The Recording Academy has announced that Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Grammys, recognising his global musical and cultural legacy.
LOS ANGELES, United States — January 29, 2026 — Updated 16:10 GMT — The Recording Academy has announced that Fela Kuti , the Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer and political activist, will be posthumously recognised with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Grammy Awards, cementing his enduring influence on global music and culture. The decision was confirmed by the Academy in an official statement outlining its annual Special Merit Awards programme.
The honour places Fela among a select group of artists whose impact transcended commercial success to fundamentally shape musical language and social consciousness. According to the Recording Academy, the award acknowledges creators whose recorded legacy continues to inspire new generations, decades after their most active years.
Fela, who died in 1997, is widely credited with creating Afrobeat — a genre blending West African rhythms, jazz, funk, and sharp political commentary. His music, often confrontational and unapologetically Pan-African, challenged military rule in Nigeria and articulated broader struggles around colonialism, corruption, and identity across the continent.
African musicians, scholars, and cultural commentators welcomed the announcement as long overdue recognition. Nigerian music historian Benson Idonije told local media that the honour “confirms what Africa has always known — that Fela reshaped modern music and forced the world to listen to African voices on African terms.”
Contemporary artists across Africa and the diaspora echoed that sentiment on social media, noting Fela’s influence on genres ranging from hip-hop and jazz to electronic and alternative African sounds. Several described the Grammy recognition as a symbolic victory for African musical heritage, long under-acknowledged by Western institutions.
The Recording Academy said the selection reflects growing global appreciation for non-Western musical traditions and acknowledged Fela’s role in influencing internationally recognised artists across multiple generations.
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to performers who, during their lifetimes, made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. While Fela never received a competitive Grammy, his work has remained central to global conversations about African music’s role in shaping modern soundscapes.
Beyond music, Fela’s legacy is inseparable from his activism. Through his Kalakuta Republic, his performances at the Afrika Shrine, and albums such as Zombie and Expensive Shit, he challenged state power and articulated a radical vision of African self-determination. That fusion of art and resistance has since become a template for socially conscious African musicians.
For many observers, the 2026 honour signals a broader shift within global award institutions toward recognising historical imbalances in how African innovators have been acknowledged.
The award will be formally presented during Grammy Week events in Los Angeles ahead of the main 2026 Grammy Awards ceremony. The Recording Academy has indicated that members of Fela’s family and representatives of his estate are expected to attend.
Music institutions in Nigeria and beyond are also expected to mark the announcement with retrospectives, educational programmes, and performances celebrating Fela’s catalog and philosophy, reinforcing his place not only as a Nigerian icon but as a global cultural force.
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