Fela Got Into Music School Out Of Pity; Today, He Is A Legend - Yeni Kuti

‎Media personality and daughter of Afrobeats icon Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Yeni Kuti, has revealed that her late father got admitted into the Trinity College of Music, London, in 1958, out of pity.

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‎Yeni, who was speaking on a recent episode of TVC programme, "Your View", revealed that her late father wasn't particularly bright in academics. She noted that her father's parents were academics, and kept mounting pressure on him to study hard.

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‎She explained that it took convincing from his younger brother, who lied to Fela's parents before they agreed for him to join his siblings in England, where he later got admitted into the music school.

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‎She said:
‎“I want to share a story about my father [Fela].

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‎“When he was in secondary school, you know his parents were academics, so they were pressuring him to study hard. His older brother and sister had gone to university overseas.

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‎“It was him and his younger brother who were with their parents at that time. His younger brother had excellent grades, but Fela was very average. So, his parents didn’t want him to go abroad for studies.

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‎But his brother wanted him to stay with him in London, so they lied to their parents that Fela was going to a medical school. That was how he got to England.

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‎“They enrolled him in musical school because by the time, Fela was playing the piano. When he got to the music school, the admission officer said, ‘It’s only because you’ve come a long distance that I’m going to allow you into this school with these results.’ That was how Fela even got the music school out of pity. But look at it today, he is a legend.”

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