San Francisco Frontiers - Nigeria's president pays tribute to Fela Kuti after Grammys Award

After a lifetime of clashes with successive powers in Africa's most populous country, Fela was recognised nearly three decades after his death and long after his influence reshaped global music.

"Fela was more than a musician," Tinubu said in a statement day 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.

"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.

In the 1970s, multi-instrumentalist Fela invented Afrobeat: a mixture of jazz, funk and African rhythms.

That laid the groundwork for Afrobeats -- a later genre that has attracted a global audience by blending traditional African rhythms with contemporary pop sounds, with its roots in Nigeria.

His children, including Femi Kuti received the award in Los Angeles on Saturday night. Davido, one of the Nigeria's leading stars riding the global Afrobeats craze was also seen with the Kuti family in Los Angeles.

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 from his home in Lagos Sunday.

M.Powell--SFF