Fresh Air · 2026-02-21 · 50 min · 7,632 words

Best Of: The life and legacy of Fela Kuti / Michael Pollan on consciousness

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Public media is no longer federally funded, but the NPR network remains yours in service to and powered by you. Keep public media public with a donation today at donate.npr.org and thank you. From WHYY in Philadelphia, this is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Sam Brigger. Today,

The Nigerian musician Fela Kuti used his music in the 70s as a weapon against colonial values and his country's brutal dictatorship. The danceable music and political lyrics inspired a youth movement. He's singing about all the injustices of post-colonial Africa, he's calling out dictators by name, he's giving sort of broad history lessons. That's today's guest, Jad Abamrod. whose new podcast series is about Fela.

Also we'll hear from Michael Pollan. His new book, A World Appears, asks how technology is changing our consciousness. Consciousness is under siege. I think that it's the last frontier for some of these companies that want to sell our time. And of course our time is our mind time.

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