Femi Kuti is a household name, an international recording artiste with multiple awards. He wears the toga of Fela’s son and crown prince of Afro beat music. SAMUEL ABULUDE and NGOZI OSADEBAY were at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos penultimate Sunday and had a chat with him while preparing for his show. He spoke about challenges of having a live band, his women, present government among other sundry issues. This is vintage FEMI KUTI
What is your new album ‘No place for my Dream’ all about?
The purpose is to be able to inform leaders who are in power to make a change, in our country where there are not enough jobs which is not good enough. It is also to bring the attention of world leaders to climate change, the global food crisis and all that.
It’s interesting that the young ones are coming to do stuff with Femi, such as Wizkid, Jesse Jagz, etc.
They must appreciate my effort in the industry. Even if some people don’t recognize what I’ve done, if you are in the business, you will recognize what I’ve done. The younger generation has deemed it fit as well. If I were a writer, writers will appreciate me. You cannot but recognize my immense contribution to the entertainment industry in Nigeria. Whether you want to accept it or not, because of envy or whatever your reasons, you cannot even say because I’m Fela’s son, that is why I have achieved whatever I have achieved. I’m the only Nigerian to have been nominated three times at The Grammys.
I may have won it, but try and be nominated to see how difficult it is. I am the first Nigerian to win the KORA and the first Nigerian to win the World Music Awards. When you are in the business, you will see my name in the corridors of the entertainment world but when you are not, you’ll find it difficult to see it. If they are asking me, it’s because they do recognize, appreciate and they love and respect what I’ve done. Having understood this, it is for me to oblige or what should I be arrogant about? If a young man asks me to participate in his work, I will of course do so. I have turned down so many because, I don’t have the time as I still do things for myself.
Like every Sunday, you are always here to perform…
And perform for three hours. It’s not easy to perform for three hours nonstop. It’s only on Sunday that the gate fee is N500 Thursday is a free show. It’s not easy and things are difficult for everybody. And when you are playing week in week out, you can’t expect everybody to be here. We have a good moderate price that keeps the place alive.
What of your tours?
There are problems everywhere; there is the global economy, there is the food crisis, credit crunch, so if I can still thrill my fans with good music I must not complain. I have a lot of friends that are very broke. Though I may not be making money but I can keep my head above water. My band is alive, my music is growing. I understand the difficulties many people are facing, so I can’t complain. Most of the people are in worse condition than I am.
There are lots of things I do that you don’t even hear about in Nigeria. There are collaborations I do in France but because they are French speaking, you don’t get to hear about them. A lot of collaborations done in America but you don’t hear about this. There are a lot of things I don’t just make noise about. I don’t see the essence of making noise about them. I just do my work.
Even if, I weren’t Fela’s son, I’m sure I’ll be under pressure (general laughter). That is life.
These days, celebrities buy flashy cars and make so much noise about it…
Who told you they are happy about it? Don’t be deceived about materialism. You’re not there. You think that many of your leaders that are very unpopular don’t want to be popular? They just don’t know how to be popular. They keep doing the wrong things and make matters worse. You won’t want to be in their shoes.
What’s your take on the trend of the young ones who record music that don’t address social issues like you do?
They are young and I cannot criticize what they are doing. I’m not a music critic and I don’t have anything
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