Jonathan Nwokpor
The late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the father of Afrobeats pioneer Seun Kuti, has disclosed the reasons behind his father’s marriage to 27 women in a single day.
ZINGTIE recalls that in 1978, Fela made the incredibly audacious decision to marry 27 women in one day.
Seun Kuti, who appeared via Skype on the “Fresh Off The Boat” podcast, revealed that his father wed 27 women in a single day to protect their honour and dignity because the media had already labelled his female dancers and band members who lived with him as “prostitutes.”
He said: “My father was under immense media propaganda. He was very scrutinised. And most of it were directed to the women that were in his life; his female back-up singers, dancers. They all lived together with my dad but the media started calling them prostitutes.
“So my dad, in order to preserve their honour and dignity, asked them if they would choose to be his brides so nobody would call them names anymore and they all agreed. That was how the marriage happened.”
He also revealed that Fela’s biopic is now being written.
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I was grew up in Kalakuta and I know this story. The rebellion was started by a lady called Laide, she led the others to insist that Fela just marry them as their parents wouldn’t take them back, and that there was prostitute stigma on them. Laide was schooling in Our Lady of Apostles, am not sure whether it’s that of Ijebu Ode or Lagos, but it was Our Lady. So the agitation eventually got approval from Fela and he went on to marry them.
Correction: I gew up… Laide eventually ended up working at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Surulere, Lagos. That’s where I met her last. Seun’d mum was Fehintola, she had tribal marks, but quite happy humble, at least as at the time I knew her.