Ei MMM (Music Movies & More)-Fela Kuti Honoured with Historic Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

The late Abami-Eda; Fela Anikulapo Kuti Posthumously Wins A Grammy Award! 

Nearly three decades after his death, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the pioneering Nigerian musician and outspoken political radical, has achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first African artist to receive a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The posthumous honour was presented in Los Angeles on Saturday, ahead of the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, marking a symbolic moment often described as the anti-establishment finally being recognised by the establishment.

Born in 1938 in Ogun State, Nigeria, as Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, Fela emerged from a family rooted in education and activism. He travelled to London in 1958 with plans to study medicine but instead pursued music at Trinity College of Music, where he formed a band blending jazz and highlife.

Upon returning to Nigeria in the 1960s, Fela went on to create Afrobeat, a revolutionary genre that fused highlife and Yoruba rhythms with American jazz, funk, and soul. His music, inseparable from his political activism, became a powerful voice against oppression and social injustice.

The Grammy citation highlighted Fela’s enduring global impact, noting that his influence continues to span generations and inspire artists including Beyoncé, Paul McCartney, and Thom Yorke, while also laying the foundation for modern Afrobeats, one of Africa’s most influential contemporary music movements.

Fela Kuti’s recognition by the Grammys not only cements his place in global music history but also reaffirms the lasting power of African creativity, resistance, and cultural expression.