Beyond Jay-Z – Seun Kuti's Dream for Africa

In the age of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, it is important to give visibility to other public figures who give a different, varied and more complex viewed of black and African culture. Still today we struggle with the concept of blackness: Western culture's mechanisms of simplification and of stereotyping black people has lead to a flattening of thousands of different cultures, ethnicities and communities that deeply diversify the identity, traditions and background of African people in Africa and abroad. And while Jay-Z's clever, ironic and aesthetically pleasing new videos give space to contemporary struggles and forms of oppression still existing in the USA, little or no space is given to visualise, discuss and celebrate the culture of Africans in Africa, Africans in the Carribeans, Africans in South America etc.

Of course, we cannot expect for Jay-Z to be the champion of all of these cultures, however some process of mutual aid, collaboration and recognition can be done to put into dialogue these different communities. In other words, showing the specificity and difference among cultures and establishing a network of support. This is the lesson that Seun Kuti's conveyed in the press conference at this year's Rototom Festival – Celebrating Africa held in sunny Benicassim (Spain).

Seun Kuti has an extraordinary life: born in Lagos (Nigeria) son of the multi-instrumentalist musician and composer Fela Kuti, Seun (full name Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti) has been leading his father's legendary Egypt 80 band since Fela's death in 1997. Touring worldwide, Seun and the Egypt 80 continue to spread the love of Afrobeat music of which Fela was a pioneer. His grandmother Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was a famous Nigerian activist in the anti-colonial movement and fighting for women's rights (fun totally-unrelated fact: she was the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria!). However, rather than telling us about his success and his life, Kuti decided to speak about his dream for African people.

Grappling with its post colonial reality, Nigeria people ask themselves what is it to be a Nigerian? What is the national food, language, culture? There is no such thing as a one communal identity but a conflation of many. "To be Nigerian today is to speak English and to be what others make of you", he continued, "Many Africans do not know what it means to be African". Not only they have to deal with the identity that has been given to them during the colonial period but also with the stereotyped one created by Western media. He said, "Many in Nigeria do not have an ideology to follow but an indoctrination". He sees in the dialogue between communities in Africa, America and the Caribbean a way to find a more honest and meaningful identity and recognises Africa's great responsibility in this process. "Africa is responsible for keeping it disconnected; Africa has a duty to inspire and all Africans elsewhere have a duty to acknowledge that they are uncompromisingly African". Through this double recognition, there is a possibility to create a unifying African system. Many Africans abroad live the idea of the self-made man; leaving behind Africa and building a better life elsewhere, cutting all ties with their origins and yet not identifying fully with their hosting society, leaves many in a individualistic and alienating reality that can damage themselves and the new generations. In his pan-African dream, Seun envisions Africa creating a network of support for those who left and those who left together with their children acknowledging and communicating with their origins.

Perhaps too much of an utopia? Maybe, but it surely raises some crucial points that cannot be dismissed, as well as create an ideology or a system fuelled by values of inclusivity, community and mutual respect. "What are jazz and hip hop? African music in America!, What is reggae? African Music in Jamaica!". Seun screams with enthusiasm, his happiness and hope pervading the room.