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How Fela Kuti Turned Music Into a Weapon | INTERACTIVE VIDEO

Digging The Greats | May 31, 2026



This is a Dual Screen Experience! You’ll need to watch this on a TV or Computer and also have your phone – otherwise this video won’t make much sense.

Use your phone to head to http://fela.diggingthegreats.com to stream the accompanying video. Full explanation in the video above – let me know how you enjoyed this format!

If you don’t know who Fela Kuti is, I’m about to introduce you to your new favorite artist. If you’re familiar with him already, you know he invented a new genre of music called Afrobeat, combining funk, jazz, and West African rhythms, but that’s only half of the story. The other half is what his music stood for. Today we’re diving into the music and world of Fela Kuti, and we’ll see how he created some of the best music ever made, gave hope to people for generations, and nearly toppled a dictatorship.

Thanks to Jad Abumrad for chatting with me. Go check out his podcast “Fela Kuti: Fear No Man” wherever you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fela-kuti-fear-no-man/id1835735529

You can also catch our full hour long conversation here: https://diggingthegreats.com/posts/interview-with-148170750

__________________________________
THANK YOU TO THE MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER TIER ON PATREON
Sam Deka
Shawn Barker

And thanks to everyone on Patreon who helped Beta test this format!

__________________________________
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:25 Dual Screen Explanation
03:17 First Sync Point (Fela Early Days)
08:58 Fela in America
14:47 Fela’s Return
21:19 Trickster Energy
27:04 Zombie
35:11 Can Music Change The World?

__________________________________
TOPICS COVERED
Fela Kuti
Sandra Izsadore
James Brown
Afrobeat
Colonialism
Jad Abumrad
Fela Kuti Fear No Man
The Grammys
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Music History
Can Music Change The World

#felakuti #afrobeat #musichistory

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Written by Digging The Greats

Comments

This post currently has 42 comments.

  4. @raymondmedina7192

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    I have never in my life commented on a YouTube video, but this is one of those ones that deserves every bit of this comment. First off, been a fan of your YouTube channel for a long time. Second, the way you were able to create this dynamic video is truly incredible. Love how you were able to get around copyright in a way that made this somehow feel nostalgic. Keep doing what you do, I’ve learned so much from your channel and it has helped me create depth in my record collection. Hope to see more of these soon, I can only imagine it’s extremely difficult to do, but I hope it continues. #phenomenal.

  5. @jxon6246

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    Genius idea. for once, giving the synchronizing feature of this handheld experienced. I was forced to actually complete the entire video from start to end. It's brilliant.

  6. @Krazie-Ivan

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    Brandon, you brilliant mfer. this is *BEAUTIFUL*!

    it'd be one thing to get around the system, another to spotlight a great artist… but to have so many parallels… Fela vs his govt, you vs YT, all of us vs our govt… the timing & importance of it all isn't lost.

    dunno if you can keep this up (noticed the views, & considering the time/effort you put in), but know it's fkn incredible, & be proud of it.

  13. @Noldy__

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    I'm on Firefox, which enables me to do this on the same computer cause I can make a video from a page float, so it's also doable on a browser that support you to float a video window.

  24. @mindspace696

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    This is fabulous. Sure, maybe the two-screen experience is not really necessary, but IT'S FUN. It's also INNOVATIVE and PARTICIPATORY. In short, a stroke of genius – and I haven't even touched on the content, which is so tastefully and professionally presented. Oh yes, I am loving this lesson on many levels. BUT…. Even thought I don't really know where this is going, I do know that if we don't get a mention of Frantz Fanon at some point, I will be disappointed. Still, back to the positive. You rock, bro. This is excellent work! <3

    UPDATE. Oh I see…. the two-screen experience is necessary so that you can play the music. Duuuhhh. Of course. Please ignore that bit about not being necessary. Increase the weight of the comment about a stroke of genius. This is very, very cool.

  27. @jimboblivesforever

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    I get why you have to do this, and I very much appreciate the creativity and work that's been put into this, but if this is the future of youtube, and it appears to be, I don't like it very much.

  28. @akmadsen

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    This is an absolutely brilliant way to circumvent YouTube's annoying content control. I love it!
    It also works well if you just have the companion video running in another browser window (or use Firefox' pop-out/PiP mode), because the sound will be coming from your computer too.

    Only thing I'd suggest to improve it would be to add some additional sync markers continuously throughout the video. Could just be a discrete timer in the lower right corner of both videos, or just a series of numbers/characters/symbols with one appearing every 3-5 seconds in both videos.

  30. @scrawnynag

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    please do a video breaking down since i left you by the avalanches pleaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (love this new type of content)

  34. @douglasboyle6544

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    A bit of a faff getting all this synced up but well worth it.

    I discovered Fela and his music several years ago and really appreciated this dive into it. I hope more people (thanks to you) get into it and get into the message. Peace.

  35. @boefpiemelboefpiemel

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    I loved the dual screen system, it was a little fiddly in the begging tho, but I guess there's no better way. It's fun once you get, it shouldaybe be more clear that it's on patron maybe.

    Long response for algo

    yoghurt effect

  38. @the-good-chad

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    Formatting brilliance aside, the writing of this one is next level. You got me tearing up over here. Thank you for what you do. We all need this.

  39. @seandolan1198

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    Wow! This is perhaps the greatest, innovative and the most unique way to bypass youtube's copyrights! You should do this for almost every deep dive video you make from here on out. This deep dive video is one of my favorites from you.

  41. @jackthemadrapper

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    what a genius way to get around youtubes copyright laws, im actually so impressed and inspired by your determination to teach and get the good music to where it needs to be and can be heard.

  42. @the-good-chad

    May 31, 2026 at 1:52 am

    My favorite part about this video format is that I can't subconsciously grab my phone and mindlessly scroll a bunch of distractions. This is fantastic.

Comments are closed.

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