In honor of the late Afrobeat pioneer, David Adeleke, better known by his stage name Davido, joined the Fela Anikulapo-Kuti family at the GRAMMY Honors Party in Los Angeles.
Fela became the first African artist to receive the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award after his death.
Davido’s logistics manager, Israel DMW, posted videos to Instagram that featured the singer at the event with Fela’s kids, Femi and Yeni Kuti, as well as other members of his crew.
Israel DMW posted videos from the occasion and commented, “A night for late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Abami Eda of the universe.” outside of Los Angeles.
Fela will be officially acknowledged this weekend by the Recording Academy, with the Lifetime Achievement Award expected to be delivered at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday, on the eve of the main GRAMMY Awards gala.
Music icons including Cher, Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, and Chaka Khan are among those who have received this honor.
Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, the head of the Kuti family and Fela’s first cousin, responded to the acknowledgment by calling it an African triumph.
“The African people should accept this as their prize since it is a celebration for them. “We’re celebrating another African,” she told AFP.
She did, however, urge organizations that present awards to acknowledge the influence of musicians before they pass away.
Ransome-Kuti speculated about Fela’s possible response, stating that the Afrobeat icon probably would have answered, “better late than never,” adding that he wasn’t very worried about Western recognition when he was alive.
In a similar vein, Davido’s song “With You,” which features Omah Lay, has been nominated for Best African Music Performance.
Strong competitors in the category include Burna Boy’s Love, Wizkid and Ayra Starr’s joint song Gimme Dat, Eddy Kenzo of Uganda and Mehran Matin’s Hope and Love, and South African singer Tyla’s Push 2 Start.
