Fela! musical is sued by biographer

Show based on life of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti faces $5m lawsuit

Share71 Amelia Hill guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 9 November 2010 17.59 GMT Article history
Scene from the National Theatre production of Fela! opening later this month. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Hailed as the Muhammad Ali, James Brown and Bob Dylan of Africa all wrapped into one, modern hip-hop wouldn't exist without Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the late Afrobeat star.

But Kuti, an African revolutionary, musical visionary and polygamist who married 27 women on the same day in 1978, is turning out to be as controversial in death as he was in life. An award-winning American musical based on his life – lavishly praised by a string of American celebrities, including Madonna, Spike Lee, Toni Morrison, Oprah Winfrey and co-producer Jay-Z – has been hit with a $5m lawsuit. Carlos Moore, the musician's only official biographer, claims the producers of Fela! breached his copyright by failing to credit his book, Fela: This Bitch Of A Life, as a source for the production.

"I felt hurt and humiliated. It was a slap in the face," Moore, a highly respected African-Cuban scholar with a track record of advocating international black causes, told The-Latest.com. In his federal court filing, Moore says he was approached in 2007 and offered a "grossly insufficient" offer of $4,000 for the rights to his authorised biography, which was published in 1982 during Kuti's lifetime and reissued last year. Rejecting the offer, Moore demanded "an advance and participation in the royalty pool". But, he says, no further offer was ever made. Moore's Manhattan writ says that after his refusal, the playwright Jim Lewis and director Bill T Jones went on to use his book to develop their musical without the author's "knowledge, authorisation or consent", he claims.

Fela!, which opened on Broadway less than a year ago to ecstatic reviews – the New York Times wrote: "there should be dancing in the streets" – has won three 2010 Tony awards. By the time it closes later this year, over 400,000 people will have bought tickets. It is a success the producers hope to repeat later this month when the show opens on London's South Bank: the first time that the National Theatre has run a show simultaneously with a Broadway production. Moore's writ is a surprise to those involved with the show. Richard Kornberg, a spokesman for Fela!, told the New York Post he was "shocked" by the suit, pointing out that Moore took part in publicity efforts for the show, including a film clip on YouTube during which he praises the musical for its "tremendous accuracy". "[The show has] really understood the spirit of Fela," Moore is shown saying.

Born in 1938, Fela Ransome-Kuti studied classical music at Trinity College in London in the early 1960s. Returning to Lagos after his studies, Kuti's reputation spread. When Paul McCartney saw him play in Lagos in 1972, he said: "They were the best band I've ever seen live … I couldn't stop weeping with joy."

The influence of the musician has continued to grow after his death. Fela's co-producer, actor Will Smith, said: "His life inspired a nation and his soulful Afrobeat rhythms ignited a generation."

In the UK, bands such as Franz Ferdinand and Vampire Weekend credit him as an inspiration. The Turner prize-winning artist Steve McQueen is making a biopic about Kuti for release next year. Damon Albarn pronounced his song Zombie from 1976 the "sexiest track ever recorded".

The show has already attracted some controversy. Rikki Stein, Kuti's manager and friend, says it sets up the musician – who called himself "Adami Edo" – the strange one – as a "humanitarian, a courageous fighter against injustice and master musician". But others have accused it of underplaying Kuti's misogyny and homophobia, and for failing to mention Aids, from which Kuti died.

The London show is rumoured to be edgier than the Broadway production, with the addition of an anti-Islamic passage