[Column] Afrobeat / Afro-Fusion - Structural changes and global expansion of West African music
Column en Afro-Fusion Afrobeat
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.
Nigerian Popular Music
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
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
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.”