By Segun Adebayo
Nigerian singer Tekno has stirred a fresh debate over the origins of Afrobeat after questioning the widely held belief that the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was the genre’s originator.
The singer argued that although Fela remains one of the biggest names associated with Afrobeat, other musicians were already making significant contributions to the sound before it became globally identified with him.
“Fela is not the originator of Afrobeat. Lagos people and the Yorubas might say he’s the one but I am from the East, and we had legends like Oliver,” Tekno said.
Tekno, who spoke from the perspective of someone from Nigeria’s eastern region, pointed to the musical traditions and legends that emerged from that part of the country.
He specifically mentioned the late highlife musician Oliver De Coque, suggesting that the history of Nigerian music cannot be told solely from the perspective of Lagos or the Southwest.
“There were a bunch of them not as popular as Fela because he travelled a lot and toured with the genre but I don’t think he was the originator,” he said.
For Tekno, Fela’s enormous popularity and international exposure may have played a major role in making him the face of the genre without necessarily making him its original creator.
Fela, who died in 1997, is widely regarded as the pioneer of Afrobeat and remains the most influential figure in the history of the genre.
His music combined elements of traditional West African rhythms with jazz, funk and socially conscious lyrics, while his extensive performances and tours helped take the sound beyond Nigeria.
But Tekno’s comments suggest that the story may be more complicated, with several musicians and musical traditions contributing to the sound that eventually became known as Afrobeat.