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On the eve of the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, Nigeria’s celebrated Afrobeat legend, the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, made history by becoming the first African to get a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. For many people around the world, especially lovers of Afrobeat, the award was a fitting crowning glory for one of the greatest musicians to emerge from Africa. Fela died in 1997 at the age of 59. During his burial, Africa stood still for a man who dedicated his musical ideology to addressing issues of poverty, poor leadership and other vices.
The award was bestowed on Fela Kuti posthumously in Los Angeles, United States, alongside other artists whose music has made significant impact on the music industry. Although Fela was never nominated for a Grammy while he was alive, the current recognition underscores the impact of his music, especially its dedication to issues of politics and the fight against corruption in Nigeria. Fela’s award is a victory for Africa and African music. It demonstrates the impact of African music on the global stage. With the award, many young musicians in the Afrobeat category are encouraged to do more and aim for excellence.
Fela was born in 1938 in Ogun State, Nigeria. At birth, he was named Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti. His father was an Anglican minister and school principal, while his mother was a celebrated activist. Fela later changed his name to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, dropping ‘Ransome’ because he thought that it was a Western, colonial appendage. In 1958, his father sent him to London to study medicine.
But when he arrived in London, he fell in love with music and enrolled at the Trinity College of Music. He later formed a musical band that played a blend of jazz and highlife. In 1960, he returned to Nigeria and created the Afrobeat which combined highlife and Yoruba music with American jazz, funk, and soul. His Afrobeat music immediately captured the attention of many people in Nigeria and across Africa because it blended traditional African rhythm with contemporary pop.
Initially, his Afrobeat focused on moral sermonising about good behaviour in society and gradually focused on the personality of the black man who repudiated African culture in preference for Western Culture. As time passed, his music focused on politics and addressed issues of corruption, greed, mass exploitation and the perennial class-conflict which undermined the welfare of workers across Africa.
Fela dedicated his music to confronting the government and other social vices in Nigeria, which brought him into constant confrontation with the military authorities in the 1970s. He sang about military dictatorship, rigging of elections, police/army brutality and unconscionable malfeasance by corrupt government officials. Fela’s house was invaded by soldiers and his mother was thrown down from the building and she subsequently died from injuries sustained from the attack. These experiences in the hands of the military and constant detention inspired most of his songs, which went on to become major hits across the world.
The African shrine in Ikeja became a symbolic arena for his fans and Afrobeat lovers where they gathered every weekend to watch him sing and perform with his retinue of dancers, many of them women and young girls. The shrine also became a tourist attraction for many fun-seeking people from all over the world. Many people saw his music as a revival of African beat, which combined social commentary and mass appeal. The social realism of his Afrobeat drew millions of common people to it. Most of the themes of his music are still relevant today.
Instructively, Afrobeat has inspired many young artists in Nigeria and across the world. They include Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Beyonce, Paul McCartney and Thom Yorke. His musical legacy is sacred and its crowning glory is the recent posthumous Grammy award. Even in death, his songs such as Sorrow, Tears and Blood, Army Arrangement, Zombie, Yellow Fever, Beast of No Nation, have continued to make waves across the world.
Beyond his music, he is a celebrated poet, philosopher, activist, teacher, prophet and a leader of men. An annual festival known as “Felabration” is held to commemorate his legacy at the New African Shrine at Ikeja. Although many young artists have tried to emulate him, none has matched Fela’s social consciousness and mass appeal. We believe that Fela’s posthumous Grammy award will inspire other young Afrobeat enthusiasts to do more.
