On Afrobeats: Curating it right and what next?
It’s 2020 and like a lot of things that have changed the very way we live our lives over the last decade, we now can’t imagine life without Afrobeats. That genre of music discovered and rooted in Africa, with Nigeria heralding its charge as it journeys across the globe in search of acceptance, stronger categorization, and U.S mainstream approval.
There never has been a generation seeking something new at every turn or a decade with the vanishing need to savor a find like the last and that is where Afrobeats, previously an unheralded quantity internationally has sneaked its way into territories hitherto careful to allow outsiders into their space.
Not that the genre or its actors have perfected what is being sold, but it is the authenticity in these imperfections that makes it hard to ignore. The presence, the confidence, chants, our call and response hooks, rhythm-heavy backtracks, drums, and the dance, oh yes, the dance, these have helped Afrobeats shot at global success take a more assured route.
It has been powerful enough to make Drake claim ownership, Major Lazer release an Afrobeats mix, Cardi B calling Nigeria ‘home’, Burna Boy getting a Grammy nomination and the music getting infused into movies, games, and memes. It has become an attractive prospect that major labels like Sony and Universal Music are willing to invest in.
The journey to here was one visualized by the late Abami Eda, Fela Anikulapo Kuti in the late 60s when upon his return from Ghana, he identified the brand of music he wanted to play, naming it Afrobeat, even though the sound; a mix of highlife, funk, and traditional Ghanaian rhythms had been around long before that time. The young composer [Fela was in his late 20s at the time] was not just a visionary, he also believed that African Music would someday play a more prominent role on the global stage.
Ghana would once again be a willing vehicle to drive the movement with the virality of the local Azonto dance and then the ‘pon pon’ sound that at a time was the canvas upon which Afrobeats was framed.
Over the years, music from the continent has had to overcome major structural obstacles to get some measure of recognition internationally, with a more recent focus on the US market, a place where the gatekeepers jealously guard what they allow in, the duration they stay and promptly abandon that new sound when they determine it a threat or have drained it of its originality and viability.
The painful need to curate the stories right and set our agenda
‘‘A people without a knowledge of its history is like a tree without its root’’ — Marcus Garvey
A cursory Google search for stories relating to Afrobeats will serve up leading links of articles and interviews written and published on international platforms. While this may look good optics wise as these foreign media houses command credibility and a wide following, it has somehow led to the lazy curating of the stories, and characters who played significant roles poorly represented.
Drake’s hit single, ‘One Dance’, which not only has Afrobeats steeped in its rhythm but also features one of the genre’s modern leading flag-bearers, Wizkid, will go down as that watershed which gave the movement a foothold in the U.S scene, but the frenzy of our contemporary talents should never make us lose sight of history. Others have laid the foundation to this now glamorous house, there have been seminal moments that were building bricks for everything to come and while some may consider them less notable, knowing how we got here might just be the key to sustaining what we have achieved.
Decades after Fela’s evolution of the Afrobeat sound, years following his death and the collapse of the military era in Nigeria, a generation of talented youths swimming in optimism and a need to be heard sought that personal sound that will endear them to the audience and it wasn’t much of a surprise that many returned to artists like Fela for identity; ‘borrowing’, ‘stealing’, ‘sampling’ and ‘interpolating’ endlessly from his catalog, but to get to the audience they sought, it needed to be delivered in a far less ‘confrontational’ sound and a more sophisticated context with ‘dance’ being the focus.
The late 90s kicked off a new era. With privately-owned media houses and a population largely influenced by the Western world but in desperate need of a sound they can lay claim to, labels like Kennis Music and Dove Records took a chance and pop groups like The Remedies and Plantashun Boiz emerged in the miry waters of the non-existent music industry.
Their success at the time had a charm not just on a population of over 120M people, but Nigerians in the diaspora also and active conventions took root in a place like the UK with its high number of Nigerian and African Migrants playing a central role in this journey.
The early 2000s saw a turning point in Nigerian music; culturally, politically and commercially, the music mainstream became heavily saturated with our kind of pop/hip-hop music, that sound that was unrefined, most times poorly produced, but proudly ours dominated the radio stations, and there was that sense of inevitability that it would soon offer something more.
Upon going solo, 2Face Idibia became the first true pop star of his generation with his single, ‘African Queen’ earning some measure of success outside the continent.
But despite its rapid acceptance, there were limited chances for these acts to showcase their artistry abroad, one of which was at the Independence Intro Jam festival in the UK set up by R70, an establishment owned by two Nigerians Ayo Shonaiya and DJ Abass to celebrate the country’s independence the weekend of every October 1st.
