An exhibition designed to celebrate the life, music and enduring legacy of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti will open in Lagos on 12 October and run until 28 December.
Organised by the Whitespace Creative Arts Foundation with support from the French Embassy in Nigeria, the Kuti family and Ecobank, the project is titled “Fela Anikulapo-Kuti: Afrobeat Rebellion” and will unfold as a ten-week cultural programme blending archives, music, cinema, talks, workshops, fashion and youth engagement.
At a news conference in Lagos, Laurent Favier, Consul-General of the French Embassy, said France was honoured to support a tribute of such scale. He recalled how French audiences and the press were among the first to embrace Fela in the 1980s, both for his music and for his outspoken activism, and he noted that the ties continue through his children Femi, Seun and Made. The exhibition was first conceived at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2022, where it drew 60,000 visitors in one month, and Favier explained that the Lagos edition would expand on that success with more archives and deeper family involvement.
Project lead and culture producer Onoshiokhue Ako described the event as more than an exhibition, framing it as a “living season of culture” designed to resonate across generations. She emphasised that the programme would connect children in the Young Rebels’ Corner with elders who knew Fela firsthand, while also thanking Ecobank for hosting at its Pan-African Centre and the Philharmonie for pioneering the concept.
Curator Seun Alli, founder of June Creative Art Advisory, argued that the Lagos edition was a deliberate refusal to reduce Fela to clichés such as his song Zombie, the Kalakuta fire or his controversial marriages. Instead, she said the project aims to reposition him as a public intellectual whose philosophy and music remain inseparable from Africa’s political and social history.
Ecobank’s Head of SMEs, Partnerships and Collaborations, Omoboye Odu, said hosting the exhibition was a statement of pride in Africa’s creative power and resilience, insisting that Fela’s legacy belongs not only to Nigeria but to the continent and the world. His Son, Femi Kuti welcomed the initiative, affirmed his family’s gratitude that his father remains recognised and honoured, and emphasised that people still understand and connect with what his father stood for.
Nearly three decades after his death, Fela’s music still carries urgency and his ideas continue to resonate in conversations about justice, culture and African identity. By bringing Afrobeat Rebellion home to Lagos, organisers hope to offer not just a retrospective but a living encounter with a figure whose work was never merely performance, but a catalyst for resistance, debate and change.
