Nigerian Afro-Fuji star, Alexander Adegbola Akande, popularly called 9ice says late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti gave Nigerian musicians the platform to climb to the top.
The ‘Gongo Aso’ hit maker who made the statement in a recent interview with Sis Project Studios, noted that Fela as the pioneer of Afrobeats, introduced a genre that made things easier for many artistes who were trying different things and looking for a way to showcase their talents to the world.
9ice said; “Fela Anikulapo-Kuti gave us the platform which is Afrobeat for us to climb on top. We were trying to do Afropop. We were trying to do afrobeats. We were trying to do different names. But Baba [Fela] already has something that the world recognized.
“Afrobeat taught me a lot. King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, and Fela Anikulapo-Kuti are our grandfathers. And I’m glad to be in existence to emulate or to follow what they’ve done.”
Meanwhile in another news…
Yeni Kuti, daughter of Fela Kuti recently said she is glad her father’s death happened several decades ago.
The singer and dancer said most of the things he stood against and sang about in his songs started happening in Nigeria and got worse.
The Afrobeats pioneer died in August 1997.
According to Yeni, the music legend would have died as a result of the numerous problems bedeviling Nigeria if he were still alive to witness and experience it all.
Speaking during an interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo, Yeni claimed Nigerians did not realize the importance of her father until he was no more.
When asked why she thinks change happened, she said; “I think ‘their eyes are now clear, suffer don hook us for Nigeria. We have seen that there was at least one person who was singing about the abuse and fighting it.
“Fela used to take out an advert on Daily Times that later became Punch, every Saturday. He would tag it ‘Chief Priest says’, and he will write something about Nigeria. He had a printing press, where he would print and yab all of them. Of course, it took death for them to realize they had lost something important.”
On whether she believes her father died happily, Yeni said; “That’s a very tough question. I think it’s a tough question because he was quite ill before he died. So, I don’t think someone that was so ill could be happy.
“You know, many things he actually stands against started happening. Sometimes I think it’s even better that he died then because if he didn’t die, he would have died now with the way Nigeria is now.”
