Every superhero – and superstar – has an origin story. For Fela, it happened in 1969 Los Angeles, where a potent mix of music and politics turned a “missionary boy” into a Pan-Africanist freedom fighter and ignited a musical firestorm.

Voice of America audio clips courtesy of voanews.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.