Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series about Nigerian composer, singer, musician Fela Kuti's song "Pansa Pansa".
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.
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_24.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. 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.
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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SELECTED COMMENTS
Note: There are numerous comments in these discussion threads that provide much deserved accolades to Fela Kuti. However, for the most part, I chose to highlight some other comments from those discussion threads.
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr8oRpA2SpE [This is the video that is embedded in this post.]
1. OLUG GBAL, 2019
"Im so happy i witnessed live over the years the many nights when Fela will close the show playing this tune....it was the choice song for the "boys"....to ba ti di owo dere!!!."
-snip-
Google translate from Yoruba to English*: "to ba ti di owo dere" = "if you can hold your hand"
-snip-
*Additions and corrections are welcome.
**
2. David Mku ugwuanyi, 2019
"Legendary Fela Kuti has foreseen Nigeria / African since years ago , awesome music"
**
3. feyi sayo, 2019
"41 years ago yet still very fresh and relevant"
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From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz2jXHKa7TY Fela Kuti & Africa 70 - Pansa Pansa" 1/2 (Berlin 1978), published by Henri de Saussure, November 20, 2010
Here's the summary to that YouTube video (Part I & Part II):
"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 2" "
Selected Comments:
1. s. skyturtle, 2012
"excellent quality sound and video. you can really hear and see in this some of the influence Fela had on Miles Davis in the early/mid 70's."
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REPLY
2. ikaylah, 2013
"Lol,Na the other way round.Miles ,Coltrane had huge influence on Fela..."
Sebastian Correa, 2014
"whats wrong with the audience???"
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REPLY
3. Raffael Scheiber, 2014
"they're german, that's how they always act..;)"
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REPLY
4. Prinzessin19 WIH, 2019
"In Germany, when there's seating in a concert hall, it's generally considered impolite - to other showgoers, and even the performers - to stand up, unless giving standing ovations.
Had the same concert been held in an open space, you'd have seen dancing."
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5. Nicolas BONNICI, 2016
"The same concert in Africa at the same time everybody dancing, in Europe, Germans be like ok they got the groove but i stay on my chair...
Maestro session, thanks for the share."
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6. Kavansa Kay Enook, 2018
"So, is this where funk come from (I'm American). Totally, digging Fela Kuti!"
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REPLY
7. SenatorOutis, 2018
"Ms Nah: can't tell if you are joking or not. BUT NO. The funk was invented by black Americans. Fela did not take up the funk until after he met and heard and met James Brown pushing the black power movement in the 60s. Make no mistake, funk is an afro-AMERICAN art form. That said, holy sweet beets did Fela take it to new heights. And in case you're interested, a decisive influence on Fela was a female Black Panther! Her name was Sandra Smith (https://www.discogs.com/artist/275554-Sandra-Akanke-Isidore). She appears on the Fela cut Upside Down, which is a straight burner from start to finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0ZLUXPmjIc
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REPLY
8. ayodeji sanumi, 2018
"Well said bro..though invented by James brown, lots of what the black in diaspora still enjoys till date that made them unique till date is what was taken from Africa to diaspora..Fela brought out the uniqueness through Africa percussion, both are gongs, drums can talk and come with meaning and interpretation..Kudos to my brothersin diaspora, black is unique, preach it let's leave the Babylon, Africa the centre of the universe.centre piece of world politics..where both human and natural resources lied.."
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REPLY
9. naturallyme14, 2019
"NO!! Fela was very influenced by Black American artists, James Brown being the main one. And it was a Black American woman who inspired him to make the politically charged music that he's known for."
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10. ERIN TOMS, 2019
"Omo 😱
I see Zanku Dance o.. Ye! (08:50)
"so those legwork moves no be today o"🤦🏾♂
-snip-
This is one of several comments about the dance move at 8:50/8:51/8:54 during this 1978 concert that are similar to "Zanku" ("Zanku" is a new (January 2019) Nigerian dance craze). Another commenter also pointed out "two men dancing Zanku at 5:42" in this video.
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11. Divine Nduka, 2019
"Everything you said is happening in Nigeria till today"
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12. Davidson Daini, 2019
"While so many great Black Africans have continuously and proudly represented the continent both at home and outside like Fela did as one of the largest African icons, the continent's various political representatives have continuously and largely been a major source of shame, stagnation, sufferings, destruction and the continuous holding open of Afrca's gates to foreign looters who're even looking for the continent's fall, while these same so-called leaders that I call imperial stooges share from the loots. Africa seems to have been cursed with too many greedy sons and daughters who've got no iota of patriotism or self-dignity in them, all because of their own greed. A very sad situation in deed, but I believe that the people will get fed up at some point and turn on them !"
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From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0RJTmbNf2Y
Fela Kuti & Africa 70 - Pansa Pansa 2/2 (Berlin 1978), published by Henri de Saussure, November 20, 2010
1. Tony Dele, 2011
"A great African Pioneer, Been playing this track on my Ipod for the last two weeks
Fela was and still is the undisputed King of Afro Jazz And Afro Beat ."
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2. 0004pedro, 2011
"This song was eventually released in The ''Underground System'' album in late 1992."
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3. I&I Riddim, 2011
"Bless Fela.
For more info about Fela in Berlin (including Africa 70 band members) see:
afrofunkforum (dot) com"
-snip-
YouTube didn't allow hyperlinks then. Here's that link http://afrofunkforum.blogspot.com/
**
4. Danibrofan, 2011
"Another contender, again from Baba, for best tune- EVER!- to have eminated from the Motherland.
Do...do I hear AMENS??? R.I.P Baba. You are FOREVER with us.
@Henrids: Thank you sooooo much! Peace!"
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5. Eric Odogwu, 2018
"Legend! Still feels like he is preaching right now,nothing has really changed in Africa #unite #let'sunite"
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6. Godfrey Koko, 2018
"If only we could immortalize legends and keep their legacies forever in our minds. The genius of Fela lives on even in 2018. We as Nigerians need to archive this man’s songs and stories as essential history records. Simply amazing"
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7. kookoococonut1, 2019
"Loving the repeated tension, build ups, and releases
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8. Duncan wise, 2019
"Long live our father and the founder of the Afrobeat . in your grave you are still the king of the beat . Today Africa is uniting and your vision for it is being realised by this generation. it has take us a very long time though the time is near . your vision for us to be the clock of our own continent is being realised by many even from the Diaspora. long live the king of Afro beat"
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9. ad stix, 2019
"The Nigerian Army brutalized him and burnt down his home a year after this concert!
The callous officers who authorized the heinous crimes are still in the corridors of political and economic power today in 2019!"
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This concludes Part III of this three part pancocojams series.
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