“How Fela inspired white women into donning African outfits” – Seun Kuti

• Seun Kuti revealed that Fela always welcomed white women into their home, alongside his Nigerian friends.
• He emphasized that Fela remained true to himself and did not alter his identity for the white women, but instead he changed them as a result of his presence.

Seun Kuti, son of the legendary Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti, shares an interesting story about his father’s influence on the white women who visited their home.

In a recent Instagram live session, Seun stated that growing up he remembered white women living with them, alongside their Nigerian friends.

Seun Kuti narrated how these white women started wearing traditional African clothing and hairstyles, often called “shrine regalia” because of Fela’s pride in his African heritage.

He said:

“My father had white women in his house. When I grew up, there were like two white women at least living with us. He always had white ones with the black ones.

“Instead of Fela to wear a suit and tie so that the white women would see him as fine, the women were the ones who started wearing shrine regalia and African hairstyles.

“Fela never changed because of them but they changed because of him because Fela already knew who he was and his love for Africa,” Seun Kuti shared.

In another story, Boyo narrated how he got expelled from school because of  Fela Kuti.

Boyo, a key figure in the Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN), spoke about the incident in an exclusive interview, revealing that his passion for Fela’s music led him to sneak out of Glorious College, Ibadan, to attend a Fela performance at the University of Ibadan’s “Havana Night.”

Unfortunately, his rebellious act came with consequences. Recalling, Andy Boyo said:

“Fela has always been my passion. I was expelled from Glorious College for sneaking out to watch him perform. When I returned, I was expelled from school,”

Despite the setback, his admiration for Fela never reduced, and it’s this passion that has fueled Boyo’s new venture: a much-anticipated biographical film about the life of the Afrobeats legend.