Sarz Claims Fela Kuti Inspired Wizkid, Burna Boy, And Rema’s Musical Styles
The legendary Nigerian producer Sarz is the most recent person to pay tribute to Afrobeat icon Fela Kuti, emphasizing the artist’s continuing effect on modern Afrobeats musicians. In a recent interview with ARZ, Sarz discussed his own creative relationship with the icon’s extensive body of work in addition to acknowledging the influence of Fela.
Sarz revealed in the interview that he had a close personal relationship to the Afrobeat pioneer’s work. He continued by highlighting Fela’s wider impact on the state of Afrobeats today, saying that Burna Boy, Wizkid, Rema, and even the next generation can still be identified as Fela’s influences in modern Afrobeats.
This goes beyond mere hyperbole. The global Afrobeats movement began with Fela, whose contagious grooves, political lyrics, and unabashed individualism lay the foundation. His innovative approach of fusing jazz, funk, and indigenous Yoruba rhythms with other genres has influenced musicians such as Burna Boy, whose ferocious Afrobeats uphold Fela’s legacy of genre-bending experimentation and social commentary.
This legacy is further upheld by Sarz’s own work. His producing credits for Wizkid’s “Made in Lagos” and Burna Boy’s “African Giant” come from his ability to bring Fela’s essence into modern settings. His reworkings and sampling of Fela’s songs preserve the legend’s legacy and guarantee that succeeding generations of musicians will be informed and inspired by it.
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