•Talks About Afrika Shrines TV Channel
One thing you would not but notice upon meeting Fela’s eldest daughter, Omoyeni Anikulapo-Kuti is her down-to-earth nature. YK, as she is fondly called, is frank to a fault. She says her mind without mincing words. A thoroughbred administrator and journalist, YK runs the New Afrika Shrine and appears on “Your View”, which is hosted by Morayo Afolabi-Brown on Television Continental (TVC), Mondays to Fridays.
Recently, the shrine went digital when YK launched a Pay Per View TV channel for shows at the shrine. In this interview with City People’s Contributing Editor, IYABO OYAWALE, YK talks about the TV channel and her future plans for the New Afrika Shrine. She also talks about her life as the mother of Rolari and a grandmother of two. Enjoy it!
You recently launched a pay per view TV channel. Please tell us a bit about it ma?
We have partners who normally watch our shows on Youtube and they were really excited that the shrine is not a place where you will let performances go like that. The whole world has to see what is happening at the shrine. They contacted us that they want to partner with us to make our shows air live on live TV and even get people to perform. Because you know when a lot of these stars come here, they always want to pass through the shrine. The seal has been here. Lauryn Hill has been here. Bobby Brown. They didn’t come for shows. They just came because it is the shrine and they wanted to be part of it. Akon has been here. Many of them have passed through the shrine.
So, how do we subscribe to the Pay Per View TV Channel?
You just go on the channel and click watch. I subscribe too. The show that went down on Sunday, I subscribed to it. It was 99 cents, or something like that.
What is the URL?
It is www.afrikashrine.tv.
How do you run the shrine as big as it is and you a woman?
The shrine is 22 years old now. I don’t do the day-to-day running like I used to do when we first started. When we first started, I get here by 6 am and leave by 10 at night. In fact, I’d pick my daughter from school and she will stay here with me till we go home together. In the morning, I’d drop her at school, pick her up in the afternoon and stay here till we leave for home.
Then, I used to be here every day. 22 years later, I have put things in place, I have people who are running the day-to-day work, so what I do now is to oversee. I am an overseer because I have a supervisor, I have a Manager, I have an Assistant Manager, I have a Secretary, so I have everybody that will do their own part of the show.
What are the challenges of running the shrine ma?
Enormous. Enormous. You pay for something today as you pay for a fan, you go home, sleep and wake up and come the next day and the fan is no longer working. And, you are like “I just bought this fan yesterday!” One day, I quarrelled with my Manager because he called a fan a recurrent expenditure and I said don’t tell me that.
A fan is something you buy and expect to last a year or more. It is not something you buy every day. Then, you have the generator, you have diesel. Diesel is now very expensive. And NEPA will bring their bill.
Their last bill was 800,000 naira. So, it is very little profit, then, you have a large number of staff. It is trying. It is exhausting. I need to retire soon.
Have you ever felt like quitting?
No. At all. At all. This is our daily bread, why would I quit? Nigeria is a trying country, especially for small to medium-sized businesses. I will give you an example. I installed CCTV cameras at the shrine, it costs a lot of money to install them.
They worked for a little while and packed up. We repaired them. They worked for a little while and packed up. Now, they have packed up again and it is costing me 500,000 naira to repair again. So, the expenses are never-ending. It is not easy but we keep going. E go better.
You were 60 last year, what are the lessons life has taught you at this age?
I enjoy life. Life is good. It is good to be alive. Thank God for life but hard work is key. Without hard work, you won’t get to where you are going. That is basically it. Work hard, live hard, enjoy hard.
How did you get on “Your View”, the Morayo Afolabi-Brown show?
The producer, Mr Lukman Musa called me and said there was this TV show he was producing that he wanted me to be on. He said it was an all-women programme. I said okay, I will come the next day to the TV station. I went the next day, I met him, I met Morayo, they showed me around the studio and they said they’d get in touch with me. They got in touch with me when the programme was about to start. I think I went back about 2 or 3 times. We did some test runs and then we started 2012 I believe.
So you have been on the show for close to 10 years?
Yes.
Wow. And you are a Journalism major. You studied Journalism.
Yes, I did.
Which means you are now practising your profession?
Well, that is the way God wanted it.
Thank God. Now, what are the fond memories you have of the late Fela. your father?
Too many. Too many, I can’t begin to say this or that. But one of the things I’d say is we used to gist a lot. I used to love to gist with him. Talk about the problems of Nigeria. Talk about how Africans don’t know their worth. I loved the gisting sessions I had with him.
Is that part of the things you miss about him?
Yes.
You would have loved him to still be here for you and your siblings?
Oh yes, I used to love going to his Friday show. We’d go and dance. I miss that.
