The veteran musician, who spent 32 years playing with Fela across both the Africa 70 and Egypt 80 eras, sat down with the Podcast Network in a conversation that aired this week, reflecting on decades of Nigerian music history told from the inside.
When asked who he missed most from that era, he answered saying Fela, before going ahead to outline the other musicians he worked with like YS and Tony Allen.
“I miss Fela a lot because he trusted me, he believed in me, he took me in as a senior brother, not as an employee,” he said.
He recalled that once Fela was taken to hospital in his final days, that was the last time he saw him, confirming that there was no final argument and no falling out, just an abrupt ending to over three decades of friendship and music.
When asked to name his favourite Fela song, Baba Ani said he could not choose. “In all Fela’s songs, I don’t see which one I don’t like,” he said.
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Baba Ani’s time with Fela spans one of the most significant periods in African music history. The Africa 70, formed in the late 1960s, was the band that helped Fela develop and define Afrobeat as a genre, blending traditional Yoruba music with jazz, funk and politically charged lyrics that made him one of the most provocative artists on the continent.