AFROBEATS: A STORY OF TWO SOUNDS, AN ICON AND A PROBLEM (PART 1)
A recent discussion about Afrobeats made me realise that we’ve built one of the world’s most celebrated music genres on a deeply flawed narrative, one that distorts its true origins. If we are to protect its growth and cultural integrity, we must first correct the record before this myth truly becomes irreversible.
A musical genre can be defined as “a category or style of music that shares common characteristics, such as rhythm, instruments, or cultural influences.” It's a way to group similar types of music based on how they sound or where they come from. When it comes to the definition of Afrobeats, it has historically been vague and often oversimplified, lacking the nuance and historical facts needed to fully capture its complexity and evolution.
The term "Afrobeats" was coined in the early 2000s. Although a single source cannot directly or correctly be credited with coining the term, it was brought into mainstream conversation primarily by UK DJs and promoters. This was for them an easy way to describe the new wave of African pop music that was emerging, particularly from Nigeria and Ghana. There is still no literature on why Afrobeats was so called, and though many guesses can be made, none would accurately capture the truth at this point. This was however a movement distinct from Afrobeat, a globally renowned genre heralded by Fela Kuti, which is widely credited as being the direct predecessor of Afrobeats.
Afrobeat is a genre noted for its many musical masterpieces which seamlessly blend traditional African rhythms with jazz, funk, and highlife. It offers complex, layered live instrumentation, extended grooves and a charge of socially conscious lyrics. Nigerian music icon, Orlando Julius played a pivotal role in Afrobeat's early development during the 1960s. His musical experimentation laid the groundwork for what would become the Afrobeat genre that was then propelled to true global fame by Fela Kuti. Fela Kuti’s masterful addition of funk, stronger political themes, and long-form improvisation, with some songs stretching over an hour were some of the standout aspects of his contribution which brought so much respect to the genre. While Fela catapulted Afrobeat to true global recognition, Orlando Julius's contributions remain crucial to its origins. Both were pioneers who added distinct layers that shaped Afrobeat’s unique sound and legacy.
In the years following its initial rise to mainstream consciousness in the early 2000s, there was a recurring conflation of Afrobeat with Afrobeats. This was problematic because it reflected a fundamental issue in how the story of Afrobeats was being told from the start. The true pioneers of Afrobeats were never given the microphone to share its history with the world. One often wonders whether they were adequately equipped to do so at the time. In hindsight, there has been a jarring lack of contemporary African music education, the media landscape was disjointed, and the international stage hardly had a place for anything that wasn’t a core Western genre or willing to be grouped under the umbrella of “World Music”, whatever that was. Instead, as the media landscape improved with time, thanks to the proliferation of the internet, and the growth of independent and indigenous music platforms like Gidilounge, NotJustOK and others, subsequent generations of younger artists, presented their own interpretations of the genre’s origins and evolution. They predominantly paid respect to Afrobeat as an ancestral genre from which Afrobeats was birthed, citing Fela Kuti as the father figure behind it all. This is unfortunate because these artists were largely only partially informed or totally uninformed, yet their narrative of Afrobeats’ development has shaped mainstream thinking. The result is that it has significantly undermined the role of genres like highlife, dancehall and hip-hop, which have a truer connection to the evolution of modern Afrobeats than Afrobeat itself. These very important genres are often overshadowed in discussions about Nigerian music history.
Fela Kuti’s legacy is undeniable, and his influence stretches far beyond the confines of music, but when it comes to Afrobeats, his direct impact is often overstated. We find many contemporary Afrobeats artists still citing Fela in interviews as an inspiration behind their music and artistry, but upon the tiniest scrutiny, we very quickly realise that this is just a surface-level talking point. His musical complexity, revolutionary ethos and political activism, the very soul of Afrobeat, is largely absent in much of today's Afrobeats music. Instead, Afrobeats leans heavily toward commercial, pop-driven beats intended for mass appeal, almost completely void of socio-political commentary, inspirational messaging and actual instrumental musicality. This isn’t to say that Afrobeats must live up to an image which directly mirrors Afrobeat, but to say that when the widely accepted theory of Afrobeat being the father of Afrobeats is tested, it falls apart, much like the result of a failed paternity test.
Afrobeats blends Western genres like hip-hop, dancehall, and pop with notable elements drawn from highlife and traditional African rhythms, utilising modern electronic production to craft its distinct sound. It’s a genre which typically features vibrant, upbeat tempos, offering captivating grooves, catchy melodies, and memorable choruses. Lyrically, Afrobeats often focuses on themes of love, lust, wealth and celebration. Overall, it promotes a sense of carefreeness, which adds to its widespread appeal. Over time, Afrobeats has evolved to encompass a much wider range of sounds and influences, blending elements of Amapiano, Fuji, Gospel and R&B to name a few. All these elements have added to its growing popularity on the global stage.
In the discourse around Afrobeats, there is often an insufficient amount of light shed on the foundational contributions of genres like hip-hop, dancehall, gospel, disco, R&B, and various other African genres. By centring the narrative around Afrobeat and Fela Kuti and presenting these other genres and their key figures as secondary influences, the diverse and rich origins of Afrobeats are overshadowed, leading to the skewed perspective we see today which overlooks the global and local influences that have provided Afrobeats with its true substance. Recognising these varied influences is essential for us to fully appreciate the depth of contemporary Nigerian music. Worse still is that in attempting to crown Fela Kuti as a lone founding figure in Afrobeats’ ancestry, we sadly ignore the rich musical evolution that unfolded in Nigeria before, during, and after Fela Kuti’s musical reign.
