Afro-Beat was created and almost exclusively performed by Nigerian superstar Fela Anikulapo-Kuti; he also gave the style its name in 1963, although he would not bring it to its fullest creative fruition until his classic recordings of the 1970s, which quickly made Afro-beat into a wildly popular sensation in Nigeria and began to attract attention from the rest of the world as well.
By the ‘80s, Kuti’s style had been well established, and although the massive scale and distinctive personality of his performances attracted few imitators, he was revered as a legend for his musical virtuosity and political activism.
Following Kuti’s death in 1997, his son Femi – who had often taken over as bandleader during Fela’s periodic imprisonments – picked up the Afro-Beat torch and began a full-fledged career of his own, keeping his father’s music alive and proving himself a worthy successor.
Obviously Kuti will take many placements in this list, and rightly so, but there were a sprinkling of others who rose to the standard of intellectualism, intensely rhythmic and emphasized large ensembles, extended grooves, improvised jams and energy that the genre so greatly imbues and we wanted to mention them here too.
Alright, the list:
Fela Kuti — Zombie
Zombie was the most popular and impacting record that Fela Anikulopo Kuti and Africa 70 would record — it ignited the nation to follow Fela’s lead and antagonise the military that had the population by the throat. This record and its title track would cause devastating personal and professional effects as the Nigerian government came down on Fela with absolute brute force not long after the release of this record because it caused such a stir. Good stuff!
Fela Kuti — No Agreement
Recorded in 1977, No Agreement follows the Afro-beat template to a masterful level: amazingly catchy guitar lines that replicate a bass guitar in their construction, a second guitarist to add some JB’s funk power, driving horn section proclamations, intricate saxophone, trumpet and organ improv solos, and then Fela Anikulopo Kuti’s wit and message for the people.
Femi Kuti — Femi Kuti
This debut album was an extremely popular record in Africa and Europe; it introduced Kuti’s cleaner, more succinct take on his father Fela Kuti’s legendary Afro beat sound. Packed with contagious rhythms born of African, jazz, and funk melodies, Femi Kuti represents an important offering to world music.
Taal National — Kaani
Taal National’s style takes from a wide swath of sound from different regions and eras in African music, be it the driving pulse and repetition of Afro-beat or the bubbly melodicism of Ghanaian highlife, their interlocking guitar lines achieve something so hypnotic it’s almost psychedelic at times, and puts them into a different class of originality.
Ebo Taylor — Ebo Taylor
During the 1970s, Ebo Taylor was one of the leading lights of Ghana’s guitar highlife and Afrobeat scenes. He had a productive solo career and was one of the stars of the Apagya Show Band supergroup — his contributions as guitarist and bandleader helped define the sound that we associate with 70s Ghana today.
Tony Allen — Secret Agent
It’s no surprise that Tony Allen’s ‘Secret Agent’ does nothing to dim his reputation as one of the world’s greatest drummers. He’s the personification of subtlety, leading from the back and carefully pushing and prodding the music, but doing this so cleverly that half the time people don’t even notice he’s there. He’s certainly a man whose four limbs operate independently, setting up cross- and counter-rhythms that add extra levels of texture and complexity to the music.
Fela Kuti — Gentleman
Gentleman is both an Africa 70 and Afro-beat masterpiece. High marks go to the scathing commentary that Fela Anikulapo Kuti lets loose but also to the instrumentation and the overall arrangements, as they prove to be some of the most interesting and innovative of Fela’s ‘70s material. When the great tenor saxophone player Igo Chico left the Africa 70 organization in 1973, Fela Kuti declared he would be the replacement. So in addition to bandleader, soothsayer, and organ player, Fela picked up the horn and learned to play it quite quickly — even developing a certain personal voice with it.
Fela Kuti — Roforofo Fight
It’s true that Fela’s early-’70s records tend to blur together with their similar groupings of four lengthy Afro-funk-jazz cuts. In their defense, it must be said that while few artists can pull off similar approaches time after time and continue to make it sound fresh, Fela is one of them.