What has motherhood and grandmotherhood taught you? I know you are fussy about your grandchildren because I follow you on Instagram, so I saw the picture you took with your grandson wearing a hat and you also had a hat on and you said he loves wearing hats like you. What has being a mother and grandmother taught you ma?
Patience is a virtue. I am a hands-on grandmother when they are here with me. I will bathe them, clean their teeth, take them out and I just love to be with them. It is just patience and love.
You are almost 61 but you don’t look it. What is the secret? Can you let us into the secret?
There is no secret. There is no secret at all. I am just being me. There is no secret so I can’t tell you there is a secret.
Does it have anything to do with your genes?
Maybe.
Your mother or your father?
Both. They both looked good. My father was a very handsome man, my mother was a very beautiful woman. They both looked good for their ages. I suppose if you say I don’t look 61, I feel it.
You feel it in your bones.
Oh yes.
The bones are complaining.
Oh yes (laughs).
I understand ma. Yes, you are the matriarch of this family because you are the eldest. How do you run the family? How do you keep all of you together?
It is not easy because I have a bunch of very stubborn siblings. It is not easy but I just pray to God for the patience and wherewithal to be able to keep the family together. And I just thank God for His grace.
Can you talk about your relationship with Femi?
Depends on what you want to know.
He is a brother but you guys seem to bond, close.
Remember that I am 61 this year, he is 60 this year, just one year that divides us. We’ve grown up together. Remember we grew up at a time when my father was like a pariah in society. So we had only ourselves. It was me, my sister and Femi.
Your sister was Shola.
Sola. Her full name was Olusoladegbin. That is Oluwasoladiegbin (egbin is a beautiful animal). That name was given to her by my grandmother on my father’s side. Even my own name Omoyeni was my great grandmother’s name. It was given to me by my grandmother. Femi was given to him by my mother and my maternal grandmother. My grandmother named Femi Fela. It was Fela that named him Fela.
Femi’s first name is Fela, his second name is Femi. So he was Olufela Olufemi Ransome-Kuti at the time. Anyway, I digress. So, because of the way society was at the time, everything Fela was bad, we forged a closeness that has carried us till now. Left to a lot of people, we will not be friends, we will be enemies. People have tried to divide us over the years.
But when they try to come between, they just meet a fortress and they give up and they go.
That is nice. I love that. Do you have any regrets at 60?
I don’t do regrets. Definitely, there are things you have done that you wished you didn’t do but I don’t dwell on them because there is no point. You have done it, you have done it, learn from that mistake. I try to learn from the mistakes I make and not dwell on them. I mean, I did something on Monday that I wish I hadn’t done. When I left there, I was regretting and I kept telling myself, “don’t regret, don’t regret”. So, I just learnt from it. I sent a text with my emotions and forgot about it. But, I will not make that mistake again.
That is how to learn. Now, they call you YK Power, who gave you that name. I am just wondering?
I am not even sure. It started in the old shrine. Femi claims it was him. I am not sure who gave me the name. I just know they started calling me YK Power. It started as a joke and it has stuck.
Why do you think they call you YK Power, are you a Margaret Thatcher?
They used to call me Iron Lady as well. Thank God that name has gone. They don’t call me that again. When we first built the shrine, one needed to be stern. I would be here by 6 am and leave by 10 pm. I would hala from morning till night. I had a clocking machine, when you are late, you get fined. It is now that I have cooled down that I just come in and enter my office. I won’t even go outside until much later.
But you needed that to sustain the business.
Yes.
And that has worked for you?
It worked for me.
So, what are your future plans for the shrine? Are there things you want your fans to know?
The live TV channel is the latest thing that is happening at the shrine and is very important. It will take the shrine to the whole world. It is one of the advantages of Covid-19. We’ve learnt there are so many things we can do online and you will be here and sell yourself to the whole world. We are also trying to upgrade the shrine. We have Felabration which comes up every year. Let’s deal first with this Pay Per View TV and get some international artistes to come and perform as well. We are working, it is not easy but we are working towards it.
The Covid days were really terrible for the shrine…
(Whistles) very very bad. In fact, I pray that nothing like that ever happens again. I pray. It’s the grace of our creator that kept us and sustained us. It was not easy. We closed in March 2020, we didn’t open until October. It was not easy. We were still paying salaries. We haven’t even recovered. We are just trying to slowly pick up from that.
What about your shows at the shrine?
Femi rehearses on Thursday and every Sunday. Omorinmade plays 1st Friday of the month. Seun plays last Saturday of the month. So, we have those shows, then, we have different acts that come in to perform like on January 2nd, we had the Hip-Hop people come in to perform.
I think they are having another one for Easter. Then you have people that come and rent for their shows and videos. A lot of young new generation artistes do their videos here. And of course, I am sure you know we had the Global Citizen Concert here. Global Citizen is worldwide. They have shows in New York, LA, France, all over the world. So, it was a big thing for us to be part of it.
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