Nigeria goes to Coachella without Wizkid

17 Apr 2018 - 11:19

Nigerian music was scheduled to feature at the ongoing American festival Coachella through the music of Wizkid. Instead, sounds from the country appeared onstage via a tribute to Fela from arguably the world’s biggest pop artist.

Beyoncé channeled a couple of Nigerians at Coachella.

News of Wizkid going to Coachella, the popular festival which has taken place at the Colorado desert since 1999, was announced months ago, leading some Nigerians to prepare for the popstar’s arrival at the much-respected festival. Those preparations turned out futile as the ‘Ojuelegba’ singer was unable to appear.

“We are sorry to announce that Wizkid is unable to make it into the country to join us this weekend, but will be performing next weekend,” Coachella announced a few days ago.

Unhappy fans attacked Wizkid for yet another show cancelled even if he was aware of the Coachella roster many months ago. “Band had some visa issues… I’m upset but see y’all next week,” he tweeted. He was more direct in a response to a querying fan, saying in Nigerian pidgin that the visa office isn’t owned by his father.

If Nigerians were worried that Wizkid’s absence meant Nigeria’s absence on such a stage, they need not have fretted, as Beyoncé inserted a brief instrumental in Afrobeat style during her two-hour performance. The segment has been taken by many to be a tribute to Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Over the years, the American artist and her rapper husband Jay-Z have expressed respect for the Nigerian maestro. While Jay-Z was a co-producer of the hit show Fela on Broadway, Beyoncé recorded but deigned to release a record inspired entirely by the Afrobeat man. "She said she wanted to do something that sounds like Fela," producer The Dream told lyrics website Genius in 2015.

Fela was not the only Nigerian to appear at Coachella. Beyoncé also used a bite of a speech on feminism by the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The bite had earlier appeared on the 2013 single ‘Flawless’ from Beyoncé’s self-titled album.

Adichie’s voice led to a performance by a reunited Destiny’s Child, the coup de grâce of a performance that has been praised widely, with the New York Times’ Jon Caramanica declaring that “Beyonc é is bigger than Coachella”.

When it is time for Wizkid to take the Coachella stage come next weekend, he won’t be the lone Nigerian voice in the American wilderness.