In honour of the late Afrobeat pioneer, David Adeleke, better known by his stage name Davido, joined the Fela Anikulapo-Kuti family at the GRAMMY Honours Party in Los Angeles. Afrobeats star David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has joined the Fela Anikulapo-Kuti family at the GRAMMY Honours Party in Los Angeles, held in celebration of the late Afrobeat pioneer.
Fela became the first African artist to receive the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award after his death.
Davido’s logistics manager, Israel DMW, posted videos to Instagram that featured the singer at the event with Fela’s kids, Femi and Yeni Kuti, as well as other members of his team.
Israel DMW posted videos from the occasion and wrote, “A night for the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Abami Eda of the universe,” outside of Los Angeles.
This weekend, Fela will receive official recognition from the Recording Academy. The Lifetime Achievement Award will be given out at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday, the night before the main GRAMMY Awards gala.
Music icons like Cher, Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, and Chaka Khan are among those who have received this honour.
Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, the head of the Kuti family and Fela’s first cousin, responded to the recognition by calling it an African triumph.
“The African people should accept this as their prize because it is a celebration for them. “We’re celebrating another African,” she told AFP.
She did, however, urge organisations that present awards to acknowledge the influence of artists before they pass away.
Ransome-Kuti speculated about Fela’s possible response, stating that the Afrobeat icon probably would have said, “better late than never,” adding that he wasn’t especially worried about Western recognition while he was alive.
In a similar vein, Davido’s song “With You”, which features Omah Lay, has been nominated for Best African Music Performance.
Strong competitors in the category include Burna Boy’s Love, Wizkid and Ayra Starr’s joint song Gimme Dat, Eddy Kenzo of Uganda with Mehran Matin’s Hope and Love, and South African singer Tyla’s Push 2 Start.
