LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)-Nigerian musician Femi Kuti, has pushed back against claims that Tony Allen co-pioneered Afrobeat with his father, Fela Kuti.
Despite Allen being widely credited as a co-pioneer, Femi insists that his father was the mastermind behind the Afrobeat genre.
In a recent video message, he claimed that Fela taught Allen his drumming style, just like he did with other instrumentalists.
“My father was a multi-instrumentalist and composer who studied music,” Femi Kuti said. “He knew every part of his instrument and came up with all his drum patterns.”
Femi Kuti dismissed the notion that Fela credited Allen for Afrobeat, calling it a “big lie.” He challenged fans to produce any evidence of Fela making such a statement, but none exists.
“I was a child, a teenager, a man, we saw Fela do it. Fela wrote all his patterns. I keep telling them, why didn’t Tony Allen tell us which songs he did for Fela? He couldn’t because there was no song that Fela asked him to put the drum pattern for him. It is impossible,”
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“So, I asked those saying Fela credited Allen for Afrobeat where he did and they can’t produce it. There is no article, recording or footage from any interview to prove it. It is impossible that Fela would make such a statement and there is no copy anywhere,” he reaffirmed.
According to Femi Kuti, when Fela created music, he went into a trance-like state, and everyone around him had to maintain calmness and follow his composition and instructions.
“You probably have heard that they said ‘Without Tony Allen, there is no Afrobeat.’ That is the biggest bullsh*t ever said about my father. It is such a big lie,”
“They tried to sell Tony Allen so they decided to lie. Yes, he was a good drummer but Fela taught him his style of drums. Fela came up with all his drum patterns. We saw it,” Femi added.
