Hundreds jammed into an all-night concert hall in Nigeria’s commercial hub Lagos for a festival celebrating the legacy of musical revolutionary Fela Kuti and his political activism.
Kuti, who died aged 58 in 1997, is famous both for his pioneering role in the creation of Afrobeat — a then-novel genre marrying traditional African music with jazz, soul and funk — and for being a staunch thorn in the side of Nigeria’s military authorities.
Beginning on Monday evening at the New Afrika Shrine, a rebuilt version of an original venue founded by Kuti and still run by his family, the annual week-long “Felebration” sees local artists take to the stage to pay tribute to the man nicknamed “The Black President” into the wee small hours.
Located in Lagos’s working-class Ikeja district, the New Afrika Shrine’s walls are lined with giant portraits of Nigeria’s best-known musical son, whose influence stretched far beyond his native country.
Advertised as open to all 24/7, the Shrine welcomed a diverse audience on Monday, with young and old, aficionados and casual fans rubbing shoulders to the beat, all free of charge.
– ‘Fela is the greatest’ –
“Fela is the greatest,” proclaimed DJ Emmanuel Dre, 24, while 52-year-old journalist Jesukri Imoni hailed Kuti “the man who stood for Africans”.
Kuti left an undeniable musical imprint on several generations of musicians, with his sons Femi and Seun and grandson Made picking up the torch.
But it is also Kuti’s activism, which saw him jailed for almost two years in the 1980s, that many Nigerians believe makes him relevant today.
“The music, the way he fought for human rights and a lot of things about Fela are just enticing and beautiful,” audience member Bolarinwa Taiwo said.
“When you see how the government treats us in Nigeria… If you listen to Fela’s music, he has said it all 20, 30 years ago, no, more than 40 years ago,” said Ogunseye Oladokun, a 45-year-old entrepreneur.
Oladokun pointed to Nigeria’s economic crisis — the worst in three decades in Africa’s most populous country — with inflation at 32 percent in August and petrol prices soaring fivefold in a year and a half.
Since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to power in May 2023, Nigerians have seen their purchasing power collapse and poverty soar, triggering hardship protests against Tinubu’s economic policies.
So Kuti’s defiance towards Nigeria’s juntas in the 1970s and 1980s struck a chord with Dre, the artist said. Kuti was “more than music, man.”
“It’s a movement… He really suffered for the youth. He went through a lot for us. That’s why we’re celebrating him today,” Dre added.
– Politics and fashion –
In recent years, other Nigerian artists have broken out and their worldwide fame has almost eclipsed Kuti’s success.
Singers such as Burna Boy, Davido and Wizkid are selling out stadiums across the world with their hits in a fresh genre — Afrobeats with an added “s”.
That style, less politicised and taking its cues from the glitz of much US hip hop, had many in the New Afrika Shrine pining for Kuti’s vocal activism.
“In terms of political stuff, our artists now, they don’t care about it,” said 24-year-old Ruth Adeleke, an entrepreneur who took part in the cost-of-living protests earlier this year.
“Fela was the only one that stood on his words then. I think we should do better now. Because now… in this generation, this Tinubu regime, everybody is complaining,” said Adeleke.
“Let our artists also come together, talk about it, give us music, the way Fela gave us the music,” she added.
But that passion was not shared by everyone in attendance on Monday.
At the stage’s fringes, several influencers prowled in search of celebrities to photograph, with little apparent interest in the music or Kuti himself.
“I don’t know much about him, honestly I don’t think Gen Z care too much,” admitted content creator “I am Energy Queen”, who came to interview spectators on the festival’s red carpet about their fashion sense.
Osinachi Ogu, a 22-year-old student, said Kuti’s style and the creativity around his performances were what she appreciated most.
“His costumes are always different from every other person. So that’s what I like about him,” she said.
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