The daughter of the late Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Yeni Kuti, has credited her father’s legacy with instilling in her a deep sense of cultural pride and identity as an African woman.
In an interview with Saturday Beats, Yeni shared how growing up under Fela’s influence shaped her values and perspective on life.
“My father’s legacy for me as an African woman is to be proud and to be African. It made me learn how to own my culture. I am very proud of my father. I also think his legacy is a testimonial to hard work. For the young people coming up, I’ll say, know your craft and put in the work,” she said.
Addressing the evolution of Afrobeats, she acknowledged that while the genre has drawn inspiration from Fela’s original afrobeat, it has developed into its own influential force. “Afrobeats has taken pieces of afrobeat and built on it. It’s just inspirational music for them,” she explained.
Yeni also spoke about the strong connection between Fela’s music and French cultural institutions. “Fela started his early tours in France, so they have always supported him. The French Ministry of Culture and Tourism has always supported Fela and his work, so I’m not surprised that they still celebrate him today,” she noted.
When asked what her father’s legacy means to her personally, she said, “He would be very happy to see how far things have come. I don’t know exactly what I took after him, but I am proud to be a Kuti.”
As a dancer and founder of the annual Felabration festival, Yeni highlighted the role Fela’s music continues to play as a vehicle for political and social commentary. “Fela used his music as a tool for political resistance. He sang about the wrongs in our society and used his art to challenge injustice,” she said.
She also expressed hope that younger Nigerian artists will, with time, embrace more socially conscious themes in their music. “Fela used his music to talk about wrongs in our society. The younger ones would pick it up as they go. Right now, they are still singing about love and sex, which is understandable, because they are young.”
