I started playing saxophone at 15 – Femi Kuti

Femi Kuti, 55, is one of Nigeria’s most renowned, award-winning musicians. He is the eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela, and started his music career at age 15. In this interview with Weekend Magazine, he talks about building a lasting legacy, his relationship with his younger brother Seun, and more. Excerpts: Weekend Magazine: You started […]

Femi Kuti, 55, is one of Nigeria’s most renowned, award-winning musicians. He is the eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela, and started his music career at age 15. In this interview with Weekend Magazine, he talks about building a lasting legacy, his relationship with his younger brother Seun, and more. Excerpts:

Weekend Magazine: You started playing the sax when you were fifteen. How would you describe your music career since then?

Femi Kuti: It was very tough. People kept comparing me with my father and saying I can never be as good as he was. But I didn’t play music for that reason. I played because I wanted to. What I think and feel is more important than what anybody may think or feel. So, I set my goal and my mind on it.

WM: What was it really like growing up under the shadow of a famous dad?

Kuti: I don’t see any shadow. I see a man I respect and love. I didn’t see competition. I knew I had to work very hard. My father didn’t want to compromise because I was his son and say I played good music. When I played good music he said so. When I didn’t, he pointed that out too, and in public.

WM: What do you think you would have excelled at if you hadn’t gone into music?

Kuti: I can’t even imagine anything else. The way we understand music, it’s not about the fame or the fortune. Life has put you in a position where you are a medium to inspire and make other people happy. When you understand that you will not worry about what people think.

WM: This year, you broke the world saxophone record for the longest single note held on a saxophone at the New Africa Shrine. What was the experience like?

Kuti: It took a lot out of me, mentally. But I felt very good because people always compared me to Kenny G. They never saw the beauty of what I was trying to do and it was just about comparison. After a live production at the shrine and the matter came up again, I decided to try. I did a couple of times and set a mark. I thought that if I could accomplish it at my age it would be a good feat. That night, I beat Kenny G’s record. Apparently there was another record set by Vann Burchfield, a saxophonist in Birmingham. But he didn’t want to embarrass Kenny G, so he never spoke about it.

WM: Kenny G is said to have held an E-Flat for over 45 minutes, 47 seconds. He was also reported to have used a technique called Circular Breathing, which keeps a steady stream of air flowing through the saxophone even as the player breathes. You did yours for 51 minutes, 35 seconds. What technique did you use?

Kuti: Apparently, Kenny G used a soprano sax and I used an alto sex. An alto sax is more difficult than a soprano sax in terms of technique.

WM: Has the Guinness Book of World Records recognised you yet?

Kuti: They don’t recognise this feat anymore, but if I was doing it for them I would have given them a call. This was a personal challenge I thought I had to do. It wasn’t about the Guinness World Records. Why do we always have to wait for foreigners to endorse what we have done? I feel the New African Shrine is a symbolic enough venue to hold its own record and accept its own record. There were a lot of people there. It wasn’t done in private. When I broke the record, the high commissioner of Britain was there, a lot of VIPs were there, including TV and radio stations. My fans were also there. There were over a thousand people present. They all witnessed it.

WM: Some artistes these days seem to be more concerned with the commercial side of music more than being a voice for the people. What’s your take on that?  

Kuti: I’m not a critic, so I can’t tell people how to process things in their lives. But I can tell you, in my life experience, understanding and knowledge, music isn’t about that. Likewise, if you go into medicine, if you don’t believe in saving lives you shouldn’t be there. But some go into medicine to make money. But there are those that would first save you before they ask about the expenses. That’s how it should be.

There are some that wouldn’t do anything until you put money on the table. Also, as a lawyer, are you not supposed to defend justice? So, probably the whole world has got it wrong and materialism has got into mankind’s way, which I believe is wrong. Just like what’s happening today when money is given to help people affected by the activities of Boko Haram and someone takes it and uses it for his personal needs, while others are starving and dying.

