By Aisha Sambo
My mother is a lover of music and history and I believe her words when she says before we can predict the future to some extent we must revisit the past. Afrobeats needs little or no introduction in our 21st century world, this genre of music arose from the mind and spirit of Nigeria’s Fela Aníkúlápó-Kuti and his band, Afrika 70 in the late 1960. Fela and his band experimented with different contemporary music of the time forging a rhythmic mix of West African beats from predominately Nigeria and Ghana, and influences from American jazz, soul and funk. Throughout the 1970’s Fela fused James Brown’s funk, traditional West African dance rhythms with jazz and his own take on chamber music for length compositions. The founding father of afrobeats turned his words and charisma towards excoriating colonial powers that carved up the idea of what Africa should be and a corrupt system that kept country leaders in power. Fela today is being celebrated as a cultural icon and a revolutionary leader.
The history of Afrobeat actually began in the early twentieth century as musicians from Ghana began to combine West African regional music with Western jazz and calypso. Highlife became the resulting new sound evolving with western influences into various mixes over the next few decades. This genre has grown to influence music beyond Africa. Fela’s began his career playing in an array of African highlife and jazz bands, absorbing the sounds of soul, jazz, soca, rhythm and blues during various tours across America and the United Kingdom. The development of the core sound was heavily influenced by politics with the release of Kuti & Afrika 70’s debut album Zombie, this established the core sound of Afrobeat. Kuti sang over tracks in Yoruba and English languages, leading the band with saxophones, keyboards, drums and other instruments. Original sounds of Afrobeat had political side by criticising human rights in Nigeria. Currently various Nigerian artistes, such as D’banj, Wiz Kid, and Burna Boy cite Fela Kuti as a major influence in their music. However you might expect that given that they are all from the same country, how far has this influence reached on a global stage. Let’s take a look:
Kuti remained a major artiste in Africa and abroad until his death in 1997, his son Seun renamed the band Egypt 80 and continued to record and perform, as did Seun’s brother, Femi, who enjoyed and received a high degree of popularity similar to that of his father. After Fela’s death his international stature grew bigger, especially amongst hip-hop’s creators. One of the most successful figure from Kuti’s orbit was undoubtedly Tony Allen, his drummer, who expanded on the Afrobeat sound by mixing elements of hip-hop, dub, and electronica to form a new subgenre we now call “Afrofunk”. Allen had a wide exposure through collaborations with Air, Zap Mama, and Damon Albarn of Blur, among others. Your average Afrobeats act was also influenced by foreign genres that became popular in Nigeria such as 80s pop, disco music, Reggae, Dancehall, R&B and of course Hip-Hop.
We often acknowledge the presence of soul and funk in hip-hop but the impact of afrobeats really innovated the sound of hip-hop through the likes of Fela Kuti, Tony Allen and Manu Dibango. From the early 2000’s we would begin to unfold music that fused afrobeats into hip-hop. Here are some examples, the creative spark for “Whatcha Gon Do” off of Missy Elliot’s 2001 album, Miss E …So Addictive was sampled from Fela & Afrika 70’s classic, “Colonial Mentality.” Flash forward to 2008, Afrobeats was still influencing hip-hop. The Roots song titled “I Will Not Apologize”(2008) samples Fela Kuti’s “Mr Grammarticalogylisationalism Is the Boss.” Fela’s raw bass line assisted the Legendary Roots Crew by adding the perfect rhythmic melody to complete the track. Many believed Rihanna’s 2007 hit track “Don’t stop The Music” was influenced by Micheal Jackson’s 1982 classic, “Wanna Be Startin Somethin.” However, the classic catchy ‘Mama-say, mama-sa, ma-ma-ko-ssa’ was actually originated by Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango’s song, ‘Soul Makossa.’ Another example is “Let Nas Down” is a song from J. Cole’s Born Sinner album in 2013 and it takes after the Fela Kuti & The Afrika 70 track titled “Gentleman.” The Fela Kuti influence on this track is heavily felt, but doesn’t yet boast enough evidence to be officially labeled as a sample.
