“I’m very excited.
I think I am happier than the first time,” explains Femi Kuti whose
latest album, “Day by Day” (‘Living with History’ outside Nigeria) has
been nominated under the Best Contemporary World Music Album category
for the 2010 Grammy Awards holding on January 31.
“I’m very happy
because it’s at a point in time where politically, I need to be heard.
Since I’m having a difficult time in my country – people in Sokoto,
Delta State, the North and East don’t get to hear what I’m doing in the
Shrine; being nominated the second time shows that I have not been
sleeping. I’m a very hard worker and I think it will make people who
love me very happy.”
Is it not his fault that people outside Lagos don’t get to hear him because they believe the world market is his focus?
His father,
Afrobeat creator, Fela Anikulapo, would have loved his response. “Do
you have an industry in Nigeria? Do you have electricity in your
country? Do you have a good educational scheme? You call yourself
independent but there is no water in the cities, talk less of the
villages and towns. You think I‘m to blame? I have been exposed to good
governments and when I come back home, I become frustrated with people
who have just ‘gba kamu’ (become apathetic) that well, no light.
“I’ve released
albums many times in Nigeria and they have done a very bad job
distributing them. Many promoters believe once you release in Lagos,
that’s it. Nigeria is big; to get your music to 100 million people is
not easy.”
Femi pauses when
asked if he wants to win the award. “There is nobody that would not
love to win the Grammy but I’m happy I’m nominated. Being nominated
already for me is like winning because there are hundreds of musicians
that want to be nominated.
“My purpose in
life is not about awards. As much as I would love to win the Grammy, it
is not my objective. My objective is to play good music, to continue to
forge ahead, to pray to the creator to shower me with more new songs so
I can keep on performing around the world and for my music to be
acceptable.”
Inimitable Fela
Unlike his father
whose tracks are usually lengthy, tracks on Femi’s albums are shorter.
“Fela was the creator of Afrobeat music so he could do what he liked.
How do you, as a son, live up to such a big name? You first have to
work 10 times harder than he did and you have to understand the market.
Except you are a fanatic of Fela, you are not going to sit down and
listen to a song for 45 minutes. How did I get myself across to the
world, how did I get to the Grammy? How did I get ‘Bang Bang Bang’ to
win the KORA Award and the World Music, how did I get nominated for
awards round the world?
“It was by saying
I must take this powerful music and make it commercial. Take what Fela
did in 45 minutes and reduce it to three, five minutes and make it more
explosive. I made it have everything that hip hop, funk and rock would
have.”
Silent giver
Making donations
to, or organising fund-raisers for the less privileged with the media
in tow is the rave among players in the entertainment sector but not
many know Femi has been helping lepers at a colony close to Benin since
the 80s.
“I promised myself
in 1984 or ‘85, we were going to Benin or somewhere and there were so
many on the road but I didn’t have money. One naira then was a lot of
money and by the time I gave one of them one naira, we‘ll see another
one. They were many and I swore to myself that if I ever become rich,
I’ll always help this people.”
He has also been
sponsoring the education of some of his son, Made’sfriends. “I had the
money to send Made to a good school but the friends he likes were the
poor people in the area. By each term, his English was getting very
fluent; they were not speaking good English. Made knew mathematics; he
was getting more advanced and he was oppressing them. He didn’t realise
he was oppressing them but I could see that they all felt envious when
he is mixing with them.
“His oppression
was not self-made, it was just that his father could afford a better
school and they were looking at him as if he was a god. I didn’t want
that. So, I called him and asked if I should send them to the same
school? He was happy so I said let’s go talk to their parents. I spoke
with them but unfortunately some of their parents died. I’ve continued
to take care of them. Now they are like brothers.”
Nothing in marriage
Those expecting a
reunion between Femi and Funke, his ex-wife, may well wait till
eternity. “We are not getting back because there is nothing to get back
to. Forward ever, backwards never. We are very good friends. She even
called to congratulate me on the nomination. We are very civilised …
First, I never believed in marriage. I’m a very independent person. I
don’t want any woman to tell me what to do with my life. Don’t forget
my father married 27 wives so I know all the garaje (trickeries) of
marriage. I don’t want to be involved in that.
“I want a
situation where I’m totally independent. I don’t need a better half; I
don’t want a better half. I want to appreciate people. I have people I
appreciate and I want them to appreciate me. From when I can remember,
my mother, she loved my father gan (very much) so I saw what love did
to her. My father, he, ko ran yan se (was carefree). I don’t want to
put a woman in the kind of predicament my mother was so I always make
it clear. I like women, I’m not getting married. I don’t like all this
type of Oyinbo (western) roses. I’m not into all that. Made’s mother,
we understood. How she derailed, I don’t understand.”
The self-confessed
workaholic unabashedly discloses, “I don’t relax. When I’m going to
relax, it’s with my girlfriend; we are making love. That’s relaxation
but that one gan (in itself) is hardwork these days. Experience is the
best teacher in this life. You are always sexually excited as a young
man. When you now think about it rationally and want to play sex
properly, it is hard work. To satisfy your partner, it is hardwork
especially if you don’t have money or there are other things on your
mind.”
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