The Jazz Society of Ghana will host a night in celebration of the music and life of the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti at Don’s Place, Osu on Saturday.

The popular Nigerian, who died on August 2, 1997, was a singer-composer, trumpet, sax and keyboard player, bandleader and politician.

His bands often consisted of many singers and dancers, numerous saxophonists, trumpeters, drummers, percussionists and guitarists blending African rhythms and jazz horn lines with politicized lyrics.

The Jazz Society has, in the past, held memorial nights for prominent American jazz artists including Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Smith and Miles Davis.

A member of the Society, Ken Addy, gave a long plug of what he descrbed as ‘Fela’s jazz side’ on his Jazz On Joy programme on Joy FM last Sunday night.

“We think it is time to honour an African musician too. It is 10 years since Fela’s death. Though he was known as the Afro-beat man, he incorporated a lot of jazz elements into his music and we want to highlight that on Saturday,” he told Showbiz.

Fela, born in Abeokuta, Nigeria in 1938, was one of Africa's most controversial musicians. Throughout his life he spoke out on behalf of common people despite vilification, harassment, and even imprisonment by the government of Nigeria.

His music was an intricate fusion of several influences including Ghanaian highlife and American jazz.