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| The Heir of Afrobeat |
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The Student meets Seun Kuti after his show at Usher Hall
 During the 12th century the demi-god Oduduwa passed down his kingdom to his last-born. Since that time his descendants, the Yoruba people, have always maintained a particular esteem for the youngest son. Following on from this tradition, at the age of just eight Seun stepped onto the stage to open the show for his father, the legendary founder of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti. In 1997 Seun took over his late father’s band, the illustrious Egypt 80. After a sensational show at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, Seun was kind enough to speak with The Student about the release of his latest record, From Africa With Fury: Rise.
You have said “Afrobeat has to go from stage to studio, not studio to stage”. How does performing the songs live beforehand subsequently affect the recording of the album?
If you wanna catch a live feel, you gotta play it live in front of people a few times, or a lotta times, ya know, and that confidence comes out on the album I feel. It’s better than having to write the songs in the studio, rehearsing them and then recording immediately, everyone is too tentative and it sounds mechanical.
Oh, the way I write my songs - that’s how they have to stay. I don’t agree to any changes, I’m stubborn like that sometimes. But that’s cause I don’t just dribble and drabble, I give it a lot of thought, compose it and listen to it and make any corrections before I hand it to the band, ready to be played.
I don’t feel it changed the sound, but I think it changed the feel of the album basically. Brian focuses a lot on structuring the music. He’d take the beat out some places to give the vocals a lot more umph, or lower the guitars and crank up the bass, just to give it a different effect. Solos on the horns ensemble - that was something Brian asked me to do. Brian always wants to explore the music. He doesn’t want to stick with what’s there, he wants to exploit and find new ways to open it up.
No, I don’t see my music as contemporary, I feel that’s the wrong word for Afrobeat music in general. Afrobeat is timeless music. I don’t listen to hip hop nowadays anymore, that was a younger Seun talking, two years ago in a world where hip hop was still a bit interesting. Now hip hop is just lost, nobody knows what they’re doing, you can’t even tell the difference between Lil Wayne and Justin Timberlake, it’s basically the same music, just pop music.
Writing songs in Yoruba is quite hard, the way it’s spoken, it’s a note, the language is tonal, very tonal. So you can’t just say any Yoruba note in any kind of key in a certain way and expect it to flow, because it will sound wrong. You can’t write the words to fit the tone of the song, you have to write the song to fit the tone of the words, you have to really think about what you want to say. It’s challenging and interesting when you get it right. I hardly speak English in my music, all this is just so my people understand what I’m saying, it’s not an impact thing.
I think The Good Leaf is a very serious social and political issue. They cannot see anything concrete against it but they say its illegal because its not a white man’s business, that’s how I see it. If it were a white business I’m telling you it would be legal, just because more Africans or South Americans would make money it is illegal. Maybe the cotton industry is also afraid; because marijuana can be used to make hemp to make very strong fibers, much stronger than cotton fibers. The Good Leaf is a political argument, even more than social. Alcohol and cigarettes are more dangerous than marijuana but they are still legal! So if the government cares about the welfare of the people they would make these things illegal. Their interest is in supporting white business and persecuting black business everywhere. Marijuana is what gonna make black people rich men.
North Africans are more united because of their common identity: everybody speaks Arabic, Islamic culture, belief in Allah, this tradition unites, that’s how they are all able to speak in one voice. There’s hope for the people, the people are now standing together demanding change. At least now we know its possible, whereas in sub-Saharan Africa we are very much divided, we are not united ethnically. In Nigeria there are two hundred and seventy different ethnic groups all independent from one another - everything is different. All these nations are forced to live in a geographical country, with no national interests, no unifying culture. Sub-Saharan African just has to find a voice that we can all be under, that can unify us all.
I don’t think the meaning has changed. I think what Shrine stands for is still what Shrine stands for, what Kalakuta stands for is still what Kalakuta stands for, I don’t see any change. Here people can go and express themselves freely and be Africans, express themselves freely as Africans.
I enjoyed the show. I saw it five times! I’ve never seen any other Broadway show so I’m not the one to ask. For a lot of the audience it would be the first time listening to Fela’s music because the Broadway crowd is not Fela’s crowd. But they were open to his music, it inspired them, that’s why the show was such a success. But the British people are kinda uptight! They don’t wanna get up and dance!
Back home do you watch a lot of Nollywood films?
No no no no, anybody that watches a Nollywood film has lost twenty IQ points by the end. It’s not representative of the culture of Lagos, its representative of the culture of religion, most of the productions are sponsored by churches and that’s why you see African religions painted as evil, these evil people trying to ruin the good peoples’ lives and at the end the good Lord and Jesus Christ come and save everybody. I don’t wanna watch that shit!
Yeah, I still play! When I was younger I could run all day, I was running down the wing, playing on the left side or in a supporting striker role. But now I’m on tour it’s like being injured, you go back and you’re less sharp. I’m a very huge Arsenal fan, HUGE! [starts chanting] HENRY! Now we are a bit hot and cold, I think Wenger should go. I know he has done a lot for Arsenal, but it’s time. He’s not a tough coach, everybody does what they please, Fabregas back-heeling the ball to Iniesta…
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