History Main / Afrobeat

Despite the misleadingly similar name, it has absolutely no relation to the contemporary African music genre popularly known as Afrobeat''s'' (spelled with an s), which is also more accurately known as Afropop.

'''Afrobeat''' is, as its name implies, a distinctively UsefulNotes/{{Africa}}n musical genre, combining traditional music, {{Jazz}}, {{Funk}}, JungleDrums and AfricanChant vocals. Typical for its distinctive catchy sound is the and conga percussion, horns (saxophone, trumpets, trombones,...), bass, guitar and sometimes keyboards. This creates an endless catchy groove, which can stretch over [[EpicRocking several minutes, even hours in length]]. The lead singer will sing various words and sentences, [[CallAndResponseSong while his backing musicians repeat what he sang]].

Despite the misleadingly similar name, it has absolutely no relation to the contemporary African music genre known as Afrobeat''s'' (spelled with an s), which is also more accurately known as Afropop.

TropeNamer and TropeCodifier was legendary African musician Music/FelaKuti, who coined it after returning from his first US Tour in 1970. He used the new musical genre not only for dancing, but also to provide [[ProtestSong political and social commentary]].

It's very fit for grooving and dancing, which explains its influence and popularity on various {{Jazz}} and ProgressiveRock artists in the West, who've tried to incorporate the sound into some of their own work, such as Roy Ayers, Music/TalkingHeads, Music/PaulMcCartney, Music/BrianEno, Music/StevieWonder, Music/{{Radiohead}}, Music/{{Blur}}, Music/TVOnTheRadio, Music/{{Glassjaw}}, Music/PaulSimon (on ''Music/{{Graceland}}''),...