Afrobeat is a Nigerian
music genre that involves the combination of
West African music
The music of West Africa has a significant history, and its varied sounds reflect the wide range of influences from the area's regions and historical periods.
Traditional West African music varies due to the regional separation of West Africa, y ...
al styles (such as traditional
Yoruba music
Yoruba music is the pattern/style of music practiced by the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Togo, and Benin. It is perhaps best known for its extremely advanced drumming tradition and techniques, especially using the gongon hourglass shape tension drums ...
and
highlife
Highlife is a music genre that started in present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British Empire and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It describes multiple local fusions of African metre and wester ...
) and American
funk,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
, and
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...
influences,
with a focus on chanted vocals, complex intersecting rhythms, and percussion.
[Grass, Randall F. "Fela AnikulaThe Art of an Afrobeat Rebel". ''The Drama Review: TDR''. MIT Press. 30: 131–148.] The style was pioneered in the 1960s by Nigerian
multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency.
Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...
and bandleader
Fela Kuti, who is responsible for popularizing the style both within and outside Nigeria.
Distinct from Afrobeat is
Afrobeats – a sound originating in West Africa in the 21st century, one that takes in diverse influences and is an eclectic combination of genres such as
hip hop,
house,
jùjú,
ndombolo
Ndombolo is a dance from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that is also popular in other African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar, who consider it as a music genre.
This style of fast music, currently dominating dancefloors in ...
,
R&B and
soca.
The two genres, though often conflated, are not the same.
History
Afrobeat was developed in
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
in the late 1960s by
Fela Kuti who, with drummer
Tony Allen, experimented with different contemporary music of the time. Afrobeat was influenced by a variety of genres, such as
highlife
Highlife is a music genre that started in present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British Empire and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It describes multiple local fusions of African metre and wester ...
,
fuji Fuji may refer to:
Places China
* Fuji, Xiangcheng City (付集镇), town in Xiangcheng City, Henan
Japan
* Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan
* Fuji River
* Fuji, Saga, town in Saga Prefecture
* Fuji, Shizuoka, city in Shizuoka Prefec ...
, and
jùjú, as well as
Yoruba vocal traditions, rhythm, and instruments. In the late 1950s, Kuti left
Lagos
Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...
to study abroad at the London School of Music where he was exposed to jazz. He returned to Lagos and played a highlife-jazz hybrid, albeit, without commercial success.
In 1969, Kuti and his band went on a trip to the U.S. and met Sandra Smith, a singer and former
Black Panther. Sandra Smith (now known as Sandra Izsadore or Sandra Akanke Isidore) introduced Kuti to many writings of activists such as
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
,
Angela Davis
Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A feminist and a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of ...
,
Jesse Jackson, and his biggest influence of all,
Malcolm X
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...
.
As Kuti was interested in
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
politics, Smith would inform him of current events. In return, Kuti would fill her in on African culture. Since Kuti stayed at Smith's house and was spending so much time with her, he started to re-evaluate his music. That was when Kuti noticed that he was not playing African music. From that day forward, Kuti changed his sound and the message behind his music.
Upon arriving in Nigeria, Kuti also changed the name of his group to "
Africa '70". The new sound hailed from a club that he established called the
Afrika Shrine. The band maintained a five-year residency at the Afrika Shrine from 1970 to 1975 while Afrobeat thrived among Nigerian youth.
Also influential was , a Nigerian musician touring from Paris, France, with his Matumbo orchestra in the 1970s.
The name was partially borne out of an attempt to distinguish Fela Kuti's music from the
soul music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became ...
of American artists such as
James Brown.
Prevalent in his and
Lagbaja
Bisade Ologunde (in Lagos, 1960) is a Nigerian afrobeat musician, singer-songwriter and percussionist. Widely known as Lágbájá for his signature use of mask which covers his identity. He believes in social reform through music.
Early life and ...
's music are native Nigerian harmonies and rhythms, taking different elements and combining, modernizing, and improvising upon them.
Politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
is essential to Afrobeat, since founder Kuti used social criticism to pave the way for social change. His message can be described as confrontational and controversial, which can be related to the political climate of most of the African countries in the 1970s, many of which were dealing with political injustice and military corruption while recovering from the transition from colonial governments to self-determination. As the genre spread throughout the African continent many bands took up the style. The recordings of these bands and their songs were rarely heard or exported outside the originating countries but many can now be found on
compilation albums and
CDs from specialist record shops.
Influence
Many
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
musicians have been attracted to Afrobeat. From
Roy Ayers
Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer, vibraphone player, and music producer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Po ...
in the 1970s to
Randy Weston
Randolph Edward "Randy" Weston (April 6, 1926 – September 1, 2018) was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection.
Weston's piano style owed much to Duke Ellington and Thelonious ...
in the 1990s, there have been collaborations that have resulted in albums such as ''Africa: Centre of the World'' by Roy Ayers, released on the
Polydore
''Polydore'' (''Polydorus'') is an opera by the French-Italian composer Jean-Baptiste Stuck, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opera) on 15 February 1720. It takes the form of a ''tragédie en musique'' in a prologue ...
label in 1981. In 1994,
Branford Marsalis, the American jazz saxophonist, included samples of Fela's "Beasts of No Nation" on his ''
Buckshot LeFonque'' album.
Afrobeat has also profoundly influenced important contemporary producers and musicians, such as
Brian Eno and
David Byrne, who credit Fela Kuti as an essential influence. Both worked on
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.[Talki ...](_blank)
' highly acclaimed 1980 album ''
Remain in Light
''Remain in Light'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released on October 8, 1980 by Sire Records. It was recorded at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas and Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia during July and Augus ...
