TINUBU HAILS FELA AFTER GRAMMY LIFETIME HONOUR
By: Gyang Dakwo
President Bola Tinubu on Sunday paid tribute to Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo Kuti after the late musician received a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards.
Fela became the first African artist to be honoured with the award, nearly three decades after his death and long after his music left a lasting mark on the global sound.
“Fela was more than a musician,” Tinubu said in a statement after the award was bestowed at a ceremony in Los Angeles.
“He was a fearless voice of the people, a philosopher of freedom, and a revolutionary force whose music confronted injustice and reshaped global sound,” he added.
“His courage, creativity, and conviction defined a generation and continue to inspire the world. In Yoruba mythology, he has transcended to a higher plane as an Orisa. He is now eternal.
“The award is an affirmation of his enduring global influence and the foundational role he has played in the evolution and impact of Africa on modern music,” he said.
Fela was known not just for his music but also for his long battles with authorities in Nigeria, where he often used his songs to challenge power and speak for ordinary people.
In the 1970s, the multi-instrumentalist created Afrobeat, a blend of jazz, funk, and African rhythms, and the sound later inspired Afrobeats, a newer genre that mixes African rhythms with modern pop and now enjoys a global following.
Members of Fela’s family received the award in Los Angeles on Saturday night, including his son Femi Kuti, and Nigerian music star Davido was also seen with the family at the ceremony.
Fela’s grandson, Made Kuti, who was nominated for a Grammy in 2022, said his grandfather “was on the same professional level as the best of the best in the world that have ever existed”.
“There are not many people you can trace back as an originator of a style of music that would take that risk and be so creative that it’s really, truly developed into a genre that lives on its own,” he said.
