On a cool Friday evening, as is the norm, The Shrine is agog with all manner of people, great fans of Afrobeat music. On a large stage in the expansive compound is Femi Anikulapo–Kuti performing with his band to an audience that is as euphoric as the voice singing on stage.

As he performs, his strong political views remain unmistakable in his lyrics. Like his father, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Femi has shown a strong commitment to social and political causes throughout his career, but he however differs from his father in his religious views. Perhaps, his message and dexterity on stage have earned him another Grammy nomination. A nomination he says he is “very happy, very excited” about.

“I think I am happier than the first time when I think back,” he says. “The last time, many people made so much noise about it. I’m very happy because this is coming at a point when I need to be heard politically. If my music is being heard enough to be nominated for the Grammy, it is very important to me.

“I am having a very difficult time in my country. For instance, people in Sokoto do not get to hear what I’m doing at The Shrine, the same for those living in Delta State. Even in Lagos, people find it difficult to because they come all the way from Victoria Island, Ajegunle or Mushin to The Shrine.”

For Femi, being nominated the second time shows Nigerians have not been sleeping neither have they been consumed with the poor economic state of the country, not to have listened to his music.

In addition, he states the Grammy is important to Nigerians hence being nominated shows he is not just a one-off musician but one whose music has stood the test of time. Therefore, one could easily trace the root of his success to hard work and people’s love for his music worldwide.

“To be nominated two times means that I’m really working hard because I might as well be nominated for the first time only and that is the end,” he notes smiling. “Two nominations show that I am working. I think people are happier than I because on Thursday people were just jumping up, they were all getting drunk.”

However, Femi never ceased to emphasise the fact that people who live outside Lagos do not listen to his music, but one could not say that has affected his popularity in some parts of the country where he thinks he is not being heard, and also outside the country.

His popularity outside Nigeria surely must have gotten the world’s attention to have been nominated twice for a prestigious award like the Grammy. Femi blames his lack of popularity in Northern and Eastern Nigeria to lack of basic social amenities, which are topical social issues he talks about in his music.

“Do we have an industry in Nigeria? Do we have electricity in the country? Do we have a good educational scheme in the country? In many parts of an independent country, there is no water in the cities, not to talk of the villages or towns, there is electricity. We have never had a stable electricity supply for 40 years,” he declares angrily.

All of Femi’s songs from the very first day he started singing are very political, yet he has been criticised in some quarters that his criticism is not as fierce as his father’s. Femi has never agreed with these critics and he never will. “Some people say I am not as political as my father, that is not true,” he says. “There is no body I have opposed without mentioning his name. When my father even died and everybody was afraid to call former president, Olusegun Obasanjo’s name, I mentioned him very well and called the late Sanni Abacha’s name. They want me beaten and locked up before they know that I am as political as my father?”

Yet, Femi’s watchword is still caution because he says he does not want to make the same mistakes his father made. “I will say that I have learnt more from my father not to make the mistakes he made. If the police come to arrest me, I will not fight with them; I will just go with them.

“I don’t want them to break my bone for no reason. But I can understand why my father did the things he did. I am just saying I have learnt from his mistakes not to do what he would do. If I am arrested, the whole world will shout: ‘why are you touching Fela’s son.’ I am in a very good position that it will be difficult to arrest me, I must really be found guilty.”

No doubt, Femi has taken Fela’s music to a new generation of those who love his music but found his absence on the world music scene. Femi’s hit song Bang, Bang, Bang, sparks a new reawakening in the mind of lovers of Afrobeat who have never stopped attributing the song to late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

“Many people who knew Bang, Bang, Bang did not connect Femi Kuti with Fela Kuti, by the time they knew Femi Kuti and Fela Kuti, Fela’s name became a bigger name than it was and it is still selling till today. It is just that I have been more tactful in my political approach.”

Like any other Nigerian musician who does business at home, the pain of Femi has been poor promotion, piracy and poor remittance of royalty. “I have released my albums so many times in Nigeria and they have done a very bad job at giving me feedbacks on the royalty statements. They have never promoted it outside Lagos. Many of the promoters believe when it is released in Lagos that ends it.

“Nigeria is so big and to get one’s music to a 100 million people is not easy, to radio stations in Sokoto, Maiduguri so even if Lagos is playing it, it doesn’t mean one has sold enough. What about the East, in states like Calabar, Delta, and Benin that is just three hours away, have you gone to see the deejays there? I get frustrated that promoters are not doing their job properly. They will always complain that, like my father, I just like fighting everybody. But I am fighting because I want it to be done properly.

“They often say I am just being a difficult artiste. If I am difficult, that is why I am saying it is important for me to be nominated again, it shows that I am not difficult. If I were difficult, people will not want to hear my music outside the country.

“If the promoters say they are ready to pay hundreds of thousands of naira to foreign artistes to play and take them round Nigeria and yet they have their own stars in Nigeria at The Shrine. But they keep saying I am a difficult artiste and do not want to take me round Nigeria for Nigerians to see me and the world is seeing me. The world knows my music better than Nigerians, who is the shamed one?’

Pouring out his grievances, Femi went further by saying “the promoters in Nigeria and not me because I will still leave next year again, I will travel to France, Spain, England. They called this morning to book me for Australia, they are booking me in Japan, and I will be in the United States next year, as Hollywood Bowl is booking me again next year summer.

“If Nigerians are sleeping not to appreciate the talent I have, what should I do. It was the same with my father, it was after he died that Nigerians are now appreciating him.”

Femi, however, finds it difficult to say he wants to win the award because he believes people may not understand his answer. “Let me put it this way, there is nobody that would not love to win the Grammy but I am very happy I am nominated. Being nominated already for me is like winning because there are hundreds of musicians that want to be nominated. At this point in my career where it is difficult to survive in a country like Nigeria, where I’m not getting airplay like I would like, I don’t play outside The Shrine so people don’t get to know what I’m doing.

“To many people, my career is going down. My purpose in life is not about awards, as the day I started music, the urge was to play music, and not to play music to win award. I had no idea of any award then.

“Today, I do not want it to be my purpose, I do not want the Grammy to be my objective, to move me forward or end my career. As much as I would love to win the Grammy, it is not my objective. My objective is to play good music, to continue to forge ahead, to still pray for the creator to shower me with more new songs so I can keep on performing around the world, and for my music to be acceptable.”