The family is happy about it. And we’re excited that he’s finally being recognised,” Yeni Kuti, Fela’s daughter, said before the ceremony. “But Fela was never nominated [for a Grammy] in his lifetime,” she lamented. The recognition is “better late than never,” she added, but “we still have a way to go” in fairly recognizing musicians and artists from across the African continent.
Lemi Ghariokwu, the Nigerian artist who designed 26 of Fela’s iconic album covers, believes this historic moment underscores a larger point. “It just shows that whatever we as Africans need to do, we need to do it five times more.” he expressed feeling “privileged” to witness the honor for Fela, stating, “It’s good to have one of us represented in that category, at that level. So, I’m excited. I’m happy about it.”
Ghariokwu admitted to being “surprised” by the news, noting the irony of the situation. “Fela was totally anti-establishment. And now,the establishment is recognising him.”
Reflecting on how Fela might react, Ghariokwu imagined him exclaiming, “You see, I got them now, I got their attention!” Though, Yeni Kuti believes her father would have remained largely unfazed. “He didn’t at all [care about awards]. He didn’t even think about it,” she said. “He played music because he loved music. It was to be acknowledged by his people – by human beings, by fellow artists – that made him happy.”
Yemisi Ransome-Kuti,Fela’s cousin and head of the kuti family,concurred,suggesting he might have offered a “thanks but no thanks” response. “He really wasn’t interested in the popular view. He wasn’t driven by what others thought of him or his music. He was more focused on his own understanding of how he should impact his profession, his community, his continent.”
While she believes the award wouldn’t have been his primary concern, Ransome-Kuti acknowledged its broader meaning. “He would recognize the fact that it’s a good thing for such establishments to begin the process of giving honor where it’s due across the continent,” she said. “There are many great philosophers, musicians, historians – African ones – that haven’t been brought into the forefront, into the limelight as they should be. So I think he would have said, ‘OK, good, but what happens next?'”
Fela’s Enduring Legacy and Influence
born in Nigeria’s Ogun State in 1938 as Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, he later renamed himself Fela Anikulapo Kuti. His father was an Anglican minister and school principal, and his mother was an activist.
In 1958, he traveled to London to study medicine but ultimately enrolled at trinity College of Music, forming a band that blended jazz and highlife. After returning to Nigeria in the 1960s, he pioneered the Afrobeat genre, fusing highlife and Yoruba music with american jazz, funk, and soul. This innovation laid the foundation for the contemporary Afrobeats sound.
“Fela’s influence spans generations, inspiring artists such as Beyonce, Paul McCartney and Thom Yorke, and shaping modern Nigerian Afrobeats,” reads the citation on the grammys list of this year’s Special Merit Award Honorees.
However, fela was more than just a musician; he was a “political radical [and] outlaw.” By the 1970s, his music became a powerful critique of military rule, corruption, and social injustice in Nigeria. He established the Kalakuta Republic, a Lagos commune autonomous from the state, and in 1977 released the provocative album, Zombie, depicting soldiers as mindless automatons. The aftermath saw troops raid Kalakuta,brutally assaulting residents and causing injuries that led to his mother’s death.
Frequently arrested and harassed, Fela became an international symbol of artistic resistance, recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. His funeral in Lagos in 1997, following his death at age 58 from an illness, drew an estimated one million mourners.
Yeni Kuti, along with her siblings, now preserves her father’s legacy. She manages the New Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, Lagos, and hosts the annual “felabration” party. Growing up with Fela felt “normal,” she recalls, but “I was in awe of him” as both an artist and a thinker.
“I really, really admired his ideologies. The most importent one for me was African unity … He totally worshipped and admired [former Ghanaian President] Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who was fighting for African unity. And I always think to myself, can you imagine if Africa was united? How far we would be; how progressive we would be.”
Artist Ghariokwu notes that many contemporary Afrobeats musicians are influenced by Fela’s music and fashion, but often overlook the ideological depth of his pan-Africanism. He hopes the Grammy recognition will encourage young artists to express themselves fearlessly.”If someone [like Fela] who was totally anti-establishment can be recognised this way, maybe I can express myself too without too much fear.”
Yeni Kuti believes her father’s work aimed to instill a message of African unity and political consciousness in young people. “So maybe with this award, more young people will be drawn to talk more about that,” she said. “Hopefully, they will be more exposed to Fela and want to talk about the progress of Africa.”
