Afrobeat, also called Afrofunk, is a type of music from West Africa. It mixes sounds from Nigerian music, like Yoruba music, and Ghanaian music, like highlife, with American styles such as funk, jazz, and soul. This music style uses strong, repeated singing, complicated rhythms, and lots of drumming. It was started in the 1960s by a Nigerian musician named Fela Kuti. He was a talented musician and leader of a band. He helped make Afrobeat famous in Nigeria and around the world. At his most popular, people said he was one of Africa's most difficult to ignore and very appealing music performers.
Afrobeats is different from Afrobeat. Afrobeats is a mix of sounds from West Africa that began in the 21st century. It combines many types of music, including hip hop, house, jùjú, ndombolo, R&B, soca, and dancehall. Even though some people think Afrobeat and Afrobeats are the same, they are actually different styles of music.
History
Afrobeat developed in Nigeria in the late 1960s by Fela Kuti, who worked with drummer Tony Allen to try out different types of music from that time. Afrobeat was influenced by many music styles, including highlife, fuji, and jùjú, as well as Yoruba vocal traditions, rhythms, and instruments. In the late 1950s, Kuti left Lagos to study at the London School of Music, where he learned piano and percussion and was introduced to jazz. After returning to Lagos, Kuti played a mix of highlife and jazz, but this style was not successful.
In 1969, Kuti and his band traveled to the United States and met Sandra Smith, a singer and former Black Panther. Sandra Smith (also known as Sandra Izsadore or Sandra Akanke Isidore) shared writings by activists like Martin Luther King Jr., Angela Davis, Jesse Jackson, and Malcolm X with Kuti. Because Kuti was interested in African-American politics, Sandra kept him informed about current events, while Kuti taught her about African culture. Spending time with Sandra made Kuti rethink his music. He realized he was not playing African music and changed his sound and the messages in his songs.
After returning to Nigeria, Kuti renamed his group "Africa '70." The new sound came from a club he created called the Afrika Shrine. From 1970 to 1975, the band performed regularly at the Afrika Shrine, and Afrobeat became popular among Nigerian youth. Another important person was Ray Stephen Oche, a Nigerian musician who was touring in Paris, France, with his Matumbo orchestra during the 1970s.
The name "Africa '70" was partly chosen to help people tell Fela Kuti's music apart from the soul music of American artists like James Brown. Native Nigerian harmonies and rhythms are common in Kuti's and Lagbaja's music, as they combined, modernized, and improved on these elements. Politics is an important part of Afrobeat because Kuti used his music to criticize social issues and encourage change. His messages were often direct and caused debate, reflecting the political challenges in many African countries during the 1970s, when nations faced problems like political injustice and military corruption after gaining independence. Many bands adopted Afrobeat as the genre spread across Africa. Recordings by these bands were rarely shared outside their home countries, but today, they can be found on compilation albums and CDs sold in specialty shops.
Influence
Many jazz musicians have been influenced by Afrobeat. From Roy Ayers in the 1970s to Randy Weston in the 1990s, these musicians worked together to create albums such as Africa: Centre of the World by Roy Ayers, which was released on the Polydore label in 1981. In 1994, Branford Marsalis, an American jazz saxophonist, used parts of Fela Kuti’s song "Beasts of No Nation" on his album Buckshot LeFonque.
Afrobeat has had a big impact on many modern producers and musicians, including Brian Eno and David Byrne, who say Fela Kuti helped shape their creativity. Both worked on the 1980 album Remain in Light by the band Talking Heads, which brought Afrobeat’s complex rhythms to Western music. In the 2000s, new DJs and musicians discovered Afrobeat and made compilations and remixes of old recordings, helping the genre reach new audiences.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, an Afrobeat scene started in Brooklyn, New York, with groups like Antibalas, The Daktaris, and the Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra. Later, other artists such as Zongo Junction joined. Many musicians, including The Budos Band and El Michels Affair, have said Afrobeat influenced their work. Members of Antibalas played on the 2008 album Dear Science by TV on the Radio and on the 2008 album Antidotes by the British band Foals. Other Afrobeat artists include Val Veneto, Radio Bantu, Tam Tam Afrobeat, Combo Makabro, Marabunta Orquesta, Minga!, Antropofonica, Guanabana Afrobeat Orquesta, El Gran Capitan, Morbo y Mambo, Luka Afrobeat Orquesta, and NikiLauda. Afrobeat also appears in the music of Vampire Weekend and Paul Simon. In 2020, Antibalas was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album.
Afrobeat artists today continue to follow Fela Kuti’s style. Examples include his sons Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti, Franck Biyong & Massak (from Cameroon), London Afrobeat Collective (from the UK), Segun Damisa & the Afro-beat Crusaders, Shaolin Afronauts (from Australia), Newen Afrobeat (from Chile), Lagos to Longbenton (from the UK), Eddy Taylor & the Heartphones (from Germany), Bantucrew, the Albinoid Afrobeat Orchestra (from France), Underground System Afrobeat (from New York), Abayomy Afrobeat Orquestra, Chicago Afrobeat Orchestra, Warsaw Afrobeat Orchestra, Karl Hector & the Malcouns (from Germany), Ojibo Afrobeat (from Lithuania), Afrodizz, and Dele Sosimi. Other musicians, such as Oghene Kologbo (guitar) with Afrobeat Academy, Nicholas Addo-Nettey (percussion) known as Pax Nicholas, and Ridimtaksi (from Berlin, Germany), also work with Afrobeat. The Namibian artist EES (Eric Sell) connects Afrobeat with reggae and kwaito.
In 2009, the music label Knitting Factory Records produced the Broadway musical Fela!, which told the story of Fela Kuti’s life and musical talent. The show received 11 Tony Award nominations, winning three for Best Costumes, Best Sound, and Best Choreography. Fela! was performed on Broadway for 15 months and was supported by people like Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith. Many famous people, including Denzel Washington, Madonna, Sting, Spike Lee, Kofi Annan, and Michelle Obama, attended the show. Michelle Williams, a former member of the group Destiny’s Child, played the role of Sandra Izsadore.
Fela Kuti’s music has been used by hip-hop artists such as Missy Elliott, J. Cole, and Kanye West, as well as by Beyoncé. The "Festival de Afrobeat Independiente" (FAI) happens regularly in Buenos Aires, where local and famous Afrobeat musicians perform.