansa-Pansa
submitted by ajiboye anthonia
-snip-
*Hat tip to mobby909 for correcting this word. Read mobby909's comment in this post's discussion thread below.

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MY GUESS ABOUT WHAT FELA KUTI'S SONG "PANSA PANSA" MEANS [Revised November 24, 2019]
I think that Fela Kuti's song "Pansa Pansa" is his description of how the police and others in power consider him. The song also gives his response to this.

He says they think he is a monkey, but they are baboons. They are upset because they think he is trying to take their place and want him to go slow. But Fela Kuti says that as long as Africa suffers, Africa won't be united. Also, as long as there is no freedom, no happiness, no belonging [in Africa], he will continue to agitate and call for the police and those in government to be removed [have their power removed [scattered].

Additions and corrections are welcome.

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NOTES ABOUT WORDS OR PHRASES IN THIS SONG

Meaning of pansa, pansa:
From Alex Maxwell, 2018
"Npansa npansa means scatter scatter, that's what it means in IBO, if no justice no peace, and all Africa go npansa, npansa, who is experiencing now 2018 Cameroon, Nigeria, Uganda ".
-snip-
This is a comment in the discussion thread for this YouTube video: Fela Kuti & Africa 70 - Pansa
Pansa 1/2 (Berlin 1978); published by Henri de Saussure, Nov 20, 2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz2jXHKa7TY

Ibo = Igbo

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Alagbon
[Revised to this word July 26, 2020 as per comment from mobby909]
At 7:43 in this video, after singing the line "I sing Alagbon", Fela Kuti stops singing and says
"Alagbon" is the CIP  police headquarters in Lagos."

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Calacuta:
"I sing calacuta show ooo
Calacuta show"

Is "calacuta" a reference to "He [Fela Kuti] formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune, a recording studio, and a home for the many people connected to the band that he later declared independent from the Nigerian state. According to Lindsay Barrett, the name "Kalakuta" derived from the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta dungeon in India."... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti

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"I sing zombie"
I think this is a reference to another Fela Kuti album and metaphor:
"In 1977, Fela and the Afrika '70 released the album Zombie, a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military"...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti

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vex= upset https://matadornetwork.com/abroad/beginners-guide-to-nigerian-pidgin-english/

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chop - eat http://www.naijalingo.com/words/c/alphabet

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o (ooo)
"The ‘oh’... is usually added to a lot of words and phrases, a kind of conversational tick to add emphasis.
From https://theculturetrip.com/africa/nigeria/articles/15-nigerian-pidgin-english-phrases-you-need-to-know/ [for the phrase nawa oh" (wow!)], written by Hub writer Fareeda Abdulkareem

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..."like most Nigerian exclamatory words, ‘O’ connotes more than one idea/reaction. It can be the answer to a call. It can be used in agreement. It can also be used to reiterate a point."...
From https://www.legit.ng/534689-why-nigerians-say-o-in-every-conversation.html "Why Nigerians Overuse 'O'" by Onyinye Muomahe, 2015

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This concludes Part II of this three part pancocojams series.

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