Nearly three decades after his death, legendary Nigerian musician and Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo Kuti is set to receive global recognition from the music industry!
Nearly three decades after his death, legendary Nigerian musician and Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo Kuti is set to receive global recognition from the music industry!
Reported by Marian opeyemi Fasesan (Editor -in- chief) | Sele Media Africa
The late artist will be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards, becoming the first African musician to receive the distinction, albeit posthumously.
Fela Kuti, who died in 1997 at the age of 58, has long been celebrated by fans as the king of Afrobeat — a genre he helped create and which later inspired today’s globally successful Afrobeats movement.
His son, musician Seun Kuti, welcomed the recognition, describing it as a long-awaited moment of balance in his father’s legacy.
“Fela has been in the hearts of the people for such a long time. Now the Grammys have acknowledged it, and it’s a double victory,” he told the BBC.
Long-time friend and former manager Rikki Stein said the honour was “better late than never”, noting that African music had historically received limited recognition within global institutions.
The award comes amid growing international attention on African music. In 2024, the Grammys introduced the category of Best African Music Performance, while Nigerian superstar Burna Boy is nominated this year in the Best Global Music Album category.
Fela Kuti will be honoured alongside global music icons including Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan and Paul Simon. Members of his family, as well as friends and collaborators, are expected to attend the ceremony to receive the award on his behalf.
Beyond music, Fela Kuti is remembered as a fierce political activist who used his art to challenge military rule, corruption and social injustice in Nigeria.
Across a career spanning three decades, he released more than 50 albums, blending West African rhythms, jazz, funk and politically charged lyrics to create Afrobeat — a sound that became both a musical and ideological movement.
His legacy continues to influence artists worldwide, with echoes of his work heard in contemporary musicians such as Burna Boy, Kendrick Lamar and Idris Elba.
For many, the Grammy honour represents not only recognition of a musical genius, but acknowledgment of an African voice that reshaped global culture — long before the world was ready to listen.
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