The Recording Academy bestowed one of its highest honours — the Grammy lifetime achievement award — upon the late Afrobeat icon Fela Kuti in a ceremony in Los Angeles.
The late icon’s legacy was celebrated on Saturday by his children, who accepted the prestigious award on his behalf.
Femi, Yeni, and Kunle Kuti represented the family at the special merit awards ceremony.
Yeni, visibly moved, expressed gratitude to the Academy.
“I want to thank the Grammy and everybody for this wonderful award. I am sure my father is smiling down at us. I want to acknowledge my siblings who could not be here tonight – Motunrayo and Seun. And my nephew is carrying Afrobeat – Made Kuti,” Yeni said.
On his part, Femi highlighted the award’s profound significance beyond music.
“I want to thank all people carrying Afrobeat – DJs, the press, artisans, and fans. It is so important for us. It is so important for Africa. It is so important for democracy and the struggle,” he said.
Kunle framed the moment as a historic validation of his father’s prophecy.
“By the force of Afrobeat start to move, it will be unstoppable,” he said.
“Afrobeat is truly the music of the future.”
The Recording Academy honoured Fela as the definitive “architect of Afrobeat,” crediting him with creating the genre in the 1960s by fusing funk, jazz, salsa, calypso, and traditional Nigerian rhythms.
“An architect of Afrobeat, honored for a lifetime of influence. Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician, producer, arranger, political radical, activist, and the father of Afrobeat. In the 1960s, he created the genre by combining funk, jazz, salsa, calypso, and a blend of traditional Nigerian rhythms,” they wrote.
“His influence spans generations, shaping modern Nigerian Afrobeats and inspiring global artists such as Beyoncé, Paul McCartney, and Thom Yorke. His legacy continues to live on not only through music, but through his family and through the Kalakuta Museum and the New Afrika Shrine.”
Fela now joins an elite group of special merit award honourees, including Whitney Houston, Cher, Paul Simon, and Carlos Santana.
The ceremony precedes this year’s Grammy Awards, where a new wave of Nigerian artistes — Burna Boy, Davido, Ayra Starr, Wizkid, and Omah Lay — are nominated.
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