Seun Kuti tackles Nigeria’s socio-political malady in his new single
Like his father, Seun Kuti, the youngest son of Felaanikulapo Kuti , the late Afrobeat pioneer, has once again added his voice intackling the socio-political malady in Nigeria with the release of his newsingle titled, ‘ Theory of goat and yam’.the music video of the new single was recently released andnow available on Seun Kuti’s official Youtube channel.according to Ayo Moses Ogedengbe, Seun’s manager, the songpicks its title from the parable told by Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, formernigerian president, during a presidential media chat on February 11, 2015.According to the manager, Jonathan addressed the question ofcriticism against corruption in his administration, stating that, “Theissue of corruption in Nigeria is like a case of Goat and
Yam”. The parable, according to Ogedengbe, basically saw the Nigerianpeople as the ‘yam’ and corrupt politicians as the ‘goat’, which stubbornlyrefuses to stop being corrupt and continues to steal the commonwealth of thenation.”in the month on February 2018, Seun Anikulapo Kuti andthe Egypt 80 Band literally performed a story at Jazz a la Villette that heldthe audience glued to the stage in a mix of rapt attention, entertainment, andaccording to many, it was an inspiration for a better Africa.”seun Kuti creatively analysed the reason the Nigerianpeople continue to suffer. In the analysis, he asked, “If the goat is eatingyam, what then are the owners of the goat eating?”, Ogedengbe said.speaking on the new single, Seun Kuti said, “The theoryexplains the erroneous concept of ‘ chopping life’, which is a common mentalitywith Nigerians who believe in the idea of ‘chopping life’ to the point thatcorrupt politicians, public and private sector leaders do not mind eatingnigerians as a way to justify their corrupt opportunity to ‘ chop life”.seun Kuti, as an Afrobeat artist, has spent most of his lifepreserving and extending his father’s political activism and musical legacy asthe leader of the Egypt 80 Band, Africa’s longest surviving band.born in early 1983, Seun showed interest in his father’smusic from the age of five, and at nine, he began to open Fela’s shows, singinga select group of songs with Egypt 80 before his father took the stage.
As adeveloping saxophonist and percussionist, he entered the formal ranks of theband before he was 12.Fela passed on in 1997, and in fulfillment of his father’swishes, Seun assumed the mantle as head of Egypt 80 Band, and has since takenthe band across different continents of the world.in 2018, as evidence of his great work ethic, the afrobeatartiste, who has been working for almost26 years, came out with his ‘Black Times’ album, which earned him a nominationin the World Music category at the 61st Grammy Awards.