The Federal Republic of Nigeria is located in western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and Cameroon.
Nigerian Musical Genres
Afrobeat – One of Nigeria’s most influential musical genres since the 1970s is Afrobeat. It’s a fusion of highlife, jazz, and Nigerian African percussion characterized by frequent jams, abundant percussion and the use of brass. The most famous artist in this category was Nigerian musician Fela Kuti.
Fela Kuti was the creator of Afrobeat. In the late 1960s, Fela was performing highlife combined with jazz. His electric bass lines emulated the large African drums. Another innovation Fela Kuti added to his dance music was the introduction of the piano and electric organ . According to Fela’s conga player Daniel Koranteng (a.k.a. JB) in the book Fela: Kalakuta Notes, the term Afrobeat was coined in 1969 when Fela met Stan Plange of the Uhurus and promoter Raymond Azziz in Accra (Ghana). Fela told them he wanted to change the name of his music from jazz-highlife to something else. Stan Plange told him: “Fela, you used to raise your shirt collar like an ‘Afro’ guy so call your music Afrobeat.”
Since the 1990s, Afrobeat has experienced a resurgence of jam bands in Nigeria, Europe and the United States of America. Some of them include Antibalas, Akoya, Afromotion, as well as Fela’s children, Seun Kuti and Femi Kuti, and former bandmate Tony Allen.
Apala – Vocal and percussion style that combines Muslim proverbs and traditional folk music.
Fuji – Acoustic music that features various types of drums and percussion: talking drums, sakara, batá, bells and shekere.
Juju music – Juju music comes originally from southern Nigeria. This genre, made popular by artists like King Sunny Ade, the late I.K. Dairo, Ebenezer Obey & Sir Shina Peters, makes a clever fusion of traditional drumming with modern instruments like guitars, synthesizers and saxophones.
Nigerian musicians:
Babatunde Olatunji
Bola Abimbola
D’banj
Fela Kuti
Femi Kuti
I. K. Dairo
King Sunny Ade
Lagbaja
Majek Fashek
Seun Kuti
Sikiru Adepoju
Sola Akingbola
