Former manager of Fela’s Egypt 80 band Lekan Animashaun, popularly known as Baba Ani, has revealed that Femi Kuti son of the late Fela Kuti banned him from entering the Afrika Shrine.
The veteran afrobeat singer who recently turned 85 disclosed this in an Interview on Sunday explaining that he was banned because of his loyalty to Seun Kuti and the Egypt 80 band.
“I was banned from entering the shrine by Femi. When Fela died and the then-manager of the band was in prison, Femi called me on two occasions, wanting to know if I would join his band or join Seun and his uncle. As time went on, he found out I was more with Seun, I was mentoring Seun even before Fela died. When Seun came home from an event, he asked him ‘where is that your Baba Ani? Tell him not to show his face at the shrine’,” he said in parts.
Baba Ani who joined the band in 1964 is one of the personalities that were instrumental to the rise of the afrobeat genre having worked with Fela Kuti, Seun Kuti and recorded his own songs too.
He produced his first album in 1995 titled Low Profile Not For The Blind. One of the hit tracks from the album ‘Se Rere’ was used as a soundtrack in Mohammed Ali’s film Rumble in the Jungle.
