The term "AFROBEATS" as risen from been own by Africans to everyone's genre of music especially artists in foreign lands. This article entails the birth and the evolvement of afrobeats in the 90s and the afrobeats of today.
Afrobeats became a renowned genre of music in the 1960s and 170s which was a mix with traditional yoruba music wit a mix of jazz, rising from the west African highlife and funk. it was pioneered by the legend himself Fela Kuti with his eccentric character , merge with his musical talent and involvement in post-colonial African politics.
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BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Fela Kuti is born in 1938, Kuti, known as "the king of Afrobeat", was born in Abeokuta, a city outside of Lagos, Nigeria. The musician spent most of his later life in Lagos. Studied in London between 1957-1963, Fela Kuti became immersed in the city's thriving jazz scene. He loved jamming with the musicians he met, and started to incorporate jazz into his own musical life. A mist his studies, Fela Kuti became immersed in the city's thriving jazz scene. He loved jamming with the musicians he met, and started to incorporate jazz into his own musical life.
In 1969, Fela Kuti went to Los Angeles and came into contact with members of the Black Panther party. He learned about Malcolm X and also became enthralled with American funk music.
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As Fela Kuti's musical career progressed, he began to compose and play music in a genre that he himself was slowly forming: Afrobeat. Music of this genre often has lyrics sung in West African languages that include political commentary. It takes after the extended length of jazz tunes and incorporates call-and-response and repetitiveness typical of Ghanaian and Nigerian music. All of these characteristics display how Kuti was influenced by many different musical traditions, including ones that were close to home and ones that were continents away.
ADVANCEMENT OF NAIJA AFROBEATS
Other rising afrobeats musicians begins to grow fast with a complete different sound coined from the original afrobeats in the 2010s . first on the line was D'Banj hit music " Oliva Twist" in 2012, which rose to number 9. Other African artists like Fuse ODG with his big track Antenna and Azonto topped the UK chart.
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In 2019, Afrobeats artists collectively spent 86 weeks in the Official Chart Top 40, up from 24 weeks in 2017. The number of tracks featuring a lead or featured Afrobeats act has also doubled in the same period, led predominantly by British artists.
"London is the home of Afrobeats outside of Africa," says Afolabi Ogonkoya, who runs CocoCure - a venue dedicated to the genre. Born in Lagos, Folabi's been putting on Afrobeats nights in the UK for 13 years to reflect the music he enjoyed when he was growing up. "I was listening to Afrobeats before it even had a name," he says. The parties started a bit slow but they picked up as the genre got more popular and so I decided to stay in the UK. "
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He says lots of British artists have "hijacked" Afrobeats in a good way, moving the music forward and increasing its popularity. The fans are huge now. At first, it was Africans in the diaspora but now everyone's embraced it. Things have worked out for the best."
In the next article I will be taking you on another episode on Nigeria afro singers and other countries saga.
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