Seun Kuti: "Our politicians and our economic elites can cannibalize African peoples"<

A 35 ans, le saxophoniste et chanteur nigérian Seun Kuti est déjà une légende. Il est aussi l’un des plus talentueux héritiers de l’afrobeat, ce style musical créé par son père, le génial Fela Anikulapo Kuti, qu’il accompagnait sur scène dès l’âge de 8 ans et qui s’est éteint en août 1997. Seun a poursuivi le processus créatif en reprenant l’orchestre de « Fela », le fameux groupe Egypt 80, successeur de l’Africa 70, tout en continuant de lutter, saxophone alto à la main, pour une Afrique plus juste, plus puissante, plus fière et indépendante.

Because Seun Kuti is a radical activist, as was his grandmother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, who fought for women's rights, and his father, several times imprisoned for having denounced the brutality and corruption of military powersin the 1970s and 1980s.Uncompromising and criticism of the African political class as well as the economic elite, Seun Kuti continues to occur almost every week with his brother, Femi, in the family temple of Lagos, the New Afrika Shrine, where the entrance is freeFor all and marijuana accepted.A way to perpetuate the myth of a family that continues to upset the African cultural landscape.

With his fourth album entitled Black Times (released on March 2), the cadet of the Kuti siblings recalls his mastery of the Afrobeat, which he continues to renew, explore and enchant.While continuing his struggle for an African revolution inspired by the elders, to whom he pays tribute.

With this new album, you celebrate the thinkers and actors of African independence.Do you fear that they are forgotten by the young generation?

Seun kuti history, thought and actors of liberation movements seem to me largely forgotten.What remains of the liberating ideologies of Africa in our school books, in our media, in our films?The liberation of Africa was a long struggle and a fertile period on the intellectual level, which we must inspire today.

These great intellectuals were betrayed by most post-independence leaders, who have sabotaged our heritage.I wanted to recall this part of our history in music.In my own way, I wish to challenge the consciences of young Africans and counter the story of this new African elite responsible, in my opinion, of our intellectual impoverishment and which does not want to understand and disseminate the real message of the African Liberation.

You sing "lift up to be free", "get up to be free".What uprising do you refer to?

I don't think of demonstrations.I think we, Africans of the people, must organize ourselves, stimulate to act.We must reread our elders, like the Senegalese historian Cheikh Anta Diop, who has scientifically demonstrated how sub -Saharan Africa has contributed to world civilization.Pan-Africanists must be re-read such as the African-American Amos N.Wilson, Ghanaian Kwame Nkrumah [first president of Ghana], learn from the life of Patrice Lumumba [first head of government in Congo-Kinshasa, murdered on January 17, 1961] and other pioneers.

It is no longer necessarily a question of protesting but of rising by thought, by education, to go beyond a colonialist narrative still in force. Par exemple, on m’enseignait à l’école que l’explorateur [écossais du début du XIX^e siècle] Mungo Park a découvert le fleuve Niger chez moi.As if my ancestors who lived there were too stupid to see the existence of a river!

What contemporary political personalities of the continent inspire you?

Julius Malema, the leader of fighters for economic freedom (EFF), in South Africa.His fight seems good to me.He interests me more than the new South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, adored by the African elite, because he is one of their own, a prosperous and individualistic businessman.There are many other Julius Malema that we do not know in Africa because they have no media exposure.But I want to believe in a new generation of political actors in the service of their people.

You are very critical, but don't you think that the success of your compatriot Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa, inspires part of the youth and is more dreaming than Kwame Nkrumah?

It is indeed an urban trend.The ultraliberal agenda that is implemented in Africa does not encounter much resistance, so it advances.And the African elite accumulates wealth, offers private jets, palaces in London, Dubai, Paris or Cape.Which can make you dream on a continent where the vast majority of young people survive.

