I guess you are getting on edge because of the caption I gave to this article but not to worry it will all fall into place as you go on reading. You must have watched a lot of zombie movies the famous world war Z, the walking dead, quarantine, apocalypse and so many others out there both on YouTube and in various markets worldwide. The most glaring characteristics of a zombie are its walking style and that gives the incoming person a clue that you are walking towards a zombie. Another thing is its physical look, you will notice that its eyes are sunken, its nose most times may have fallen off or just dangling on its face, its mouth is covered with bloodstains from an attack on its victims, it’s always on tattered and worn-out clothes to show that it has been dead and also decaying.
The zombie movie is always filled with fear of the unknown for the characters who are trying to survive their attack. In all the zombie movies I have watched, I have noticed that the zombie is either attracted by smell or by noise and once it is attracted by a human smell, all of them will walk towards that smell or noise not minding if they end up passing close by victims who have hidden. The one thing that differentiates a zombie from a human is the ability to think rationally irrespective of the circumstances. Even though the zombies think, their thinking is hinged on one thing which is attack and kills, therefore any other thing does not count for them.
I am from Nigeria and if you are a lover of music, you must have heard about a great Nigerian Afrobeat legend that was known as Fela Anikulapokuti. One thing that was very glaring about his music while he was alive was the fact that he used it to preach about bad governance especially in Nigeria. He was if not the lone voice in the wilderness crying and shouting against the injustices and corruption in Nigeria as far back as in the 1970s and ‘80s. I would not go into talking about the history of this great icon because all you have to do is just go to the google search engine and type this four-letter word “FELA” and you will certainly be happy that you did. This is for those who have not heard of this great iconic music start and great Nigeria’s foremost political activist.
I guess you must be trying to know the connection between the zombie intro and Fela. For those who are not great music lovers, you may not have known or heard that wonderful song Fela used to describe the Nigerian soldiers and their blind obedience to carrying out others without a second thought or even trying to ask the question why. I will not sing the song for you or write down the lyrics but I will drop the youtube link for you to listen to it for a better understand and why Fela called the Nigerian Soldiers “Zombie”. Here is the link.
To some people reading this article, it may sound kind of an insult to you probably because you love your countries military personnel’s and for the records, I will want to make it clear that I love the Nigerian military if not for one thing, for their bravery and courage to go into battle knowing full well that they may not make it back alive. The reason why Fela called the soldiers zombies (even though not all of them) was because they were being used to carry out the vengeful act by those in authority. Just as I have talked about some of the characteristics of a zombie you will notice that the soldiers act more like them because first, they are moved by the smell or noise which is the command that has been given to them.
They are also seen walking together in the same direction while dressed in one particular uniform just as the zombie can be identified by the way they walk. He talked about them because he felt that even though they are soldiers who live under command and order, that does not mean they will be asked to attack and they will attack without having a minute thought towards why and who they are attacking. The song Zombie is just a clear description of the kind of military-style we witness here in Nigeria. Let me take you back to the END SARS saga and what happened at the LEKKI TOLL GATE which everybody even outsiders frowned at.
The one thing that was going through my mind during this saga was, can any American soldier shoot at an American citizen who is singing the American national anthem with the American Flag on his hand even while seating down? If anyone can give me an answer to the above question then I will be very glad to hear it, especially if it’s coming from an American citizen either by birth, naturalization and so on.
When you look at the videos even the one that was released by CNN which the Nigerian government denied and tagged CNN as being biased in their reportage, you will see soldiers on uniform shooting at innocent citizens just the same way zombies will attack even their brothers once they have turned to a zombie.
If you must know, Fela sang this song ZOMBIE in the ‘70s and ‘80s little did he know that the same thing he was complaining and shouting against will continue even to date. I have been getting the inspiration to write this article for some weeks ago but I have not summoned the courage to do so because I am not worthy to talk about the song of a great legend, icon and the progeny of the Afrobeat that is being enjoyed today even by westerners and the world at large.
I hope I have been able to correlate the two and made it possible for you to understand why he likened them to zombies. Please, if you have not listened to the song, kindly click on that YouTube link above and do yourself some good by listening to the great instrumentation and powerful lyrical message which is handed down from generation to generation.
Thank you and be the best you can at all times.
