Why My Father, Fela, Should Have Never Had Children - Yeni Kuti

Nigerian singer and musician, Fela Kuti, is a legend and is often referred to by many as the Father of Afrobeats. But while the singer may be known to us, the world as the father of Afrobeats, his biological children to whom he was an actual father never even called him 'daddy'.

During a new interview with Chude, Fela's eldest child and first daughter, Yeni Kuti, opens up about the reality of growing up as her father's child. Here are the surprising things Yeni said about what the father of Afrobeats was actually like as a father to his biological children.

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During her interview, Yeni Kuti was asked "Do you think that Fela was a good father?" She responded:

YENI KUTI: In his own way yes, but in the conventional sense, no. My identity as an African woman and my pride as an African woman, I learnt from my father. So who I am today was shaped by him. But think as a conventional father, no. I don’t even think he should have had children, I think he should have just been father to all the nation, a national father. You didn't feel any special bond that you were Fela's child or that he was going to favor you because you were his child. You were just another human being as far as he was concerned.

"Was that painful?"

YENI KUTI: You could resent it, but I just learned to rise above it. But it caused a lot of rifts between us. I mean, there was a time when Femi and Fela quarreled so of course that meant Fela quarelled with Femi, Sola, and I. So we all kept away. And then if they were going to settle, we would send Femi "oya, your his son, you go and settle with your father. If you settle with your father, then Sola and I will follow". So it was different. Because we didn't call him daddy for instance. You know, I have a younger brother who said his children should call him by his name because Fela made us call him by his name, and so when I went to his house and heard his kids calling him "Kunle Kunle Kunle", I said 'ehn? What? You're calling your father Kunle!' I called my brother, I said "You don't want to be a responsible father? From today, stop letting them call you by your name." So when they came to Nigeria, I asked them "have you started calling your father daddy?" they said yes. I said enhehn! Don't be calling your father Kunle because he will think he's a young boy running up and down, no, he has to be responsible. So I think us not calling Fela daddy made him not realize the gravity of having kids.

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