It was at one of the concerts in 2004 that a certain D’banj had his first-ever solo performance, a 15-minutes set which he seized with not just both hands but his distinct instrument, the harmonica. His performance on the night was potent, as he announced himself to everyone watching.
Many years later, this time as a superstar, D’banj having already worked with the likes of Snoop Dogg had a chance meeting with Kanye West, which led to him getting signed to Mr. West’s G.O.O.D Music label and the hip-hop act’s cameo in the video to his 2011 crossover hit, ‘Oliver Twist.’
‘Oliver Twist’ would debut at the number nine spot on the UK singles chart, where it spent 17 weeks.
If ‘One Dance’ was the milestone, then ‘Oliver Twist’ was the door-knocking event in the Afrobeats evolution as it was around this same time, in April 2011 that London based Ghanaian DJ Abrantee coined the name ‘Afrobeats.’ ‘’For years we’ve had amazing hip-life, highlife, Nigerbeats, juju music, and I thought: you know what, let’s put it all back together as one thing again, and call it Afrobeats, as an umbrella term,’’ he said.
The addition of the letter ‘S’ was initially [and till today in some quarters] a source of controversy, but that ship is one that has sailed as the audience has chosen to dance to the music rather than to debate about its wording.
The contributions of festivals like the Nottinghill Carnival, through its Nigerian stand which has been running for over 30 years is one that also helped spread the word.
Then again, Afrobeats is more than the artists and the dance steps, it’s also about the producers. So the question arises, who will tell the stories of the producers who have made the sound celestial or individuals like Bankuli whose contribution is in no way less significant?
Taking control of the narrative is imperative as we have been the actual witnesses to its growth and well placed to connect the past to the present. Projecting it right is important so that these efforts don’t get diminished when the ‘honeymoon’ is over.
What Afrobeats needs to do in 2020
Despite the mainstream nod that has come Afrobeats direction climaxing with Burna Boy’s Grammy nomination, let’s not delude ourselves, it is not exactly mainstream yet. Angelique Kidjo’s Grammy win provided some form of a reality check and fans back home are skeptical about its ability to sustain the hype on the international stage with many silently wondering, will this fascination last?
It has been a good run, if not exactly a ground-breaking one, heavily aided by foreign labels but for how long will the flirting continue or will it now go away as fast as it began at the sight of a new interest just like we witnessed with Dancehall and to some extent, K-Pop?
To understand the US mainstream obsession is to recognize a desire to play in the biggest of leagues where the music is most amplified to the biggest stages, hence context can be pulled from varying analogies to proffer answers to these questions. Perhaps, a good starting point would be to ‘Fix home’ such that whatever else comes from the U.S will be no more but giant juicy cherries on an already delicious and bankable cake. As simple as this sounds, it is a huge task, one not down to just the artists but also the consumers, stakeholders and corporate bodies.
Twice, our biggest exports have attempted the ‘U.S pop formula’ and it has backfired on both occasions, with only a return to the tried and tested helping them regain their spot on the throne.
What happened on these occasions? they both lost their authenticity and the edge they had in their narratives. The projects created failed in adequately telling their stories and alienated their die-hard fans while not being coherent enough to bring the new audience into the culture. The music must continue to reflect our stories and culture.
The next stage is getting the industry back home to work. The fan base is there, that hysterical internet-mobilized herd could be put to actual use beyond attacking critics. Demand for performances remains fierce, not just on the continent, but across Europe, add in merchandising, add in corporate sponsorships and other revenue generators and the possibilities will be endless.
But we urgently need to save the industry from itself. Are our copyright and piracy laws updated to meet modern demands in this era of streaming and online infringements? What steps are we taking to make consumers value music enough to pay for it instead of illegal peer-to-peer downloads? What type of deals are artists signing with labels and can we at least honor contracts? Where is the place of music publishers and writers? Are our producers getting what is for them according to their split sheets? Where are the properly set-up labels willing to put in significant investment for artistes development?
Afrobeats became attractive because the elite artists already had major social media followings, and juicy streaming/YouTube numbers. Even if beefed, these numbers hint at their influence but there is a reason despite being heavily backed, Wizkid and Davido stayed relative unknowns and not until Burna Boy did we have the closest in influence to what Sean Paul signified for dancehall.
Going forward, Afrobeats will need other stars outside the already identified names to step up, similar to what Rema is offering. Validity and support need to be given to the new kids on the block who are diversifying the sound without losing its core element and collaborations should also be key; collaborate on records, collaborate on tours, collaborate across genres. The likes of Wizkid, Davido, Burna and Tiwa Savage have scored victories that prove the movement is heading in the right direction, but there is still plenty to be done.
Cover image: © Michelle Helena Janssen
By Ehis Ohunyon for Urban Central [Tweets @ehiscombs]
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