[Column] Afrobeat / Afro-Fusion - Structural changes and global expansion of West African music

Column en Afro-Fusion Afrobeat
[Column] Afrobeat / Afro-Fusion - Structural changes and global expansion of West African music

Introduction

Text: mmr|Theme: The fact that Afrobeat developed around Nigeria’s live culture, how Afro-Fusion came to be used in a cross-border production and distribution environment, and the history of the music industry and diaspora movements.

Afrobeat and Afro-Fusion are musical cultures that originated in West Africa, particularly Nigeria and Ghana. Although the two are often confused, they have different historical backgrounds, musical structures, and social roles. This article organizes the history from the establishment of Afrobeat to the development of Afro-Fusion based only on verifiable facts, and comprehensively describes changes in musical characteristics, production techniques, social context, and international reception.

“This article avoids evaluation and subjective interpretation and consists only of information based on historical materials, testimonies, and recorded historical facts.”


The foundation of West African music

Structure of traditional music

Many West African folk musics are characterized by polyrhythms, call-and-response, and repetitive structures. In Yoruba, Ewe, and Ashanti musical cultures, structures in which multiple percussion instruments play different frequencies simultaneously are common, and this had a direct influence on later Afrobeat.

Melody emphasizes rhythm and the circulation of phrases rather than scale, and singing is often based on group participation. These characteristics were reorganized into urban music from the mid-20th century onwards, due to urbanization and the spread of recording technology.

Colonial period and urban music

Colonial rule from the end of the 19th century to the 20th century brought European-derived instruments and harmonic concepts to West Africa. Brass bands, church music, and military bands played throughout the country, blending them with traditional rhythms. The highlife that developed in Ghana is a representative example of this hybridization, and serves as an important prehistory for the later formation of Afrobeat.


Establishment of Afrobeat

Fela Kuti’s activities

The term Afrobeat was coined by Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti in the late 1960s. Fela received his musical education in London, absorbing jazz, highlife and soul before returning to Nigeria. While in the United States in 1969, he was influenced by the Black Power movement and funk, and decided on a direction that would link music and political discourse.

His bands, Africa 70 and later Egypt 80, established a form distinct from existing dance music, featuring long performances, repetitive grooves, and horn sections.

Musical features

A typical Afrobeat composition consists of a drum set, multiple percussion instruments, electric bass, guitar, horn section, keyboards, and vocals. Although the rhythm is based on 4/4 time, each instrument plays an independent repeating pattern, creating a complex polyrhythm as a whole.

Songs often run over 10 minutes and consist of an intro, a groove development, an improvised solo, and a vocal speech part. The lyrics were written in English, Pidgin English, and Yoruba, and often criticized the political situation, injustice, and power structure in Nigerian society.

“The political nature of the lyrics created tension with the Nigerian government at the time, leading to multiple crackdowns and arrests.”


Expansion in the 1970s

Acceptance within Nigeria

In the 1970s, Nigeria’s urban culture expanded due to increased oil revenues, and Lagos became the center of the music industry. Afrobeat spread through nightclubs, live music venues, and radio, with many musicians adopting similar formations and styles.

Impact on other regions

Afrobeat also influenced neighboring countries such as Ghana, Benin, and Togo. Artists from Benin in particular created unique expressions that combined highlife, local rhythms, and Afrobeat. This led to Afrobeat being recognized as a regional style rather than the music of a single country.


Changes since the 1980s

Fela Kuti’s later years and succession

In the late 1980s, while Fela”s international reputation increased, the political situation within Nigeria remained unstable. After Fela”s death in 1997, his music was continued by his sons Femi Kuti and Sheun Kuti. They maintained the basic Afrobeat structure while incorporating modern recording techniques and an international production environment.

Re-evaluation and internationalization

From the late 1990s to the 2000s, Afrobeat was reevaluated in Europe and North America. Through reissues, compilations, and festival appearances, Afrobeat was widely introduced as a branch of world music.


Introducing Afro-Fusion

Terminology background

The term Afro-Fusion has been used since the 2000s to refer to the trend of African artists using a variety of genres. Rather than being a direct successor to Afrobeat, it is characterized by its fusion with hip-hop, R&B, reggae, dancehall, electronic music, etc.

In Nigeria since the 2000s, the spread of digital production environments has made music production in private studios commonplace. A pop music trend collectively known as Afrobeats was formed, and Afro-Fusion was positioned as an expression that crosses genres.

“Afro-Fusion does not have a specific rhythmic type or composition, but is used as a concept to refer to a combination of production methods and cultural origins.”


Comparison of musical structures

flowchart TD A["Traditional rhythm"] --> B["High Life"] B --> C["Afrobeat"] C --> D["Afro-Fusion"] E["Jazz Funk"] --> C F["Hip-hop/R&B"] --> D

Social and cultural context

Relationship with politics

From its inception, Afrobeat has been inseparable from political discourse. Live performances had a gathering quality, and lyrics often referred to specific events or policies. On the other hand, Afro-Fusion tends to deal with personal experiences and international identity without making political statements an essential element.

Diaspora and globalization

The presence of the African diaspora played an important role in the formation of Afro-Fusion. In cities such as London, New York, and Toronto, African immigrants came into contact with local music cultures and created new forms of fusion.


Chronology

timeline 1950 : ハイライフの都市的発展 1969 : フェラ・クティの米国滞在 1970 : Afrobeat様式の確立 1980 : 国際ツアーと評価拡大 1997 : フェラ・クティ死去 2000 : デジタル制作環境の普及 2010 : Afro-Fusionの一般化

Changes in production technology

Afrobeat in the 1970s, when analog recording was the mainstream, was produced in a format similar to a live one-shot recording. The simultaneous performance of multiple people created the driving force of the music. In contrast, Afro-Fusion is centered around division of labor and production using digital DAWs, making it possible to exchange data across borders.


Conclusion

Afrobeat and Afro-Fusion are musics that were formed in different historical backgrounds and production environments, even though they share the same cultural area. The former is a collective expression rooted in a specific historical situation, and the latter is an individual and fluid expression after globalization. Through the facts presented in this paper, we can confirm continuity and discontinuity between the two.

“The two are not opposed concepts, but are understood as different stages placed on a historical timeline.”


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