Femi Kuti, the
eldest son of Fela, Afrobeat legend, says he and his siblings grew up as
traumatised children seeing their father being beaten by security operatives on
numerous occasions.
The musician spoke of his experience as son of the late
music icon when he featured on ‘How Far with Sheila O,’ a show on HipTV.
Fela, who passed away at 58, inspired several songs which
addressed deeply-rooted societal ills such as corruption, bad leadership,
colonialism and police brutality.
His activism and hard-hitting songs made him the subject of attacks from government forces at the time, which led to his arrest as well as detention on numerous occasions.
Reflecting on the life of the late singer, Femi said he has
no regret being his child despite the challenges that confronted him.
“I would say I have no regret being his son. I can’t imagine
being a son to anybody else. He has had his ups and downs of course,” he said.
“I always tell my elder sister that whether we like it or
not we are traumatised children to see our father beaten so many times when we
were young, in our very early teens.
“The first raid was
in 1974 when he was brutally beaten, I was 12 then. This continued and he was locked
up many so times before the burning of the house.”
Femi said it is unfortunate that the country has yet to make
meaningful progress leaving several of its citizens traumatised in the process.
“I know that we’re traumatised children and then of course
the problem of Nigeria, I think we’re all traumatised in the country. Maybe we
should called it a traumatised nation,” he added.
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