This interview was conducted march 31st by punch. Enjoy if you are interested.
Why did your father choose
controversial lifestyle?
It was because he was too honest about
his way of life. He liked women and he
did not hide it. He liked to smoke
marijuana and he did it in the open.
Many people like women but they do it
secretly. There are so many brothels
all around the world but Fela never
patronised them, many people go there
to pay for s**x.
You will be shocked to know the number
of people that smoke marijuana in
Nigeria and all over the world. I hope
you know that some countries are
legalising the smoking of marijuana
now. He was truthful about his way of
life while many of us are hypocritical
about ours. Many people were envious
that he was too honest and bold and
that was why there were so many
controversies about his life.
Most of his friends who are highly-
placed admire women even girls young
enough to be their daughters. They
leave their matrimonial homes to meet
them secretly. Some of them hide in
hotels to do what they cannot do in the
open. Many of them smoke but they are
not brave enough to say they smoke. All
the call girls you see on Allen Avenue,
who picks them? Fela never did.
How was he able to manage his many
wives?
It was very stressful for him. Do not
forget that he divorced all of them.
They were not faithful to him. When he
decided to marry them, he did so for a
reason. He said they had been with him
in difficult times. They endured police
harassment and beating. But they never
left. Though they were very loyal to
him, they still had a bad image in the
public because people were calling them
prostitutes.
He felt that the best way to protect
them was to marry them. They became
Fela’s queens, so the society had to
respect them. I believe he loved them
and he was already sleeping with them
before he married them. It was not
really a big deal to anybody that knew
them. For instance, my mother knew this
was happening so it was not a hidden
thing. The big deal was how he was able
to convince the 27 of them to marry him
same day.
Did Fela talk you into music?
He did not influence me as such. I
always knew I would go into music. It
was just a question of how and when. He
was however a big motivation in my life
because every child wants to be like
his or her father. The son of a plumber
will want to be like his father,
especially if he is learning the trade
early. If the son loves the father, he
will want to emulate him. I am not a
different son. I love my father and
wanted to do what he was doing. The
only question hanging over that
ambition was whether I could fulfil
that ambition perfectly.
How did he punish any of his
children who misbehaved?
He beat us. In fact, I was the one who
got the most beating in the house when
we were young.
Can you remember things you did
that made him beat you?
I stole my mother’s £1 to buy chewing
gum one day. You can imagine how many
wraps of chewing gum that money would
buy. They were not less than 100. My
friend convinced me to go and steal the
money but we were caught while chewing
the gum. When my father asked me where
I got the money from, I was speechless.
I was still thinking of what to say
when he started beating me with his
hand. He then warned me never to steal
again.
He also beat me when he caught me with
cigarette in 1969. My mother used to
smoke and he saw me put the cigarette
in my mouth. I did not really smoke the
cigarette because it was not lit, I
only put it in my mouth but it angered
him when he saw what I did. He beat me
again and warned me not to touch
cigarette again.
Why do you think it has been difficult
to replicate Fela’s style of music?
It is so because the foundation of the
band was truthful. He was not
pretentious. He really believed in what
he was saying. Despite all the police
harassment, he was not moved. Many
people would have gone to seek
political asylum in another country but
Fela did not do that. He had so many
opportunities outside Nigeria and he
would have taken advantage of them to
run away from his enemies. These are
the things that every generation
admires in him.
What are those things you imbibed
from your father?
I may not be able to mention them. In
the way I deal with people, I am very
truthful. If I say I am going to do
something, I would do it. But I am more
of my mother than my father. My elder
sister has more of my father than I do.
I am more of a practical person. If I
plan to do something, I will think of
the consequences. My father would never
weigh any decision before executing it.
If he planned to go to Dodan Barracks,
he would just go there. As for me, I
make plans before I do anything. My
father would not write a Will. But
because I know that I could get killed,
I had written my Will a long ago.
I know that in a divorce case, my wife
could claim one third of my property,
so I would not go into wedlock. The
most important thing to me right now
are my children. Now, I will not play
to the gallery. I will not say because
people love me, they must come first
before my family. Who are my family? My
children of course. So, whether you
love me or not, I will let you know
that my children come before you, take
it or leave it. I live this way because
I learnt from my father’s life, the
decisions he took and the consequences.
When you learn from someone, you don’t
have to do what he did. Fela did what
he did for his own reasons. I cannot
criticise why he did what he did.
Also, we must remember the stardom.
Nobody was as big as my father. He had
over 100 people around him daily when
he became a star. I cannot live like
that because I don’t want too many
people around me. I saw what people did
to him. It was too much. I can keep the
Afrika Shrine open to everybody but not
my house.
If you come to my home, you will only
see me, my kids and may be my
girlfriend. Sometimes, my friends visit
but I don’t keep a crowd around for any
reason, my father did. I like women but
I saw the harassment he went through
with 27 wives. It is not that I don’t
want 27 wives but I know what will
happen because of what happened to my
father. I can’t tell a woman that I
will be faithful in our relationship.
That was part of the problem of my
marriage. I cannot be faithful. I will
not lie about that. It is not that I
cannot be faithful, but I cannot start
my relationship by saying I am going to
be faithful till death do us part.
