Fela Kuti honoured and Tyla makes history at the 2026 Grammys
Afrobeat’s creator became the first African to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award; Tyla won her category again.
Key points
- Fela Kuti became the first African to receive the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award, presented on 31 January 2026 in Los Angeles.
- South Africa’s Tyla won Best African Music Performance for ‘Push 2 Start’ at the 68th Grammys on 1 February, the first artist to win the category twice.
- She beat nominees including Burna Boy, Davido, Ayra Starr and Uganda’s Eddy Kenzo.
African music made history twice at the 2026 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
Fela Kuti's lifetime honour
On 31 January 2026, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the Nigerian musician who created Afrobeat, became the first African to receive the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award. It was presented at the Special Merit Awards ceremony at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, on the eve of the main Grammys.
Members of the Kuti family, including Femi and Yeni Kuti, accepted the award on his behalf. "Thank you for bringing our father here. It's so important for Africa," Femi Kuti said.
Fela, who died in 1997, joined a 2026 list of honourees that also included Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan, Cher and Paul Simon. His 1977 album Zombie was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2025.
Tyla does it again
At the main ceremony on 1 February, South Africa's Tyla won Best African Music Performance for "Push 2 Start". She won the category's first award in 2024 for "Water", and is now the first artist to win it twice.
The nominees included Burna Boy, Davido with Omah Lay, Ayra Starr with Wizkid, and Uganda's Eddy Kenzo with Mehran Matin.
Why it matters
From Fela's pioneering Afrobeat to today's amapiano and Afrobeats, African music now sits at the centre of global pop. The Recording Academy's recognition of both its roots and its present shows how far it has come.
Sources
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