Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense is a 1986 studio album by Fela Kuti and the Egypt 80.[1][2]
Background
The album consists of two tracks. "Look and Laugh" is a chronicle of an attack of Kalakuta Republic with the burning of his property and killing of his mother by Nigerian Soldiers. He sang "Till dem come/burn my house/burn my house/all my property/burn burn dem/beat beat me/kill my mama."[1] In "Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense", Fela extols culture and tradition as the ultimate teacher and emphasises the need to enshrine African culture and tradition.[3][4] He pointed out that the use of the western system of education was erroneous seeing as African children are taught about foreigners who "discovered" indigenous geographical landmarks which were not previously hidden.[5][6] He also discussed issues relating to corruption, bad governance, mismanagement and undemocratic rule which plagued African countries.[7]
The album has been rereleased on multiple occasions. The track, ''Just Like That'' was added as a bonus to a 2001 release by MCA; this track was initially released on Kuti's Beast of No Nation album in 1989.[1]
Reception
It was described as a message to the Nigerian government on education and poor governance.[8]
In his review, John Dougan of AllMusic said "Badarou's production help gives Fela his most full-bodied sound; the horn section is much hotter and brassier than ever before. The problem with this record is that with following an instrumental track with a vocal version of the same song, there's a certain lack of drama that blunts the impact of songs as powerful as "Look and Laugh." That said, this is very good mid-'80s Fela." He rated the album 3 out of 5.[1]
^Obi, Greg Chidi (2017-03-21), "Fela Kuti: The Man, His Music, The Activist", Grassroots Leadership and the Arts for Social Change, Building Leadership Bridges, Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 29–44, doi:10.1108/978-1-78635-687-120171002, ISBN978-1-78635-688-8
