Know about Afro beat. (Music from Africa).

   Know about Afro beat. 

Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk, and chanted vocals,^[1] fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name,^[1] who used it to revolutionize musical structure as well as the political context in his native Nigeria. It was Kuti who coined the term "afrobeat" upon his return from a U.S. tour with his group Nigeria '70 (formerly Koola Lobitos). Afrobeat features chants, call-and-response vocals, and complex, interacting rhythms.^[1]

The new sound hailed from a club that he established called the Afro-Shrine. Upon arriving in Nigeria, Kuti also changed the name of his group toAfrica '70. The band maintained a five-year residency in the Afro-Shrine from 1970 to 1975 while afrobeat thrived among Nigerian youth. Afrobeat is now one of the most recognizable music genres in the world and has influenced as many Western musicians as it has African ones with its exuberant style and polyrhythms.

Afrobeat originated from the southern part of Nigeria in the 1960s where Kuti experimented with many different forms of contemporary music of the time. Prevalent in his and Lagbaja's music are native African harmonies and rhythms, taking different elements and combining, modernizing, and improvising upon them. Politics are essential to Afrobeat, since founder Kuti used social criticism to pave the way for social change. His message can be described as confrontational and controversial, which can be related to the political climate of most of the African countries in the 1960s, many of which were dealing with political injustice and military corruption while recovering from the transition from colonial governments to self-determination. As the genre spread throughout the African continent many bands took up the style. The recordings of these bands and their songs were rarely heard or exported outside the originating countries but many can now be found oncompilation albums and CDs from specialist record shops.

Notable instruments :Lead vocals (may play sax/key solos as well),Chorus vocals (may include horn players),Rhythm guitar(s) (plays funk strumming pattern),Tenor guitar (plays a finger-picked ostinato groove),Bass guitar,Drum set, generally in the form polyrhythmic percussion,Saxophone(s),Trumpet(s),Trombone(s),Organ/keyboards,Rhythm conga #1Rhythm conga #2,Solo (lead) conga,Akuba: a set of 3 small stick-hit congas (play flourishes/solos, and ostinatos). Also mistakenly called "gbedu" (gbedu is the name of a large ceremonial drum).,"Sticks"/claves (plays ostinato),Shekere.

Notable artistes : Fela Kuti , Femi Kuti, Lagbaja, Dbanj, Weird mc, Seun Kuti etc

These days Afro beat has taken a new twist with a lot of new up and coming and also young Nigerian musicians adopting this genre. But they tend to sing about a lot more different things this days. Singing about living big, sex and so many of the song contents are influenced by the western world but dont get me wrong the songs are really good and very entertaining but not all that educative. Ladies and gentlemen the fast rising music genre from Africa AFRO BEAT. 

credit : wikipedia