"The Kutis and Marleys have never made music. How weird is that? Our fathers both stood for the same thing with their music; they sang to and for the restoration of our people's dignity..."
Singer Seun Kuti has revealed how his collaboration with Jamaican deejay and singer Damian Marley on his latest album, 'Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)', came about.
The album, released on 4 October, featured Damian, the son of the late Jamaican music icon, songwriter, and guitarist Bob Marley on the track 'Dey'.
The album was produced by a stellar team, including rock legend Lenny Kravitz (executive producer), Fela Kuti, and Egypt 80's original producer Sodi Marciszewer (artistic producer).
In a recent interview on The Ebro Show on Apple Music 1, Seun said the collaboration with Damian Marley came during their first meeting.
He said the collaboration was born out of mutual respect work--with both recognising how their fathers used music as a powerful tool to restore dignity and hope to their people during times of hardship.
He said: "Oh, man. I met Damian for the first time in Oni. We met backstage at a concert in France. I remember it was a concert called Euro Cairns or something long ago. The vibe has always been real since then. This time was just like a light bulb moment. And I have to give credit to my manager for that.
"The Kutis and Marleys have never made music. How weird is that? Our fathers both stood for the same thing with their music; they sang to and for the restoration of our people's dignity and gave us something to hold on to at our lowest. And it was weird that these two giants never made musi".
He described the collaboration as a historic opportunity, likening it to the musical legacy created by the Kuti and Marley families.
The son of the late Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti, shared that his collaboration with Damian Marley was far smoother than he expected.
"I just sent him the whole album. He loved it. And he picked this track, and the rest, as they say, is history. We had to work the arrangements a bit to fit his vision of the sound, but other than that, yeah. And he went and surprised me by picking Dey. I thought we were going to pick something else", he said.
Emi Aluta
Additionally, the 41-year-old revealed the inspiration behind his track 'Emi Aluta', which he recorded with Sampa the Great and released in June 2022.
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He said 'Emi' was the Yoruba word for spirit, and the song seeks to reject the concept of the Holy Spirit brought by colonial influence.
The Lagos-born singer noted that instead, the song calls forth the spirit of ancestral struggle, evoking the legacies of leaders like Nkrumah, Lumumba, and Sankara, who championed African liberation.
"I feel like, as Africans all over the world today, we don't pay homage enough to those men who allow us to be what we are, to be what we want to be, and to be able to aspire at least. A lot of people say we are self-made as African people.
"I say it's impossible to be African anywhere in this world and be self-made because we were never invited to the table for anything. So for us to be anything in this system, someone had to pay the price to vote, go to school, be a lawyer, sing, and even dance on the dance floor", he added.
Seun emphasised that the previous generation sacrificed for the liberation of the African continent, making it this generation's responsibility to pay it forward to the next generation.
"So that is a powerful part of what drives me and my beliefs. So yeah, even in our African countries, we have much to do and learn to build this bridge to connect us."
