FEMI KUTI’s 50 BIRTH DAY SHINDIG

 What they didn’t tell you

The 18^th June 2012 will surely be unforgettable in the history of the Anikunapo Kuti family. A family that Seun Kuti has consistently referred to as the best first class family in Nigeria. On this day as you already know, the present leader of the family and the current King of Afro beat Music with three Grammy Award nominations in his CV turned 50! The New Afrika Shrine was the venue for his half-o- a-century celebration. The shindig was very colourful as almost all the guests, family and friends wore the blue and white spotted Aso Oke.

THE GUESTS: Besides the members of the Ransom Kuti family who were there, Seun Kuti looked like the happiest person on the night. The music industry came out en masse to support a living legend, Femi Kuti a.k.a Baba Made! Present at the New African Shrine were, Tee Mac, Tuface Idibia, Sound Sultan, Ara, Kenny Ogungbe, ID, Kenny Saint Brown, Essence, T.W.O, Orits Wiliki, Skillz of JJC, Ayo Animashaun, Weird MC, Cally Ikpe, Alariwo and some foreign guests. Conspicuously missing at the event, as usual, was Dede Mabiaku.

PERFORMANCES: Omobaba the self acclaimed fine boy who has become the official MC of all the events at the New Afrika Shrine anchored the event. Since it was a musician celebrating, the event was spiced with a lot of musical performances; a lot of wonderful bands like Black B band, Ara, Seun Kuti, and surprisingly Made Kuti, Femi’s first son from his estranged wife, came out smoking hot with a spell binding performance of a classical music performance which he did on the keyboard. Hip On TV showed a great documentary on the sax maestro. When it got to refreshment, there was enough to eat, drink and definitely smoke! Did that make you go huh? Yeah that is the reality. The icing on the cake was the fascinating performance of Femi Kuti and his little kids. That should put a smile on your face. Normally when Femi or Fela performed, you saw female dancers shaking their bakasi but at 50, Femi came in with something refreshing- his children! It was glorious watching his kids almost do choroegraph Femi’s dance steps. Whenever the father chopped knuckles, they followed suit. When he pulled off his shirt, they pulled off their shirts. When he started dancing and jumping, they did exactly the same. Femi came on stage to perform just one song but ended up performing more. Hit songs like Bang Bang, Wonder Wonder, Se Were, Se Were, drove the already primed audience truly ballistic.

THE CUTTING OF THE CAKE: All the celebrities present were called up stage for the cutting of the cake which was designed like a Grammy Award; Tuface started the happy birthday song which every other artiste joined. Seun Kuti popped the big Champagne which Femi gulped from and later blamed Seun for turning him into a drunk.

WHAT PEOPLE HAD TO SAY :

SEUN KUTI: When MKO Abiola was arrested, that was just the arrest before he died, his business crumbled, his Newspaper shut down but Fela has died and several years later his name has grown bigger and stronger. His first son, Femi is achieving great things, he has even achieved more than Fela. I am very happy for my brother Femi and I wish him a very happy birthday.

YENI KUTI: Femi has come of age, he has been nominated severally at the Grammies, he has established the new Afrika Shrine, has lovely children. He has taken the Kuti name to its next level. At 50 he has come of age. I am happy for him and I wish him more great years ahead.

FEMI KUTI: I am very happy for today; it’s a great day in my life. Seeing people from all over Africa and beyond come to the new Afrika Shrine to celebrate with me and my family is a wonderful experience.

Now that you are 50, what is next for you?

My mission is not complete yet, we don’t have equal rights and justice yet, we don’t have free education yet, we don’t have sound and free medical care yet. What we still have is massive corruption that has been there since independence so the struggle continues. We must not let the fight against corruption die. The fuel subsidy fight must not die. The fuel subsidy probe and all the bribery scandal surrounding it now is all rubbish! These people are destroying this country, Nigeria is a great country, this country is meant to be the envy of the world. Your American and British friends will tell you that you have everything going for you. When they told me that I should relocate to Los Angeles, I said no! They told me to move to Paris, I thought to myself, see Paris and die! I told them no place like home. I will die in Lagos!

Talking about age, at what age will you like to die?

Hhhmmm! People wish me to live up to 100 years and above, I say no, that’s a curse. My teeth will be gone; I will be shaking with a walking stick. No, the moment I can’t play my Sax again, the moment I can’t have sex with my girl friends, I am ready to go and I will come and tell you bye, bye.

ON THE LOW SIDE:

WHEN FEMI ESHO GOT DRUNK

Femi Esho, the Nigerian ever green music preservation crusader and Felabration planning committee member was so excited he got drunk and displayed it in his drunken master walking steps.

NEW AFRIKA SHRINE REGULARS COMPLAIN

Getting to the Shrine that night, fear will grip you because of the large crowd of hoodlums having their own separate party outside. You wonder why, right? A little prodding revealed that the management made sure that no one without an IV got in because of the caliber of people who will be willing to get in. On my little round check, I spoke to some of the people outside who complained bitterly of being embarrassed at the entrance. One actually said he spends a huge chunk of his weekly earning at the Shrine every weekend but was treated like a common criminal!