Afrobeat
genresAF-roh-beet
A genre blending West African musical traditions with American jazz and funk, pioneered by Nigerian musician Fela Kuti in the late 1960s.
Afrobeat was created by Fela Kuti in Lagos, Nigeria, fusing Yoruba music, highlife, jazz, and James Brown-style funk into extended, groove-heavy compositions that could last 20 minutes or more. The music features large ensembles with multiple guitarists, horn sections, and a polyrhythmic percussion foundation anchored by Tony Allen's revolutionary drumming. Over these dense grooves, Kuti delivered politically charged lyrics in pidgin English targeting corruption and military dictatorship.
Tony Allen's drumming style — applying jazz independence to African polyrhythmic structures — is considered Afrobeat's rhythmic DNA, with Brian Eno once calling him "the greatest drummer who ever lived." After Kuti's death in 1997, Afrobeat experienced a global revival through artists like Antibalas, Fela's sons Femi and Seun Kuti, and its influence on modern Afropop, hip-hop, and electronic music is immense.
At its peak, Fela Kuti's band Africa 70 had over 30 members, including 20 dancers, and his compound in Lagos — the Kalakuta Republic — was declared an independent state.