President Bola Tinubu has paid glowing tribute to legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo Kuti following his posthumous recognition with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Recording Academy, organisers of the Grammy Awards.
In a personal tribute issued on Sunday to mark the honour, President Tinubu described the late musician as a towering cultural force whose influence transcended music, generations, and geography, declaring that the world had rightly honoured “a giant.”
The President said Fela was far more than a musician, portraying him as a fearless voice of the people, a philosopher of freedom, and a revolutionary figure whose music boldly confronted injustice while reshaping global soundscapes.
“His courage, creativity, and conviction defined a generation and continue to inspire the world,” Tinubu said, adding that, in Yoruba mythology, Fela had ascended to a higher spiritual plane and become eternal.
President Tinubu noted that the Lifetime Achievement Award marked a historic milestone, as Fela became the first African to receive the honour, albeit posthumously.
According to him, the recognition affirms the late icon’s enduring global relevance and the foundational role he played in shaping the evolution and international impact of African music.
The President further stressed that Fela not only defined Afrobeat as a genre but also laid the groundwork for its global diffusion, with his influence evident across generations of Nigerian musicians and clearly traceable in contemporary Afrobeats and global music beyond the African continent.
“Fela lives,” Tinubu declared, underscoring that the artist’s ideals, sound, and cultural impact remain vibrantly alive decades after his passing.
The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award is conferred on performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording, placing Fela Anikulapo among an elite pantheon of global music legends.