You had to be a pretty extraordinary woman to be around to The Extraordinary Man himself, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
We hear, see and breathe in so much of the global icon, but little attention is given to the mysterious women who actually had the first-hand Kalakuta Republic experience.
It’s hard to think of this collective group of women as individuals; women with different identities, personalities, talents, dreams and even ideas about the Afrobeat king. But twenty-two years after Fela’s death, it’s about time they received more recognition, no?
Here are some of the most captivating photos of the ‘Kalakuta (Dancing) Queens’, as they are famously called; the vibrant, sensual, enchanting women behind the music.