What does Afrofusion Mean?
AfroFusion Meaning
Recently, Burna Boy has stated that his style of music is not Afrobeats but Afro-fusion, and one may wonder what the difference is between both. Well, here is what Afrofusion means.
What does Afrofusion Mean?
AfroFusion Meaning
AfroFusion is a genre of African music that describes a fusion of sounds from different genres of music in and outside of Africa. This is based on pop, juju, Amapiano Highlife and Fuji. The combination of these Genres make up Afrofusion.
Afrobeats and Afrofusion: The Difference
Meanwhile, Afrofusion meaning implies that it is different entirely from Afrobeats. Afrobeats is more a sound while Afrofusion is a genre
Majorly, Afrobeat is the style of music that Fela did and introduced in Nigeria.
Because Nigerians sampled his sound mostly, it was majorly said that all the sound that came from Africa was called “Afrobeats”.
Now, the “S” at the end is meant to be a representation of different sounds under the Afrobeat umbrella.
That way, it would be easier to categorize African sounds and music under Afrobeats.
However, no sooner than African artists began to realize that not all their sounds were absolutely gotten from Fela, they decided to describe their own sound based on the genre.
This is why there is Afropop, which is a genre of African music that samples contemporary music. Singers like Simi are more Afropop than Afrobeats.
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All Nigerian Music is not Afrobeats
Nigerian Artist Rema has tagged his sound “Afro Rave” because it has more to do with “Feel Good” music and not the huge responsibility that the Afrobeats sound carries in meaning, nature and Genre.
Other genres of music that exist in Africa are Juju, Highlife, Amapiano, etc.
Artists like Flavor and Phyno are more highlife singers than they are Afrobeats, Highlife takes a lot from the Igbo culture, and this is highly existent in their music.
In Fact artists like Wizkid and Davido are more Afropop, Afrofusion and RNB than they are Afrobeats.
Therefore, while Afrobeats is more of the dominating genre in the African music industry, especially in Nigeria, it is not the only genre nor is it the umbrella genre of music in Africa. It is the major Genre, but definitely not the only one.
Infact, In Nigeria, what Artists do more is Afrofusion than Afrobeats.
If AfroFusion Meaning is meant to connote a fusion of sounds, then it includes different sounds (not necessarily from Africa alone) into their music while retaining the original African sound.
Therefore, Afrofusion meaning brings into light that all Nigerian music, or African music is not Afrobeats
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History of Afrobeats
Afrobeats (with the s) is commonly conflated with and referred to as Afrobeat (without the s), however, these are two distinct and different sounds and are not the same.
Afrobeat is a genre that developed in the 1960s and 1970s, taking influences from Fuji music and Highlife, mixed in with American jazz and funk.
Characteristics of Afrobeat include big bands, long instrumental solos, and complex jazzy rhythms.
The name was coined by Nigerian afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti.
This is in contrast to the afrobeats sound, pioneered in the 2000s and 2010s.
While afrobeats takes on influences from Afrobeat, it is a diverse fusion of various different genres such as British house music, hiplife, hip hop, dancehall, soca, Jùjú music, highlife, R&B, Ndombolo, Naija beats, Azonto, and Palm-wine music.
Unlike Afrobeat, which is a clearly defined genre, afrobeats is more of an overarching term for contemporary West African pop music.
The term was created in order to package these various sounds into a more easily accessible label, which were unfamiliar to the UK listeners where the term was first coined.
Another, more subtle contrast between the two sounds, is that while Fela Kuti used his music to discuss and criticise contemporary politics, afrobeats typically avoids such topics, thereby making it less politically charged than afrobeat.
Yeni Kuti, daughter of Fela Kuti, expressed distaste for the name ‘afrobeats’ and instead preferred if people referred to it as “Nigerian Pop”, “Naija Afropop”, or “Nigerian Afropop”.
Music critic Osagie Alonge criticised the pluralisation of ‘afrobeat’.
Sam Onyemelukwe of Trace Nigeria, a television show, however noted that he liked ‘afrobeats’, noting that it acknowledges the foundation set by afrobeat while also recognising that it’s a different and unique sound.
Nigerian artist Burna Boy has stated that he does not want his music referred to as afrobeats.
However, most of these monikers, including afrobeats, have been criticised for using the ‘afro’ prefix, presenting Africa as a monolithic entity, rather than one with diverse cultures and sounds
Fela Kuti and his longtime partner, drummer Tony Allen, are credited for laying the groundwork for what would become afrobeats.
Afrobeat was developed in the late 1960s led by Fela Kuti who, with drummer Tony Allen, experimented with different contemporary music of the time.
Afrobeat is also influenced by Highlife, which began in Ghana in the early 1920s.
During that time, Ghanaian musicians incorporated foreign influences like the foxtrot and calypso with Ghanaian rhythms such as osibisaba (Fante).
Yoruba vocal traditions, rhythm, and instruments are incorporated.
Highlife was associated with the local African aristocracy during the colonial period and was played by numerous bands including the Jazz Kings, Cape Coast Sugar Babies, and Accra Orchestra along the country’s coast.
This was the music Fela Kuti and Tony Allen played and listened to when they were young
