Editing Afrobeat (section)

== History ==
[[File:Fela Kuti (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Fela Kuti]]]]
Afrobeat evolved in [[Nigeria]] in the late 1960s by [[Fela Kuti|Fela Anikulapo Kuti]], (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun) who, with drummer [[Tony Allen (musician)|Tony Allen]], experimented with different contemporary music of that time. Afrobeat was influenced by a combination of different genres, such as [[highlife]], [[Fuji music|fuji]], and [[Jùjú music|jùjú]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jumi |first=Ademola |date=12 January 2025 |title=Importants of Afrobeat music in Africa Continent |url=https://naijapickup.com/mp3-music/genre/afrobeats/ |access-date=2025-01-20 |website=Nigerian pickup |language=en-US}}</ref> as well as [[Yoruba music|Yoruba]] vocal traditions, rhythm, and instruments.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dosunmu |first=Oyebade Ajibola |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/933924342 |title=Afrobeat, Fela and beyond : scenes, style and ideology |year=2010 |oclc=933924342}}</ref> In the late 1950s, Kuti left [[Lagos]] to study abroad at the London School of Music, where he took lessons in piano<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-05 |title=Piano {{!}} Definition, History, Types, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/piano |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> and percussion<ref>{{Cite web |title=Percussion {{!}} Therapy, Treatment & Diagnosis {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/percussion |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> and was exposed to jazz. [[Fela Kuti]]  returned to Lagos and played a highlife-jazz hybrid, albeit, without commercial success.<ref name=":0" />

In 1969, Kuti and his band went on a trip to the U.S. and met a woman by the name of Sandra Smith, a singer and former [[Black Panther Party|Black Panther]]. Sandra Smith (now known as Sandra Izsadore or Sandra Akanke Isidore) introduced Kuti to many writings of activists such as [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[Angela Davis]], [[Jesse Jackson]], and his biggest influence of all, [[Malcolm X]].<ref name=":1" />

As Kuti was interested in African-American politics, Smith would make it her duty to inform Kuti of current events; in return, Kuti would fill her in on African culture. Since Kuti stayed at Smith's house and spent so much time with her, he started to re-evaluate his music genre. That was when Kuti realized that he was not playing African music. From that day forward, Kuti changed his sound and the message behind his music.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stewart|first=Alexander|date=2013|title=Make It Funky: Fela Kuti, James Brown and the Invention of Afrobeat|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/article/528297|url-status=live|journal=American Studies|volume=52|issue=4|pages=99–118|doi=10.1353/ams.2013.0124|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024035654/http://muse.jhu.edu/article/528297|archive-date=24 October 2018|access-date=23 October 2018|via=Project MUSE|s2cid=145682238}}</ref>

Upon arriving in Nigeria, Kuti had also changed the name of his group to "[[Africa '70 (band)|Africa '70]]". The new sound hailed from a club he established called the [[Afrika Shrine]]. The band maintained a five-year residency at the Afrika Shrine from 1970 to 1975 while Afrobeat thrived among Nigerian youth.<ref name=":1" /> Another influential person {{ill|Ray Stephen Oche|de}}, a Nigerian musician touring from Paris, France, with his Matumbo orchestra in the 1970s.

The name was partially born out of an attempt to distinguish Fela Kuti's music from the [[soul music]] of American artists such as [[James Brown]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.myjoyonline.com/entertainment/2015/october-22nd/fela-kuti-coined-afrobeat-in-accra-out-of-hate-for-james-brown-prof-john-collins.php |title=Ghana News – Fela Kuti coined Afrobeat in Accra out of hate for James Brown – Prof John Collins |access-date=13 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422142458/http://www.myjoyonline.com/entertainment/2015/october-22nd/fela-kuti-coined-afrobeat-in-accra-out-of-hate-for-james-brown-prof-john-collins.php |archive-date=22 April 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Prevalent in his and [[Lagbaja]]'s music are native Nigerian harmonies and rhythms, taking contrasting elements and combining, modernizing, and improvising upon them. Politics is essential to Afrobeat because Kuti uses social criticism to pave the way for change. His message can be described as confrontational and controversial, which relates to the political climate of most 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. Many bands took up the style as the genre spread throughout the African continent. 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 album]]s and CDs from specialist record shops.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}