WM: Are any of your children showing interest in following in your footsteps?

Kuti: I’ll not tell any of them to follow in my footsteps, but if they want to play music, then I can give them my best and everything I know. But if they want to be like me I will advise them that they can’t be like me, they have to be themselves. They have to find their way. If they are trying to copy me, I will not have any respect for them because there’s no beauty in it. The beauty is seeing me in them. They would always be my children. If I wanted a copycat I would have given birth to copycats. I want my children to achieve what they set out to do.

WM: Are some of them playing music at the moment?

Kuti: They all are.

WM: How many children do you have?

Kuti: I have six biological children. Five are learning musical instruments. The eldest, has one more year in the university. After then, he can set out on his own. I feel it’s important for him to finish school. One must have something to fall back on. In music, there are always good times and bad times.

WM: What’s your take on the popular music coming out of Nigeria these days?

Kuti: I like it. I don’t have any problem with it. But it’s not what I would do. Like I said, I am not a critic. If I am asked my advice, I would tell young people to pick up more instruments.

WM: Speaking of popular Nigerian music, what do you think about the label ‘Afrobeat’ placed on the works of artists like Wiz Kid, Davido, Olamide, and so on?

Kuti: For somebody like me to get into that controversy, people would think I am jealous, so I prefer to stay away from it. Likewise I don’t discuss politics on social media. If you want to discuss politics, come and face me directly. My views are very clear.

WM: You had a feud with your younger brother, Seun. What was it really about and how is your relationship now?

Kuti: Feuds happen, and thank God he realised he was wrong. Let me take you back: I am twenty years his senior. When they started to insult my integrity and put the youngest child first because of Fela, we forgot our culture and tradition. He was about fifteen and there was nothing he would do at that age that could be right or wrong. If he killed somebody at that age, he would be taken to a juvenile home. But who are those people using him against me? Those are the people I should be facing. Where are they today?

Seun is now with me and respects me. I am old enough to be his father. I was groomed to take over from my father. I decided I didn’t want that for my life. I walked away from it with no regret today. And my father was very upset. I didn’t want to take over. I wanted my own thing, my own experience, and my own success. I wanted to do it on my own with no help. That was my upbringing. Now, I was never taught music. Everything I learnt was self-taught. I wasn’t sent to music school, I was even taken out of school, so I didn’t finish my secondary school. I was withdrawn by my father. Seun’s mother made sure he went to music school and so on, but during my time, my father was against it.

If a father is being biased with one of his children, is it fair? And then those that know nothing about it are interfering. What about my own feelings? I am very thankful that I am not an embarrassment to myself. I made a success of my career without help from any quarter. So people can say what they like, but the fact of the matter is the fact. I taught myself the saxophone, the trumpet, and the keyboard. I didn’t want to be my father. I wanted to be Femi Anikulapo Kuti. I love, respect and adore my father. But I understood at a very early age that I could never be him. There was no magic that could do that. I am my father’s son. Even my children can’t be me and people would have more respect for them when they are themselves.

WM: What song have you written and performed that you consider as your favourite?

Kuti: It’s ‘Beng Beng Beng’. It took me to international fame. When it came out, it broke borders where Fela was not known. Today, because of the family and other people taking Fela to higher heights, people can now ask whether I am his son. But then when the song came out, they didn’t know. In Europe, if a journalist did not tell them, they didn’t know who I was. They just loved my song. I was playing not less than two hundred gigs a year, touring the world, Asia, Africa, Europe, and America. I was going to towns where they didn’t even know what Africa was like. Today with the internet, everybody can know a lot, but then it wasn’t so. You also ask yourself, how many children have achieved what I have, coming out of a great legacy and keeping it going?

WM: How do you relax?

Kuti: By practicing and being with my children.

WM: What are you working on at the moment?

Kuti: It’s my next album, ‘One People, One World’. Fans should expect the best that I can give.