'', which brought polyrhythmic Afrobeat influences to Western music. The new generation of
DJs and musicians of the 2000s who have fallen in love with both Kuti's material and other rare releases have made compilations and
remixes of these recordings, thus re-introducing the genre to new generations of listeners and fans of
afropop and
groove
Groove or Grooves may refer to:
Music
* Groove (music)
* Groove (drumming)
* The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s
* The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station
* Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station
...
.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a small Afrobeat scene began in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York, with projects including
Antibalas
Antibalas (Spanish for "bulletproof") is an American, Brooklyn-based afrobeat band that is modeled after Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra. Although their music generally follows the musical architect ...
,
The Daktaris and the
Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra. Since then, other artists like
Zongo Junction have come onto the scene. Many others have cited Afrobeat as an influence like Daptone Records-adjacent groups
The Budos Band
The Budos Band is an American instrumental band from Staten Island, New York, formed in 2005. AllMusic describes the group as a "doom rock Afro-soul big band with a '70s touch" that joins "musical universes from trippy psychedelia and Afro-funk to ...
and
El Michels Affair
El Michels Affair is an American " cinematic soul" group led by New York-based musician Leon Michels. The group released its debut album ''Sounding Out The City'' in 2005. After touring behind Raekwon and other Wu-Tang Clan members, the group reco ...
. The horn section of Antibalas have been guest musicians on
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio (TVOTR) is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2001. The band consists of Tunde Adebimpe (vocals, loops), David Andrew Sitek (guitars, keyboards, loops), Kyp Malone (vocals, guitars, bass, loops), and ...
's highly acclaimed 2008 album ''
Dear Science
''Dear Science'' is the third studio album by the band TV on the Radio. It was released on September 16, 2008, digitally through Touch and Go Records, with the physical release coming a week later through Interscope Records and DGC Records in Nor ...
'', as well as on British band
Foals' 2008 album ''
Antidotes''. Some Afrobeat influence can also be found in the music of
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson ...
and
Paul Simon. In 2020, Antibalas was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album is an honor presented to recording artists for influential music from around the globe at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors i ...
.
Afrobeat artists of the 2000s and present, following in the footsteps of Fela Kuti, are for example his sons
Femi Kuti
Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti (born 16 June 1962), popularly known as Femi Kuti, is a Nigerian musician born in London and raised in Lagos. He is the eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and a grandchild of political campaigner, women's ri ...
and
Seun Kuti,
Franck Biyong & Massak (from Cameroon), London Afrobeat Collective (from London, UK),
Segun Damisa & the Afro-beat Crusaders,
Shaolin Afronauts (from Adelaide, Australia),
Newen Afrobeat (from Santiago, Chile), Eddy Taylor & the Heartphones (from Cologne, Germany),
Bantucrew, the Albinoid Afrobeat Orchestra / Albinoid Sound System (from Strasbourg, France), Underground System / Underground System Afrobeat (from Brooklyn, New York), Abayomy Afrobeat Orquestra, Chicago Afrobeat Orchestra, Warsaw Afrobeat Orchestra, Karl Hector & the Malcouns (from Munich, Germany), Ojibo Afrobeat (from Vilnius, Lithuania),
Afrodizz
Afrodizz is an eight-member afrobeat/afrofunk band from Montreal. Their music is a modern mix of afrobeat, jazz and funk, that has been described as having nuances of The Herbaliser and Tony Allen.McLeod, Erin, "Reach to teach >> Montrealer And ...
and
Dele Sosimi and the ex-Africa '70 members
Oghene Kologbo (guitar) with
Afrobeat Academy, Nicholas Addo-Nettey (percussion), who is also known as , with
Ridimtaksi (both based in Berlin, Germany). Namibian artist
EES (Eric Sell) associates Afrobeat with
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
and
kwaito
Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1990s. It is a variant of house music that features the use of African sounds and samples. Kwaito songs occur at a slower tempo range than other styles of h ...
.
In 2009, the music label
Knitting Factory Records
Knitting Factory Records is an independent American music label that is notable for promoting a variety of artists, including the music of deceased Nigerian political activist Fela Kuti. The label promotes a variety of music artists including A ...
(KFR) produced the
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
musical ''
Fela!
''Fela!'' is a jukebox musical with a book by Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis, based on music and lyrics by the late Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, with additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean and additional lyrics by Jim Lewis. It is base ...
'' The story showcased Kuti's "courage and incredible musical mastery" along with the story of his life. The show had 11
Tony
Tony may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer
* Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...
nominations, receiving three for Best Costumes, Best Sound and Best Choreography. ''Fela!'' was on Broadway for 15 months and was produced by notables such as
Shawn "Jay-Z " Carter and
Will and
Jada Pinkett-Smith. Many celebrities were noted as attending the shows, including
Denzel Washington, Madonna, Sting,
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
(who saw it eight times),
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...
, and
Michelle Obama.
Michelle Williams, former singer of girl group
Destiny's Child, was cast as the role of Sandra Izsadore.
The "Festival de Afrobeat Independiente" (FAI) takes place regularly in Buenos Aires, where regional bands as well as well-known Afrobeat acts perform.
See also
*
Afrobeats
*
Afroswing
Afroswing, also known as Afrobashment, or less commonly Afrobbean or Afro-trap (not to be confused with the French genre), is a genre of music that developed in the UK during the mid-2010s, derivative of dancehall and afrobeats, with influence ...
*
''Confusion'' (album)
*
Latin music (genre)
References
Further reading
Afrobeat (BBC archived page)Fela Kuti coined Afrobeat in Accra out of hate for James Brown – Prof John Collins
{{Authority control
20th-century music genres
21st-century music genres
African popular music
Nigerian styles of music
Jazz genres
Yoruba music
Funk genres
Music of the African diaspora
Fela Kuti