Afrobeat.

A style of African popular music. The term was coined in 1967 by FELA KUTI, who was
known as ‘the king of Afrobeat’. Fela played HIGHLIFE music while studying music at
Trinity College of Music, London (1958–63). Upon his return to Nigeria he referred to
the style as ‘highlife jazz’. Geraldo Pino from Sierra Leone visited Lagos around 1966,
playing a style referred to as Afro-soul. Pino's success encouraged Fela to develop an
individual style.

Fela toured the USA in 1969 and was exposed to that country's Black Power movement.
He also heard free jazz and rhythm and blues. His awareness of the political power of
music is reflected in his subsequent development of Afrobeat, a fusion of jazz, soul and
African musics with lyrics in Pidgin and Yoruba. He consciously highlighted the
Africanness of his own music, claiming that he played African music since jazz was
originally an African form of music.

The characteristics of Afrobeat include repetitiveness, pattern-structure, call and

response, sudden breaks and solo passages. There is a clear emphasis on the role of
percussion, and the highly politicized lyrics are highlighted with powerful horn riffs. At
least five (often more) horns are featured on stage along with 15 other musicians and
ten dancers. Fela sang and played tenor and alto saxophones and the electric piano.

Reflecting Fela's ideals of panafricanism, the Afrobeat style was adopted by many

musicians throughout the continent including Fela's son Femi, who plays a distinct form
of Afrobeat. Compositions in Afrobeat style have become a common element of dance
music repertories including those of Tabu Ley Rochereau and Hugh Masekela.

After Fela's death in 1997 a revival of his music took place in Europe and the USA. Vinyl
reissues of Fela's Afrobeat recordings were produced in Paris and his recordings
became fashionable in dance clubs of western Europe in the 1990s, resulting in new
dance-mix productions.

Bibliography

and other resources

Zombie, perf. F. Anikulapo-Kuti, Creole CRLP 511 (1976)

P. Benson: ‘Jazz is African: I Play African Music’, New African (1981), 81

 C. Moore: Fela, Fela: this Bitch of a Life (London, 1982)

Wolfgang Bender

Kuti [Ransome-Kuti; Anikulapo-Kuti], Fela

(b Abeokuta, Nigeria 15 Oct 1938; d Lagos, 2 Aug 1997). Nigerian pop musician. He

formed his first band, Koola Lobitos, in London while a student at Trinity College of
Music (1958–63) where he studied the trumpet, music theory and composition. After
returning to Nigeria (1963) he reorganized the band as Nigeria '70; the name was
changed after a trip to the USA (1969) to Afrika '70, and finally to Egypt '80. From 1964
to 1979 the band was led by the drummer Tony Oladipo Allen. Formative musical
influences on Fela Kuti include his indigenous Yoruba musical culture, classical training,
exposure to jazz during his weekly radio programmes at the Nigerian Broadcasting
Corporation, black American music (James Brown, John Coltrane, Miles Davis), literary
works (The Autobiography of Malcom X) and political activists encountered during his
trips to the USA. He proclaimed himself a disciple of the late pan-Africanist and
president of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

Son of a minister and a union leader, he wrote lyrics characterized by scathing,

politically charged and carefully coded rhetorics, shown in such titles as Confusion (EMI,
1975), Coffin for Head of State (Kalakuta, 1981) and Beasts of No Nation (Kalakuta;
Eurobound/Yaba, 1989). His frequent attacks on Nigerian political leaders ended in
arrest in November 1984; while in prison his band was led by his son Femi. He was
released in 1986 and made his last international appearance on tour in the USA (June
1990). He died of AIDS-related causes.

Fela Kuti is credited with the origins of the substyle AFROBEAT, a fusion of various other
styles including HIGHLIFE, bebop, rock, soul and funk. He played the keyboard and the
saxophone and his preferred instrumentation included electric keyboards, percussion
(indigenous and Western) and electric guitars. His lead vocals were usually backed by a
female chorus of his harem of some 27 wives. Most of his recordings also feature
extended solos, and sung portions often employ call-and-response formats. He made
over 50 albums and many works remain unpublished.

Bibliography

C. Moore: Fela Fela, cette putain de vie (Paris, 1982; Eng. trans., 1982)

 J. Kilby: ‘Master of Afrobeat’, West Africa (28 Jan 1985)

‘Rocking all the Way to Jail’, Newsweek (15 July 1985)

R.F. Grass: ‘Fela Anikulapo-Kuti: the Art of an Afrobeat Rebel’, Drama

Review, cxii/30 (1986), 131–48

M.K. Idowu: Fela: Why Blackman Carry Shit (Kaduna, 1986)

Daniel Avorgbedor