Family affair

IT’S not often that you hear a debut album featuring a song that makes unselfconscious reference to “grandpa”. But when the song is as good as “Different Streets” by 25-year-old musician Made Kuti, and the grandpa in question is the legendary Nigerian composer, bandleader and activist Fela Kuti, then that composition probably becomes a lot easier to explain.

“Different Streets” is a stirring, and one of the cornerstones of Made Kuti’s forthcoming album . Released in tandem with – the 11th studio album by his father, Femi Kuti – together the two releases form a powerful cross-generational statement on life in Nigeria today. There, as Femi and Made tell it during a joint Zoom call from Lagos, the people are held in check by poor infrastructure, corrupt government and outdated attitudes. Recently there has been a countrywide protest against police brutality. “And now the government seems to want to stop social media,” says Femi. “I don’t think people will sit down for too long and allow corruption, bad government and police brutality to continue. Life is very hard for too many people now.”