ICYMI: What French president Macron said about Afrika Shrine

When the French president was only 23, as an intern at the French embassy in the capital city of Abuja, he had already visited the Afrika Shrine. And almost two decades later, he had returned there, this time as a president.

Emmanuel Macron receiving a talking drum from artist Ara during his visit to the New Afrika Shrine

In 1977, Nigerian soldiers burned down the legendary concert hall where the late Afrobeat progenitor Fela Kuti performed his protest music that would go on to popularize the Afrobeat genre of music and earned him millions of admirers and followers the world over.

Kuti was despised by Nigeria’s military rulers for his controversial songs that mocked corrupt officials, criticized colonialism and encouraged Nigerians to question their leaders’ lavish spending.

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, walks on stage at the New Africa Shrine in Lagos with 11-year-old, Kareem Waris Olamilekan, a young Nigerian artist who drew his portrait.

Kuti died in 1997, but on Tuesday, the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos — which replaced the original club and is now managed by two of Kuti’s sons, Femi and Seun, also both musicians — welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron. The president's visit to the shrine, believed to be a first by a sitting president, stole the spotlight from Macron’s earlier extremism-related meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and somewhat shifted the focus of his trip to a celebration of African youth and culture.

In this write-up, I select quotable statements from the French president which I think might interest you as they relate to mutually beneficial bilateral corporation between Africa and Europe.

1.

“It may be a surprise that a French president goes to the Shrine, but it never surprises anyone if I go to the Albert Hall or the Met,” Macron said. “We have to change that.”

2.

“I can’t tell you everything that happened when I used to come to the Shrine, because what happens at the Shrine stays at the Shrine.” 

3.

“To say with a lot of humility that I recognize the importance of this culture, I recognize the place of this culture," he said regarding the venue which he also described as “a cultural hub and an iconic hub."

4.

"This is African energy. The one I discovered here in Lagos when I was 23. The one I am glad to see is still thriving several years later. The one I hope many Europeans will get to know. The one that is far from the African prejudice of misery," Macron tweeted on his verified twitter handle @EmmanuelMacron.