There are possibilities that if another
woman comes and I like her, I cannot
give the assurance that I will not have
an affair with her. I have no intention
whatsoever to bring all of them under
one roof. My intention now is to cater
for my children and do my job to the
best of my ability.
Did Fela have any special food?
He ate any food. He liked cakes and ice
cream too. I don’t like cakes. I can
eat ice cream and chocolate once in a
while but my father loved them all. If
somebody is celebrating and there is a
cake, I can take a little piece not to
offend my host. My father could die for
cakes. If you visited him and looked
inside his refrigerator, you would see
lots of cake in it.
Your father did not hide his hatred
for western medicine. Is it the
same with you?
I grew up not liking tablets too. I
grew up to be a traditionalist like my
dad. But I later realised that there
are too many fake traditional medicine
in our society. The government must
understand that many of these herbs are
claiming the lives of our people. We
must ask ourselves which of the herbs
has been scientifically proven to cure
malaria and the ailment they claim to
cure. I once had malaria and I drank
herbs but I was not cured. I felt very
uncomfortable. I will not say that herb
does not work because Africa believes
in it. It is a fact that we did survive
before orthodox medicine came.
There was African traditional medicine,
but where is it today? Everywhere, you
will see people hawking herbs, saying
it work for this and that. People buy
them and mix with hot drinks. Really,
when you are mixing alcohol with herbs,
you are damaging your liver. While you
think you are curing one thing, if it
does work, you are damaging another
thing in your body. Until we have
concrete fact to say something works
for the body, we will be deceiving
ourselves.
Why do you think Fela hated former
President Olusegun Obasanjo?
Olusegun Obasanjo was a bad leader. He
did not do well for Nigeria. He ruled
this country three times but has
nothing to show for it. They called the
soldiers that burnt Kalakuta Republic
and killed my grandmother unknown
soldiers. The Federal Government is yet
to apologise for their action against
the Kuti family. Whether they like it
or not, Fela was one of the biggest
stars from Africa. As the days go by,
people are beginning to understand the
importance of his music. The Lagos
State Government is building a museum
in his honour. The family does not have
that kind of money to build a museum.
It is not the governor’s money but the
state government money. But the
governor took the decision on behalf of
the people.
Another museum is also being built Ogun
State. Governors are beginning to
understand that Kuti’s name cannot be
swept under the carpet. The family has
done so much for Nigeria and the world.
Many people are playing afrobeat style
of music today because Fela invented
it. Some people are saying he did not
start it. But the question is: Who
started it and stood firm using the
music creatively? Fela stood for many
great things and his contribution to
the society cannot be pushed aside.
Did he have time to take the family
out for leisure?
In 1967, I remember that he took us to
Onikan swimming pool and also Federal
Palace Hotel. That was the first and
last outing for fun with us. He always
made it clear that he was not a
conventional father. He did not want us
to go to school not because he did not
like education, but because he believed
that education was colonial. He
believed that it was structured to show
that Europe is supreme and Africa is
not good. Even when he took me out of
school in my fourth year in secondary
school, I had acquired vast knowledge
about the outside world through the
books I read at home. I was known as a
professor in the Kalakuta Republic. I
read books such as Blackman and Walter
Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped
Africa. I read so much that I even
found there was a Pharaoh Kuti in
Egypt. I wondered if this Egyptian
Pharaoh Kuti was in any way related to
the Kuti family in Nigeria. My father
said we are probably related.
Which school were you attending
before Fela made that decision?
I was studying at Baptist Academy and
he withdrew me from there when Obasanjo
deployed soldiers to the school. I
later went to Igbobi College and spent
a year. He advised me to leave the
school in form four. Many believed I
would become a nonentity because of his
action. There was disagreement within
the family, my mother was against it,
but my dad stood his ground. She
wondered why my dad took me out of
school when he went to one of the best
schools in the UK.
She also said since he did not teach me
music how then would I be great in
life? My father told her not to worry
that I would be great. I was not happy
too and did not speak to him for six
years. He told me that he was confident
that I would be great. I did not know
what he saw in me. The day my album,
Wonder Wonder, became popular and I was
becoming a household name in Nigeria,
he called our family members and told
them that the same boy he withdrew from
school had become a successful
musician.
At that time, it was only my father and
King Sunny Ade that were travelling
abroad frequently for musical concerts.
But I suddenly started travelling
abroad more than the two of them
because I was becoming known more
outside the country.
Will I do the same for my son? No. He
will get a good education. I will let
him understand street life which I grew
up to know so that he will have a feel
of it, but he must be formally
educated.
Where were you when soldiers
invaded Kalakuta Republic?
I was coming back from the school when
I saw the soldiers. They wanted to
arrest me. But I managed to escape
through a place called Alagbole behind
Kalakuta. I ran and went to pick my
younger sister at Mary Magdalene
Primary School. We then crossed over
the railway and went home.
Is there anything you miss about
Fela?
I miss his being a grandfather. I think
he would have been a fantastic
grandfather. He had already been
showing the signs with my sister’s
daughter and my son. He died in 1997
and my son was born in 1995. I know
that what he was not able to do for us,
he would have done for our children if
he were still alive.
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