Beyond the influence in hip-hop, Fela’s life was also chronicled in a Broadway musical (Fela!). These productions anticipated the cross-cultural appreciation that would lead to “The Lion King: The Gift”. That album was informed by Afrobeats, a genre created decades ago, but even before this album, you could already see influences of Afro-beats, culture and history in Beyonce’s music. For example, her album before this, “Lemonade” depicted and symbolised deep rooted African ancestral heritage. For example using some examples from Lemonade and The Lion King: The Gift, we begin to unfold visual and melodic representations of not just the African culture but also the politics behind the music:
Braids and afros
Gone are the days where braids and afros were reserved only for Africans, our hairstyles are owing global stages and spreading Black excellence and presence. The hairstyles of Beyonce and her cast in several videos on the album Lemonade are undeniably completely African. “Sorry,” for example, sees her dancers in the bus scene carrying such hairstyles and towards the end of the same video Beyoncé’s hair is styled after the ancient Egyptian Queen, Nefertiti. Once upon a time having such hairstyles where deemed unattractive and black women and girls have been scrutinized and subjected to body terrorism in ways that make it virtually impossible to comfortably move through life. Through Beyonce’s Music she challenges the narrative by showing the diverse representation of Afrocentric beauty African hairstyles.
Culture (Fashion and Identity)
Lemonade had heavy influences of African culture, more specifically Yoruba culture. For example, in the videos for tracks “Sorry,” “Daddy’s Little Girl,” and “Love Drought” a cultural extracts from the Yoruba tribe created Beyoncé’s costumes. In these videos, Beyoncé dresses up in ankara and other African tribal costumes, thereby becoming indicative of her roots beyond the shores of America. Also in some videos we see tribal body art created by Nigerian artiste, Laolu Senbanjo. In another video “Hold Up”, Beyoncé personifies Oshun, the water goddess also known as the goddess of beauty, love, and wrath. She walks out in a yellow dress and commences to deliver measured doses of destruction along with sinister smiles.
Slavery and police brutality
Although the album deeply highlights infidelity, slavery and lack of respect for black women was also prominent throughout the album. One track out of that album ”Love Drought ” draws major inspiration from Igbo slaves and the story of Igbo Landing in the 18th century. The Igbo Landing tells the story of Igbo slaves in the 1800s who rather than accept being slaves in the US staged a mass suicide in Georgia by seizing their slave ship and marching into the water while singing Igbo songs as they marched to their death. Apart from the theme that Beyonce introduces for the purpose of connecting her music video to modern-day slavery is police brutality. One scene during Lemonade shows three Black mothers holding framed pictures of their deceased children. The children are young men who were slain by white police officers: Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brow. Beyonce’s point out how slavery has brought along a type of social injustice that still claims lives today.
By addressing African culture, it shows how Beyonce is attributing importance to black culture before the negative influence of slavery. Beyonce’s Lemonade offers different point of views that allow for discussion from different types of audiences, she continues to release music that is personal and the personal is political. So you see the significance of this birth (Afrobeat) was not only in its catchy melodic rhyme but also the streaks of political awareness in its lyrics. Even before these albums by Beyonce, the crossover influence began due to tours Fela and his band would take all over the world. Even though the bedrock of Afrobeat was moved by Fela Kuti and Allen jazz musicians such contemporary artists Antibalas and Zongo Junction—both hailing from Brooklyn, New York carved careers out of the Afrobeat sound. Roy Ayers also recorded Afrobeat inspired music in the 1970s and toured Nigeria with the elder Kuti in the late ’70s. Back in Nigeria, pop music that became known later as afrobeats also began around the time of Fela’s passing but its sunny spirit seemed far removed from his complex art and beliefs.