We find these wealthy speaking in the name of Africa during summits and conferences.But what do they really do for Africans?Aliko Dangote and his billionaire friends are validated, authorized, encouraged by the various institutions of political, economic, religious influence ... But these African oligarchs, brought to the pinnacle by the Western press, do not build much for their country.They first defend their interests and ensure the support of their respective heads of state, who help them and give them the right to enrich themselves by exploiting natural resources.

Can change also come from the private sector in Africa?

When Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari gives the right to a billionaire to operate oil or build a factory that will produce foods now prohibited, he does so on behalf of Nigerians.But what do we have in exchange?

Aliko Dangote has an estimated fortune at $ 14 billion [more than 11 billion euros], but what is it for his people live in misery?When he deigns to share crumbs from his fortune for philanthropic works, everyone thanks and congratulates him.But the vast majority of Nigerians suffer.And these oligarchs take advantage of our confiscated confidence by their friend in power.They abuse it to get our wealth over.

This elite presented as the success of Africa is, for me, the embodiment of failure, selfishness and the loss of African identity.Because she has demonstrated her inability to transform societies.We need education, care centers, housing ... they have billions and keep them for them.

Can you specify your theory of "La Chèvre et le Journé", a title that appears on your latest album?

The former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan [2010-2015], had himself used this metaphor to respond to criticism targeting his corrupt government.According to him, politicians were like goats who were too close to yam, that they could not help eating.There, I told myself that this president holding a doctorate [of zoology] was crazy.It inspired me this idea that the people are forced to graze the grass left by politicians who, themselves, eat yam and even devour the lives of people by diverting the money supposed to be building hospitals orschools.It’s a kind of economic cannibalism.

You composed your album in Lagos.Your hometown is sometimes reduced to the status of capital of Afro-capitalism, where the display of wealth in neighborhoods like Victoria Island is the norm.What is your relationship to Lagos?

I only rarely go to Victoria Island, because what you describe is all I hate and denounce.There is like a mental wall created and enhanced by an often corrupt elite.Lagos is my city, my house.I always live in the middle of mine, five minutes from where I grew up, in the popular ikeja district.I do not believe in luxury, I do not need a gucci, palaces, yachts and private jets.In materialism, I prefer the simplicity of the people of my neighborhood which I surround myself because they help me to capture the energy necessary for my creation.

What can you look at Afropop stars such as Wizkid and Davido, who fill stadiums everywhere in Africa, celebrate your father and whose tubes are exported to the world?

They advocate an ultracapitalist lifestyle.These are young Nigerian brothers who have broken by making African pop music.It's a bit like Nollywood's film industry: we talk about it a lot but ultimately there is not a single production that has been a global success.AFROPOP is a business that we welcome in Nigeria, but for the moment, there has not been really an international tube.

In 2017, the title "Come Closer", of the Canadian Drake and the Nigerian Wizkid, nevertheless had a planetary success ...

That’s the Canadian Drake tube!The problem of these young Afropop stars is that they ultimately have no message to express.They sing money, clothing and luxury cars, pretty charmed girls thanks to bundles of dollars ... The elite of Nigeria also puts billions of nairas on these young people because they can sell products.It’s a profitable business.

Failing to see a Nollywood film to attract a global audience, the film "Black Panther" seems to go to break records.Have you felt this feeling of "African pride" by seeing it?

I am black every day and I don't need Hollywood to be proud of my Africanity.This craze amuses me and exasperates me.It's like Halloween, with rich Africans who will disguise themselves as traditional costumes to go see this blockbuster.The time of a film, they suddenly feel proud of black beings and idealize this African paradise 2.0 to forget the reality.I find it a little ridiculous.

Apart from Nigeria, you are ultimately better known in the West than in Africa, where your last tour dates back to 2009.Isn't that paradoxical?

It is true that I do more concerts in Europe than in Africa, where it is sometimes difficult to find partners.But my success in the West, I use it first for my community, which is most important to me, and to broadcast my message, which does not change according to the audience.I believe in the power of art that has no borders.