The Fela protégés: Thriving on the legend’s creativity

It is not surprising that there are many music artists who have adopted Fela’s style of music. Known as afrobeat, the genre was created by Fela himself from a fusion of Nigerian and Ghanaian highlife, jazz and soul.

Since it was afrobeat that made Fela into a worldwide music icon, it became a music genre that inspired other musicians too to start performing it.

The main man who has taken afrobeat to a really great height after Fela is his Femi Anikulapo-Kuti. Femi has tried his best but he has failed to live up to his father’s music accomplishments. After Femi comes another Son of Fela, Seun. He too has tried but is still found wanting of Fela’s lofty standards.

But even as Femi and Seun can be praised for even trying to be original, Dede mabiakwu doesn’t even bother to aspire to originality. He sings Fela’s songs word for word, dresses exactly like Fela and dances like him without any variation.

Definitely, the aforementioned three have been Fela’s most visible protégés till date. However, they are not the only ones Fela inspired to not only do music but do his style of music.

W4 is the latest Fela protege and he doesn’t hide it. As a matter of fact, he reveals to anybody who asks him that he is copying Fela’s dressing, dancing and music. A contemporary pop music artist, copying Fela by infusing afrobeat into his pop sound has paid off for W4 because he is now being talked about. Formerly, he was seen as just a lackey of Tuface and Sound Sultan but he is now seen as his own man since he became a Fela protégé.

D’Banj is another confirmed Fela protégé. It also reflects in his dressing and music too. His latest single, Oyato, has been described as listeners as listening to Fela all over again.

Sound Sultan is also a proven Fela protégé. Listening to his songs prove it. Like W4, his version of afrobeat is the type infused into pop. And in order to show that Fela is truly his inspiration, he is celebrating his twelfth year on stage by rehashing the Fela’s Broadway play on September 16^th.

Alariwo of Afrika is another act who has found fame with afrobeat. It is not the easiest of music genres so anyone who can perform it with the least bit of flair makes headway in it. This Alariwo has done so he continues to remain relevant since he keeps playing afrobeat.