Nigerian singer Tekno has weighed in on the history of Afrobeat and Fela Kuti’s position as one of the genre’s most influential figures, arguing that the story goes beyond one person.
Speaking during an interview on HOT 97, Tekno acknowledged Fela’s impact while pointing to other Nigerian music legends who influenced the sound. Responding to a question about Fela being the father or creator of the Afrobeat sound he said;
“I don’t know, to be honest. There are legends like Oliver De Coque that made pure highlife music, and highlife is also Afrobeat. So I would say for the people in Lagos and Yorubas, a record of mine that is ‘Rara’ is heavily inspired by Fela because I heard his tune and he is a legend. He stamped the Afrobeat thing on the world map.”
“But there are other people that we listen to from the East, because I am from the East, and we had legends that sang some type of music that if you heard today, you wouldn’t even believe that this music was made in those times. I feel like they don’t know these guys or maybe they didn’t come across them.”
Tekno said his appreciation for these older musicians began at home, revealing that his father played their records while he was growing up.
“I would say I was more inspired by Oliver De Coque because my dad used to play his records. There were so many artists that nobody knows about, and Fela gets the credit because he kind of travelled and had the band and went around the world.”
“For some people, he is the originator of the Afrobeat thing, but to me, there is still a bunch of them and a lot of legends no one speaks about.”
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