Hello everyone here on Afrituns community, this is actually my first time making a post here, I hope I'm welcome.
Its the 17th day of the #mayinleo task, and the prompt for today is something that cuts across to almost everyone, it has been in existence for ages, it's been a means of communication, a means of expression of one's self, so for today, we're talking about drumrolls.....
Music throughout history....
Music has evolved over the years, we all can tell that what we listen to as music today was not what it was some twenty years ago, this is the evidence of musical evolution. Even the methods and the means of production has improved over the years.
Various genres of music exists from R&B to Hip pop, to jazz, to classical, to afrobeats, to reggae to many others, but for today I'll be talking about the Afrobeats (Afropop).
Afrobeats is a genre of music, it is actually a blend of local and traditional African music elements and contemporary highlife music elements. It involves the use of traditional musical instruments in combination with more modern beats that are produced electronically, this combination produce a tune that is very danceable.
Afro pop music can be traced to the likes of Fela Kuti with his very beautiful highlife and afrobeats. He was practically one the pioneers of this genre of music around the 1950's and 1960's. He was known for infusing jazz funk into traditional Nigerian music which set the pace for what we have today as the Afrobeats.
After the era of Fela Kuti, then came the likes of 2Baba also known as 2face Idibia and P-Square, they also did a lot in the afrobeat music industry, infusing our traditional African sounds with R&B and hip pop which started becoming a sensation both in Nigeria and other Western countries. I remember the songs by 2Baba for example African Queen, that song was a real sensation in early 2004, it was on the lips of almost every Nigerian, even non Nigerians to. There was also the likes of 'If love was a crime' it was also a hit by 2Baba.
Then also songs like temptation by P-Square was also a hit back in the days, these guys paved the way for the more modern version of the afrobeats that are now sung.
Afropop began to gain more global recognition from around 2010 from the likes of Davido, Burna boy, Wizkid and several others. Especially when Wizkid got to collaborate with Drake to make the song 'One Dance' that was topping the charts globally.
These are some milestones that the afrobeats music has undergone over the years. The winning of the Grammy Awards by Burna Boy's song 'Twice as tall' in 2021 for Best Global Music Album also brought about more awareness for this genre of music on the global level.
The emergence of streaming platforms across the globe, has also brought about a wider reach for this genre of music across the globe, putting African music on the charts.
This is my entry for the #mayinleo task for today the 17th of May, if you haven't joined in, it's not too late, you can still join, as it's been an amazing ride. To learn more about the #mayinleo tasks, check it out here
All images are mine.
Thank you for stopping by