Good morning,
Niall here. You join me today for an audience with Femi Kuti. The son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela, Femi has triumphantly continued the family legacy. He began his musical career as a member of his father’s band Egypt 80, going his own way with his joyous jazz-funk debut No Cause For Alarm in 1989. Over 10 further solo releases since and numerous other projects, Femi has established himself as both a worthy heir and hugely influential artist in his own right.
I went and met Femi a few months ago in his dressing room at Koko a couple of hours before he took to the stage. I interrupted him practicing his saxophone but, as you will see below, he can afford to miss 30 minutes, he gets enough. It was apt that the affable bandleader was taking on our Life & Times interview as his new record is titled Journey Through Life. It came out on Friday and it’s an album that looks back over his 62 years on earth with some of the songs dating back to the 90s.
“They were the first two tracks,” he explained, setting his saxophone down into its stand. “I thought, ‘If I don’t do this, I’ll probably never do it in my lifetime’.” The rest of the record, he said, came into play as a way of distracting himself whilst his daughter underwent a medical procedure. "She had an operation and I had to put my mind somewhere else instead of crying and worrying,” he said. “I was in this place where I was so depressed and I knew I had to come up with new music for the album, so it was done in the space of two months. I don’t think I’ve worked that fast in my life. I had to put myself in a very positive place, speaking about my journey through life, speaking about my life experiences, advising myself to keep myself positive.”
The new album is certainly that, a celebratory salute to everything he’s been through. Why not stick it on whilst you read the interview:
Enjoy the edition. This one is free for all to read but if you’d like full access to each and every TNC delivery, then you’ll need to become a subscriber. It costs £5 a month and means we can make a little dosh for this worthy, shit-hot content cause. Share the edition if you like it, too, maybe you have some pals who would also enjoy it…
Cheers,
Ted and Niall
The Life & Times Of… Femi Kuti
What was the first record you loved?
It was my father’s big hit Jeun Ko Ku. But then my mother had a track of the Beatles. It was only record that she had and as children, we always used to play that record. I loved it. I can’t remember it but anytime I hear it, I say, ‘That’s it!’. But we were addicted to my father’s music. The minute he had his first hit, every album was like a big competition in my house between me and my sisters who could sing all the lyrics without mistakes. Then my sisters were involved with Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and all this funk.
What was the last record you loved?
Well, it’s not released yet. It’s my son Made’s album that’s coming out. I really love his album because it takes me way back to my father, my life, and now to see and witness my son. I’m very attached to that. If it wasn’t my son, then Dizzy Gillespie’s Things To Come. That album blew my mind. I couldn’t believe 15 horn players could play together so fast, five trombones, five trumpet, five tenor saxes. That album completely changed my perspective of music.
What’s your earliest memory?
I have so many… I remember when my father wasn’t yet popular and we had a monkey called Afro, a dog called Dino and a black pussycat called Timi. My elder sister chose the cat to be hers, the dog was my younger sisters and the monkey was mine. In that period, we never used to close the door, we just shut the door. There was no need for security. Nigeria was so safe. We didn’t have a fence and you could just walk out of your house to the neighbours. It was so free. There was so much freedom and we lost all that, it’s so unbelievable how times changed and got so difficult from then.
What’s your daily routine?
I wake up, try to do some exercise and then I practice. I still try to do six hours every day. I try to wake up at 10. start my practice at 11 and I don’t finish till seven. I try to go longer sometimes. I have breakfast at about 1pm then I have dinner at about 8:30pm. My days are quite boring.
Who or what is the love of your life?
My family means everything. I have a partner, she dances on stage. She’s been doing that for about 20 years. My children mean everything, I have beautiful children and when they say, ‘Daddy, I love you’, I just melt. And my band, I love my band.
What’s your worst habit?
I don’t socialise. I like my privacy. I like being alone, I like the silence. Is that a bad habit? People think I’m a snob because of that. Growing up, being on stage, my father’s life, Kalakuta [Fela’s communal compound in Lagos] was so open, so chaotic. When I had the opportunity, I cut everything off. I like peace and quiet. I don’t do any other thing, I don’t smoke anymore, I don’t drink.
When were you most creatively satisfied?
I don’t know if I’ll ever be satisfied, but when I look back about at my albums, Shoki Shoki was the album that completely changed the music scene in Nigeria. A lot of artists use that as their platform to compose. They give a lot of credit to my father but the beats they really take from Shoki Shoki, Beng Beng Beng, Sorry Sorry, Truth Don Die… but then if they give it to my father too, I come from my father, so it works both ways, doesn’t?
I think this album Journey Through Life is the most meaningful right now, because of the title and I really decided everything on the album myself, the way it was produced, I write all my music, I write all my songs, I do everything myself. This is the first time I said, ‘I’m producing it, I don’t want any interference anywhere.’
Has anyone you’ve ever met made you feel starstruck?
