Afro Beat
| Afrobeat | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1970s, Nigeria , 1960s Ghana |
| Typical instruments | |
| Regional scenes | |
Afrobeat is a music genre which developed in the 1970s out of a combination of West African musical styles, such as highlife and yoruba, with American funk and jazz, with a focus on chanted vocals and percussion.
The genre features chants, call-and-response vocals, and complex, interacting rhythms.
A key figure in its development is Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti who popularised the style both within and outside Nigeria. It was partially borne out of an attempt to distinguish Kuti's music from the "soul music" of American artists such as James Brown.
Afrobeat originated from Fuji, heavy Nigerian drumbeats and Ghanaian highlife. It was later exported to the southern part of Nigeria in the 1970s, by Fela Kuti, who experimented with many different forms of contemporary music of the time. The new sound hailed from a club that he established called the Afrika Shrine. Upon arriving in Nigeria, Kuti also changed the name of his group to Africa '70. The band maintained a five-year residency in the Afrika Shrine from 1970 to 1975 while afrobeat thrived among Nigerian youth.
Prevalent in his and Lagbaja's music are native Nigerian harmonies and rhythms, taking different elements and combining, modernizing, and improvising upon them. Politics are 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.
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