Grammy-winning Nigerian singer, Burna Boy, expressed his belief that it is fortunate that the late Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti, did not exist in this generation.
Burna Boy stated that if Fela Kuti was alive today, many of the individuals who currently revere him would instead criticize and call for his arrest.
Burna Boy, who has a familial connection to Fela Kuti as his maternal grandfather, Benson Idonjie, was Kuti’s first manager, emphasized the importance of Kuti’s existence during his time.
The singer highlighted that it allowed Kuti to effectively convey the powerful messages present in his songs.
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Love Damini singer made his perception about the late singer known during a recent interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music in New York.
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He said:
“What I have realized is that the times are really funny. Fela in his time was going through things that, if he was here today, it might have been a whole different feeling like a whole bunch of people from Nigeria who you see today celebrating Fela, are the same people that would have been tagging the police to go and arrest Fela if there was Twitter then.
“So, at the end of the day, I feel like God doesn’t make mistakes. You know what I mean like the times are just perfect for everyone, you know. If he [Fela] was here today, like his career started now, he may not have the space to explore that [his conscious creativity] because there is too much in this day and age that it just doesn’t interlock with the spirits. Right now, spirituality is almost non-existent.
“Now, it [the society] is just mostly run by stupidity and ignorance. It was still the same back then [during Fela’s era] but it wasn’t as amplified or accessed [as it is today]. Now, everything is defined by stupidity and ignorance.
“I’m grateful for the fact that he [Fela] existed in his time so that we can get an experience of the true organic nature of what he was, the essence of what he stood for and the messages he passed across to us.”
