of Afrobeat. The name “Afrobeat” shows the
significance of groove to the music, as opposed
to Afrofunk. In 1969, Kuti and his band went on
a trip to the U.S. and met Sandra Smith, a singer
and former Black Panther. Sandra Smith (now
known as Sandra Isadore) introduced Kuti to
many writings of activist such as Martin Luther
King Jr., Angela Davis, Jesse Jackson, and his
biggest influence of all, Malcolm X. As Kuti
was interested in African American politics,
Smith would inform him of current events.
In return, Kuti would fill her in on African
culture. Since Kuti stayed at Smith’s house and
was spending so much time with her, he started
to re-evaluate his music. That was when Fela
Kuti noticed that he was not playing African
music. From that day forward, Kuti changed his
sound and the message behind his music.
The name was partially borne out of an attempt
to distinguish Fela Kuti’s music from the
soul music of American artists such as James
Brown. Prevalent in his and Lagbaja’s music
are native Nigerian harmonies and rhythms,
taking different elements and combining,
modernizing, and improvising upon them.
Politics are essential to Afrobeat, since founder
Kuti used social criticism to pave the way for
social change. His message can be described
as confrontational and controversial, which
can be related to the political climate of most
of the African countries in the 1970s, many of
which were dealing with political injustice and
military corruption while recovering from the
transition from colonial governments to self-
determination. As the genre spread throughout
the African continent many bands took up the
style. The recordings of these bands and their
songs were rarely heard or exported outside
the originating countries but many can now
be found on compilation albums and CDs from
specialist record shops.
Fela Kuti included the traditional Gbedu drum
in his ensemble, with a percussionist pounding
68 | Colossium . September 2019
out a thunderous rhythm from a 2.5 metres (8.2
ft) drum lying on its side. Many jazz musicians
have been attracted to Afrobeat. From Roy
Ayers in the 1970s to Randy Weston in the
1990s, there have been collaborations that have
resulted in albums such as Africa: Centre of the
World by Roy Ayers, released on the Polydore
label in 1981. In 1994 Branford Marsalis, the
American jazz saxophonist, included samples
of Fela’s “Beast of No Nation” on his Buckshot
LeFonque album. The new generation of
DJsand musicians of the 2000s who have fallen
in love with both Kuti’s material and other rare
releases have made compilations and remixes
of these recordings, thus re-introducing the
genre to new generations of listeners and fans
of afropop and groove.