Nevertheless, look how far the music has taken us, the past and present is an indication of the success of this genre. Some of Afrobeats biggest acts have sol out shows in the UK, perform on late night television shows in the US and attracted thousands of people in festivals all across the world. It’s no news that afrobeat is hot right now, even some of the biggest acts in the world such as Beyonce, Drake, Ed Sheeran have jumped on the Afrobeats sound. The melody wins, but the messaging to represent us as Africans still lacks. Afrobeats is melodiously intensive and the success of Afrobeats across the world is more than a strong suggestion that there is something attractive about the genre that lures people in Unlike traditional rap music which is filled with tension, Afrobeats is agreeable to the ears because of its sweet melodic nature from the verses to the hook. As music listeners, we are biased to a sound with strong melodies and this is what has made Afrobeats successful.
The future of Afrobeat will continue to evolve, into what?
Is what I am uncertain of. Most of our Nigerian artist now borrow so much from the West and very little of our music as African’s is a reflection of our population at a the moment.
In the past more African Americans or westerners have done a better job of passing political and social messages through their music more than Africans have. It feels as though the essence of Afrobeats is evolving into borrowing ideas from western music and less focus on our political ideologies as Africans. Ideas such as, parting, drugs, drinking, smoking, girls twerking, you get the gist, have flooded our eyes and views of the true essence of Afrobeat. . We need more songs like Brenda Fassie’s “Black President”, Angélique Kidjo’s “We We”, 2Baba’s “E Be Like Say”, ClassiQ’s “Gargajiya”, Sauti Sol’s “Tujiangalie”, Loyiso Gijana’s “Madoda Sabelani” and my all time favourite at the moment Burna Boy’s “Collateral Damage”.
With these few examples you begin to see what we currently lack as Africa is carrying the torch of the intended idea of Afrobeat in terms of lyrics and visual representation. Africa and the world needs more political driven songs, the media has already done a great job of making us numb to the news so what better way to pass on political messages than through music, and not just any genre of music. I acknowledge and understand that melody is a key element in Afrobeats music but so is the political messages, and that currently lacks across African music, we need the melodic rhymes of Afrobeats to stir our political engagement and knowledge the way Fela did. Fela channeled authorises through his music, the closest we have to that now is Burna Boy with his African Giant and Twice as Tall Album. I relate to Burna Boy’s music a lot and go extra miles to even push this messages because I believe it is what Africa needs now. As a writer and creative director I wanted to visually represent this song “Collateral Damage”.
Every African needs to play the part in the eco-system of music. In a 2019 interview with Pulse Nigeria, the Global Head of Music at YouTube Lyor Cohen had this to say about Afrobeats “I think when you cut Nigerians open, they bleed music, they bleed those melodies. That’s generational.” Deconstructing any genre of music is challenging as music is a type-form of art and art is subjective to it’s creator and audience it connects with. So when this article highlights the originality of Afrobeat drifting in terms of the political message it begs the question is there even such a thing as originality? Who makes an idea original? what and who do we consider original or authentic? Truth? Borrowed truths? What is original and who holds the right to decide what is and isn’t original? It is impossible, there is no such thing as a new idea. We take a lot of old ideas and put them into a mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. Not a prediction, but a hope, that Afrobeats by Nigerians and other Africans around the world will continue to teach others about our culture, fashion, social injustices, politics, experience and history. However, it is up to the artist and their production to deliberately put out messages that communicate this. The tone has already been set on a global stage with the likes of my African brothers and sister, Sade, Tiwa Savage, Mr. Eazi, Yemi Alade, Burna Boy, Wiz Kid, Davido, Olamide, Tekno and so many others. I predict the future for Afrobeat and its originality will depend on the deliberate attempt to diversify our lyrics about women’s bodies, love and heartbreaks to injustice, unity, culture and identity. With fresh sounds from the likes of Tems, Adekunle Gold, Pheelz, Omah Lay, Asake, CKay, Buju, Focalistic, Young Jonn, Kelvyn Boy and Ayra Star…I wish for the lyrics to be more deliberate about the reality of who we are as African’s, where we come from and most importantly how our people live. As we keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; the truth is they are the same old pieces of coloured glass that have been in use. The question is what type of messages will be carried into our coloured glass that is Afrobeat. Tomorrow something else will be the thread and someone else or a group of people will borrow an idea to make an even greater idea. I just hope the Afrobeat continues to be a true reflection of the our times, our politics, way of life and authenticity.
