Yeni Kuti, daughter of the late Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, has shared a surprising story about how her father got into music school in London.
Speaking on the TVC programme *Your View*, Yeni said that Fela’s entry into Trinity College of Music in 1958 was not based on strong academic performance but on sympathy from the school.
She explained that Fela’s parents were academics who wanted him to study medicine, just like his older siblings. However, Fela’s school results were average, and his parents didn’t want him to study abroad.
“When he was in secondary school, you know his parents were academics, so they were pressuring him to study hard,” Yeni said.
“His older brother and sister had gone to university overseas. It was him and his younger brother who were with their parents at that time. His younger brother had excellent grades, but Fela was very average. So, his parents didn’t want him to go abroad for studies.”
But Fela’s older siblings, knowing his deep love for music, tricked their parents. They told them he had been admitted to a medical school in London, while they actually enrolled him at Trinity College of Music.
Yeni added that when Fela arrived at the school, he was nearly rejected because of his poor academic results.
“The admission officer said, ‘It’s only because you’ve come a long distance that I’m going to allow you into this school with these results.’ That was how Fela even got into music school—out of pity,” she said.
Yeni reflected on how things turned out: “But look at it today, he is a legend.”
Fela Kuti went on to become one of the most influential musicians in Africa, known worldwide for creating Afrobeat and using music to speak against injustice and bad leadership.
