Kalakuta Sunrise Limited

Kalakuta Sunrise Limited is a London company that holds an exclusive licence to the master recordings of the Nigerian bandleader Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. It does not own those recordings. The phonogram credit delivered with the catalogue to digital services reads “Estate of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti under exclusive license to Kalakuta Sunrise Ltd”, which places ownership with the Estate and the licence with this company.

The company was incorporated in England and Wales on 29 October 2010, company number 07423466, under SIC code 59200 (sound recording and music publishing activities). Its registered office is 55 Loudoun Road, St John’s Wood, London NW8 0DL. It was active at the date of checking, with audited small-company accounts made up to 31 December 2024 filed on 23 December 2025 and a confirmation statement dated 22 December 2025.

The register records one person with significant control: Mr Stephen Hendel, of Larchmont, New York, notified on 6 April 2016, holding more than 75 per cent of the shares and more than 75 per cent of the voting rights, and holding the right to appoint and remove directors. Three directors are in office: Morgan H Margolis and Timothy Lewis Putnam, both appointed on 21 August 2019 with a correspondence address in Brooklyn, New York, and Eric Allen Stein, appointed on 29 October 2010.

Only one charge has ever been registered against the company. Charge code 0742 3466 0001, a mortgage debenture in favour of Coutts & Company, was created on 10 May 2024 and satisfied in full on 12 June 2026, the statement of satisfaction being filed by the bank itself as charge holder. Clause 1.9 of the instrument took a fixed charge over all of the company’s intellectual property rights, licences and choses in action, present and future, with copyright named in the definition. Note 10 of the audited accounts to 31 December 2024 states that no borrowings were drawn or outstanding during the year and that the debenture did not secure any liabilities at the reporting date.

The company was financed from inside its own group rather than by the bank. The accounts to 31 December 2024 record net liabilities of £650,152, against £236,274 a year earlier, supported by loans from related parties of £5,790,088 (2023: £1,426,270). Amounts owed to participating interests were £6,762,160 (2023: £826,154), and £972,072 owed to Kalakuta Sunrise LLC was written off on 30 September 2025. Cash closed at £4,038,462 against current creditors of £7,575,852. There is no intangible fixed asset on either balance sheet: the Fela licence is carried at nothing, and the only fixed assets are £38,690 of fixtures and equipment. FY2024 is the first audited year and the opinion is qualified, the auditor having been unable to obtain sufficient evidence on opening and closing stock. The income statement was not delivered to the registrar.

MusicBrainz separately records a label named Kalakuta Sunrise, country GB, with a life span beginning in 2010, credited on ten Fela-related releases.