How London music school admitted Fela out of pity – Yeni Kuti

Yeni Kuti, media personality and daughter of late Afrobeats star, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, has said her father was admitted into the Trinity College of Music, London, in 1958, out of pity.

Narrating how her dad got the admission, Yeni said her grandparents were deceived into believing that Fela had secured admission to study medicine in London.

She said because of the poor qualifications of Fela, who struggled with his grades in Nigeria, the institution nearly rejected him but he was pitied by the admission officer.

She said, “I want to share a story about my father [Fela].

“When he was in secondary school, you know his parents were academics, so they were pressuring him to study hard. His older brother and sister had gone to university overseas.

“It was him and his younger brother who were with their parents at that time. His younger brother had excellent grades, but Fela was very average. So, his parents didn’t want him to go abroad for his studies.

“But his brother wanted him to stay with him in London, so they lied to their parents that Fela was going to a medical school. That was how he got to England.

“They enrolled him in musical school because by the time Fela was playing the piano. When he got to the music school, the admission officer said, ‘It’s only because you’ve come a long distance that I’m going to allow you into this school with these results.’ That was how Fela even got the music school out of pity. But look at it today, he is a legend.”