Grammy-winning Nigerian artist, Damini Ogulu, known as Burna Boy, has expressed the view that it’s fortunate that the late afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti, didn’t live in this era. Burna Boy believes that many of the people who currently revere Fela Kuti would have criticized and called for his arrest if he had existed in today’s generation.
He emphasized that Fela’s existence during his time allowed him to convey the powerful messages present in his music. Burna Boy, whose maternal grandfather, Benson Idonjie, managed Fela Kuti initially, shared these thoughts during a recent interview with Zane Lowe from Apple Music in New York.
According to him: “What I have realised 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 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, 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 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.”
