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Fela Kuti & the Chords of Africa

Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 7 November 1986

TWO YEARS ago, as Fela Anikulapo Kuti headed for America for what would have been his first tour here in 15 years, Nigerian authorities arrested him at the Lagos airport. Charged with smuggling foreign currency, and effectively muzzled at a trial in which evidence was destroyed and key witnesses disappeared, Fela was sentenced by a military tribunal to five years in prison. There would be no appeal.

Total word count of piece: 2385

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