Singer Tekno says Fela is not sole creator of Afrobeats, credits other legends

• Tekno says Fela is not the sole creator of Afrobeats, credits other legends

• He says highlife is part of Afrobeats, praises Oliver De Coque’s influence

• Tekno acknowledges Fela’s role in bringing Afrobeat to the global stage but says that several other legends also contributed to Nigeria’s musical heritage.

The singer stated that contrary to the popular narrative about the genre, late Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti should not be regarded as the sole creator or originator of the sound.

Tekno made the comments during a recent interview on Hot 97, where he discussed Fela’s influence on Nigerian music and the contributions of other musicians whose works, he said, deserve greater recognition. 

He explained that his upbringing in the eastern part of Nigeria exposed him to highlife music, with highlife legend Oliver De Coque among the musicians whose records he listened to while growing up.

According to Tekno, highlife forms part of the musical traditions that contributed to the sound associated with Afrobeats, although that connection does not receive enough attention.

“They’re legends like Oliver De Coque. He’s a legend that makes pure highlife music, and highlife is also Afrobeats,” he said

“I have a record of mine, Rara, that is really big and is heavily inspired by Fela because I heard his tune as well and he’s a legend.”

The singer acknowledged Fela’s enormous contribution to taking Afrobeat to international audiences but argued that the recognition attached to him has sometimes overshadowed other musicians who made important contributions to Nigeria’s musical heritage.

“He (Fela) obviously stamped the Afrobeats thing on the world map, but we have some other legends that sang very good music that if you heard today, you wouldn’t even believe that those songs were made in those times

People don’t know them as much, but my dad used to play these records, and it was so many artistes that made it, but Fela gets the credit because he kind of traveled and he had the band that went around the world

To some people, he’s the originator of Afrobeats, but to me, there are a lot of them,” he said.

Fela Kuti remains widely recognised as the pioneer of Afrobeat, a genre he developed through a fusion of West African musical traditions, jazz, funk and politically charged songwriting. His music and performances helped take Afrobeat beyond Nigeria and established him as one of Africa’s most influential musicians.

Tekno’s argument, however, centres on the broader musical history behind contemporary Afrobeats. He points to highlife and other Nigerian musical traditions as part of the foundation from which later sounds developed.

For Tekno, the global rise of Afrobeats should not erase the contributions of earlier generations of musicians whose records influenced the sound and musicians who came after them.