Nigeria, April 24 -- Multi-Grammy-nominated artiste Femi Kuti, and son of the legendary Fela Kuti, has refuted claims that the late ace drummer Tony Allen co-pioneered the Afrobeat genre with his father.

Afrobeat was pioneered in the 1960s by Fela, who popularised it within and outside Nigeria.

Allen worked as Fela's lead drummer and music director from 1968 to 1979. This has made him widely recognised by both local and foreign media as a co-pioneer of Afrobeats.

He died on 30 April in Paris, France.

In an interview with a Canada-based platform, Sonically published on Monday, Femi dismissed claims that Allen or anyone else contributed to Fela's music.

"They tried to sell Tony Allen, so they decided to lie. Yes, he was a good drummer,...