MUSIC GENRE RESEARCH AFRO BEATS

Lorraine Fordjour

DIFFERENT TYPES OF MUSIC GENRES

Country music is a genre of United States popular music that originated in the Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the south-eastern genre of United States, such as folk and blues music.

Hip hop is a Black subcultural art movement that was formed during the early 1970s exclusively by African-American youths residing in the South Bronx in New York City. Hip-hop music became popular outside of the African-American community in the late 1980s.

Jazz is a music genre that originated from African American communities of New Orleans in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African American and European American musical parentage with a performance orientation.

Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the Western world during the 1950s and 1960s as a softer alternative to rock and roll. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other styles such as urban, dance, rock, Latin, and country; nonetheless, there are core elements that define pop music.

Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. reggae incorporates some of the musical elements of rhythm and blues, jazz, mento, calypso, African music, as well as other genres. Reggae has spread to many countries across the world, often incorporating local instruments and fusing with other genres. Reggae in Spain spread from the mainland South America countries of Venezuela and Guyana to the rest of South America.

This genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel (mostly common in contemporary R&B songs prior to the year 1995) and a smooth, lush style of vocal arrangement. Electronic influences are becoming an increasing trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness and grit inherent in hip hop may be reduced and smoothed out. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by vocalists such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey

a form of popular music which evolved from rock and roll and pop music during the mid and late 1960s. Harsher and often self-consciously more serious than its predecessors, it was initially characterized by musical experimentation and drug-related or anti-establishment lyrics.

List of Afrobeat artists Sarkodie.M.I.E.L.Efya.Wizkid.Ice Prince.Tiwa Savage.Mista Silva.

SARKODIE

• Born Michael Owusu Addo, he is a hip hop and hiplife recording artist who was the recipient of the 2012 BET Award for Best International Act: Africa category. He was nominated for the same award in 2014. He dropped his debut studio album entitled Makye in 2009. He has been nominated for World Music Awards, Independent Music Awards, and has been the recipient of several Ghana Music Award honors. He won Best Rap Act at the 2014 MTV Base Africa Music Awards, Best Hip Hop song at the 2014 World Independent Awards, and was named 8th Most Bankable Artist in Africa by Forbes in 2013.

EFYA • Jane Awindor, born April 10, 1987 better

known by her stage name Efya, is a Ghanaian neo soul vocalist, songwriter, performer and actress from Kumasi. She is the daughter of Nana Adowa Awindor, a filmmaker and celebrity host of the late television show Greetings From Abroad. Efya got her first exposure to fame when she participated in the maiden edition of the Stars of the Future talent show.[5] She won the Best Female Vocal Performance category at the Ghana Music Awards in four succession, beginning in 2011. Moreover, she was applauded for her performance at the 2013 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards

WIZKID

• Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun (born 16 July 1990), better known by his stage name Wizkid (sometimes stylised as WizKid), is a Nigerian recording artist, songwriter and performer. He started his musical career at age 11, releasing a collaborative album with Glorious Five entitled Lil Prinz (2001). In 2009, he signed a record deal with Banky W.'s imprint Empire Mates Entertainment. He rose to prominence in 2010 with the release of the song "Holla at Your Boy" from his debut studio album, Superstar (2011). "Tease Me/Bad Guys", "Don't Dull", Gidi Girl, "Love My Baby", "Pakurumo" and "Oluwa Lo Ni" were also released as singles from the Superstar album. Wizkid's self-titled second studio album, Ayo (2014), was preceded by the singles "Jaiye Jaiye", "On Top Your Matter", "One Question", "Joy", "Bombay" and "Show You the Money".

TIWA SAVAGE

• Tiwatope Savage-Balogun (born 5 February 1980), better known by her stage name Tiwa Savage, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, performer and actress. She is currently signed to Sony/ATV Music Publishing as a songwriter. Savage signed a recording contract with Mavin Records in 2012.

WHERE DID AFRO BEATS COME FROM?

• What is afro beats? Jazz, combine it with funk, mixed with African tradition and add a political message to it.

• Where did it come from? It comes from a part of Nigeria, the southern part of Nigeria. It was a 60's thing influenced by, perhaps, the free jazz movement - the Americans. The chap who was at the vanguard of this all was Fela Anikulapo Kuti. He went through different forms of music - basically starting by playing High-life, which was common to West Africa then. And then modernising it, evolving it by, I believe, taking different elements of other forms of contemporary music then Putting that together to form Afro beat.

• What do Afro beat records sound like?• Afro beat is a mixture of different forms of music. When you listen to an Afro

beat band, the first thing you hear would possibly be the jazz influence. Because a lot of times the harmonies are jazzy. There is also a lot of improvisation involved in this music. Also, you hear the funk. Because funk, as the Americans play it, is actually West African traditional music, very repetitive and also quite groovy. The electric piano is at the soul of the music. As well, you hear echoes of classical music in, perhaps, the way the themes are structured, the arrangements as they are. Afro beat really is just a way of putting together all those influences and mixing them with traditional African harmonies and rhythm.

FELA KUTI

FELA KUTI• Afrobeat is a music style which developed in the 1970s out of a combination of traditional Nigerian and Ghanaian music, a bit of

American funk and jazz, with highlife music and chanted vocal combined with percussion and vocal styles. It was made popular in Africa in by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who is the reason for the creation of the style and spreading the genre outside of Nigeria. Fela Kuti invented the famous music genre name Afrobeat in Accra, Ghana in 1968. Afrobeat was born out of Fela’s dislike for late American music star James Brown and also because he wanted to distinguish his name from soul and the comparison to James Brown.. Fela used it transform musical structure as well as the political context in his country, Nigeria. Afrobeat features chants, call-and-response vocals, and complex, interacting rhythms.

• The new sound dropped from a club that he established called the Afrika Shrine. Upon arriving in Nigeria, Kuti also changed the name of his group to Africa '70. The band maintained a five-year residency in the Afrika Shrine from 1970 to 1975 while Afrobeat thrived among Nigerian youth. Afrobeat is now one of the most recognizable music genres in the world and has influenced as many Western musicians.

• Afrobeat originated from Fuji, heavy Nigerian drumbeats and highlife. It was later exported to the southern part of Nigeria in the 1970s, Fela Kuti, experimented with many different forms of contemporary music of the time. 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 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.

MAGAZINE ANALYSISBy analysing this magazine I realised that it’s quite minimalistic, not a lot is going on on the front cover, its simple and I think it reflects the simplicity of African culture. The two women are both wearing traditional Nigerian clothing and a man (also is traditional clothing) is standing in-between the women suggesting that he’s the main focus, the fact that he’s also looking directly looking at the camera makes it seem like he’s looking at the reader which automatically engages anyone looking at this magazine, his face may be the first thing that a reader will look at. The name of the magazine is written in white bold writing with a red thick outline giving it a 3D effect, its almost as if you can touch it. ‘Reminisce’ is in a yellowy orange colour making it stand out. Reminisce is the name of the artist so not only does the image of him pop out to the reader but so does his name.

Both of these magazines are also quite simple. The image on the left magazine, the man ‘flavour’ is looking directly at the camera, which grabs the readers attention and beneath the picture it says ‘This is flavour’ suggesting that he is being presented to us or being introduced to us. Magazine on the right, Yemi Alade is also looking directly at the camera, showing that she's the main focus/ the magazine is about her. The main colours used are pink, blue and white, soft colours giving the magazine a subtle look, same for the magazine on the left. The traditional clothing helps to identify where this person may be from but also maybe what type of music he sings, maybe both singers have different music styles.