'My father’s death was an impactful experience for me' – Seun Kuti

Afrobeats singer Seun Kuti has made public the relationship between him and his late father, legendary musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

He claimed that losing him was like losing a father, friend, and relative all at once.

In an interview with well-known media personality Chude Jideonwo, Seun talked about how his connection with his father was not the same as his older siblings.

Playfully, he said that he had felt sorry for his older siblings because their father had become a more relaxed version of himself since his birth.

He said: “Fela was a model father; he was very different from the stories I heard of my elder ones. I feel bad for them. I can’t lie. I tell them all the time, I enjoyed it for you guys. Trust me, I held it down. I did not slack. By the time he had me, he was 44; he was always home, so my relationship with him was very different from that of my siblings very, very different. I know that for a fact".

Seun talked on the emotional toll that his father's death had on him, including how hard it was for him to move over the devastating loss and find healing.

Nobody was as close to him as he was, thus losing him was a new kind of anguish from which he had not yet fully recovered.

He continued by saying that he grieved for a long time because the loss was so great for him.

Seun said: “I grieved for my dad because he was the closest person to me, and he was the first person I know that died, so for me, it was a really impactful experience losing my dad; it was like losing my best friend, my dad, and a family member, all in one. I really grieved for a long time. I grieved for my dad.”

He added that he was on a music tour at the time of his mother's death, which prevented him from grieving for her in the way that he should have.

In his words: “The one I didn’t grieve was my mom. I had a tour. There was no time to break down. If I’m going to share some of my mental issues on your show, it’s like I think I’m grieving my mom in stages; kind of, I’ve not really had time to really delve into that, but the bad part is past, and I still grieve her from time to time. I don’t have complete closure for my mom like I do for my dad.”

GA