I wasn’t starstruck but I met Eric Cantona. I was at the same radio station with him. I was just amazed because I didn’t know he was that tall, very tall and quite huge. It was very nice.
Who or what is the greatest influence on your work?
You could say my left and right, my father on one side, my mother on one side. My mother has a lot of influence in my characteristic being, my father, because it is his music that I loved, his attitude that inspired me, but knowing I didn’t want to be it and finding my path. But my mother’s love and care, that’s what makes me very homely person.
What would people be surprised to learn about you.
I don’t think anything will surprise them. All my fanbase knows that I don’t mix, they know I go from my house to the shrine, to the airport, to the house, everybody knows. Lagos is completely quite small and there’s no hiding place for somebody like me. They know my movements. When I go out to a party, everybody’s, ‘You came today? Why? Wow, we are honored to have you!’ and they embarrass me. It’s not like I don’t want to go. It’s just so difficult to move I try to look for all these excuses.
What are you scared of?
Being able to give the same energy every night when I’m on tour. I’m 62 now and I’m going to be 63 this year, I’ve been doing this now on my own 38 years and everybody knows me for the high voltage energy and I’m scared what happens when I can’t do this anymore? That’s scary. People always ask me where I get the energy from. I say, ‘I don’t know’, and I really don’t want to know, because probably if I knew, the universe would take it from me so I don’t ask those kind of questions of myself.
If you could go back in time, where would you go?
I don’t want to go back in time. My father told me that life was an experience. Why do I want to go back? I think where I am now is my purpose. It’s my purpose to be where I am. I mean, I’ve made many silly mistakes but I’ve learned from my mistakes. I’m grateful I’m here. I’m grateful I have wonderful children. I’m grateful I can still perform, so why would I want to go back? I think death amazes me. I try to focus more on death these days. Is it going to be painful? Is it the end of my being? Is there something after that? It’s a very scary thought but this is going to be inevitable. I want to make it my focal point of thought. People around me don’t like when I talk this way, and I say, ‘If we keep on avoiding this topic, then we’re always going to be caught by surprise when death comes’. I plan for when I’m not going to be around. I try to make every moment count. I try to understand that this moment doesn’t last. I know that no matter how much I love the music and my saxophone or trumpet, they will not go with me anywhere when I die. So what will I take with me when I die? Only the good times and the love I’ve shared. Those are the moments you take with you. Nothing else matters, your phone, your house, your bag, nothing, your clothes, nothing, nothing goes with you but the love and experience and your memories.
What’s the secret to a long life?
I’m not one who cares about long life. I don’t want to even live too long when I can’t. I don’t want to be problematic and needing people to help me. There’s so many fascinating things like, what do you say about a child born and dies immediately? I was thinking two days ago that probably that’s the most lucky death. The child didn’t have to go through and experience life, if there’s a heaven, they are gone straight there, and then we have to go through the pain of eating, even making love can be problematic sometimes. We are caught up in so much material thoughts that I try to be spiritual because I know all these things won’t matter eventually, so why do I want to live too long? 100 and then I’m going to be look ugly, you might lose all your teeth. I love going bald, I love my grey hair, I just love my moment. I don’t have any regrets about my moment, and I want to be ready when I die. When death comes, I don’t want to say, ‘Please don’t take me yet, I’m not ready’. There’s a story that Death came calling, and the guy said he wasn’t ready, and Death said, ‘Look, I haven’t got time, I’ve got other people to take away’. He said, ‘Please, please!’ and he left this person… I made this story up… and this person, his wife dies, his children die, he loses some of his grandchildren, and he’s so lonely, and then he starts praying, ‘Please Death, take me’. And Death says, ‘Look, I told I was very busy’, and he had such a lonely old age. I don’t want to be that guy. If death comes today, I want to be ready.
What book would you recommend we read?
My mother’s book, Mrs Kuti, which came out. I don’t know if you can get it in England yet. She talks about her life in England as she was born here, her experience, how she met my father. My sister says it’s like a Mills & Boon love story, very unrealistic, but true. You get to know my father from her point of view. It can be sad as well but it’s very beautiful book, very lovely story.
What was the home you grew up in like?
It wasn’t conventional, because of my father, but my mother made it very homely.
How do you spark creativity?
Mostly when I’m practicing, it comes. The best creative moments are when I dream about it, if I can wake up and catch that sound, I used to have a cassette prayer by my bed, I’d hum the sound into it and then go back to sleep.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Can I say three things? Keeping my band for close to four decades. Being a good father to my children. And my music. Growing up as Fela’s son, I can count the people who gave me a chance on my fingers: my mother, my maternal grandmother, and my two sisters. That was all the support I had at the beginning. Nobody used to come to watch my concerts, and I’ve lasted. I’m here in London. Yesterday was awesome and I have another album coming out soon. Not bad.