Afrobeat - Fela Kuti
Afrobeat is another Nigerian musical style that fuses indigenous music with external genres. Paralleling juju and highlife, its rhythmic foundation is based on polyrhythmic percussion but is more heavily influenced by improvisational jazz. Afrobeat’s creator, Fela Kuti (1938–1997), was born into a prominent middle-class family active in anticolonial protests while Nigeria was still controlled by Great Britain. His scandalous lifestyle (such as having twenty-seven wives simultaneously), defiant lyricism sung in Pidgin English, and distinctive “endless groove” jazz sound intrigued Western audiences, earning him the attention of prominent record labels in Europe and the United States as well as frequent invitations to perform abroad. By the time of his death in 1997, Fela had recorded more than seventy albums and established Afrobeat as one of Africa’s most prominent musical exports.