Fela Kuti

Fela Kuti fused West African rhythms, jazz, and funk into Afrobeat, long songs driven by horns and grooves. He turned his music into political protest, attacking Nigeria's military governments and corruption, and he paid for it: his commune was raided and burned, he was jailed, and his mother died from injuries after soldiers threw her from a window. He remained a defiant figure of African music and dissent until his death.