“Our continent is huge. From one place to another the language changes; the rhythm changes”
Angelique Kidjo
The world, it seems, can’t get enough of African stars and Afrobeats music –witness the clutch of awards won by African stars over the past decade – including the coveted Grammy awards.
Afrobeats’ beat-heavy, electronic sound already has the world in its embrace and does not need the Grammys’ stamp of approval. Afrobeats’ stars are already making plenty of moolah.
What’s behind Afrobeats’ astonishing worldwide success?
Rhodes University research fellow Garhe Osiebe offers three contributory factors to Afrobeats’ global success:
The African diaspora: Heavyweight Afrobeats’ stars including Wizkid, Burna Boy and Davido have sold out music venues across Europe. Unsurprisingly, Nigeria leads the way, with its 200-million strong diaspora, which has played an important role in exposing host countries to African music, including Afrobeats.
Dance videos: the exponential growth of dance videos on sites such as TikTok has been a crucial factor in the popularity of African music, including Afrobeats. One of the most Shazamed songs in the world was CKay’s Love Nwantiti (2019) – and TikTok was a huge factor (Shazam is an app that identifies tracks). At the climax of the song’s popularity, TikTok and Instagram users were uploading in excess of 10 million videos per week using the song.
Collaborations: Collaborations with some of the biggest stars in the world have helped the rise and rise of African music. US star Beyoncé has been involved in a number of collaborations with Afrobeats stars such as Burna Boy and Wizkid. Brown Skin Girl, in which she collaborated with Wizkid, won Best Music Video at the 2021 Grammys. Grammy winner (2022) Black Coffee thanked the collaborators who “believed in working with a smaller artist like myself and trusting me and trusting my ear.”
What’s the Grammys got to do with it?
There is a real and present danger that the genre, due to its astonishing popularity worldwide, will be equated to ‘African music’ . What the awards do is introduce the world, and, in particular, the great and the good in the music world, to the dizzying diversity of African music and African artists: Angelique Kidjo, the Beninese singer-songwriter and four-time Grammy winner scooped her fifth award in the global album and performance category and her music is not Afrobeats, despite her album Mother Nature pairing her with Afrobeats stars. Kidjo posted the following on the Grammy Awards website:
“I think the Academy has, for the first time, a grip on the complexity of the music that’s out there. Today, we have a vehicle, and it’s Afrobeats. Because if you take any music from any part of Africa and put it in Afrobeats, it gives you a different flavour of Afrobeats.
The music that we do can make people say, “Oh, this language is different, or this aesthetic.” But because you have the pulse of Afrobeats in it, you can consume and discover music from north to south, east to west, and central Africa in a way that we haven’t [before]. The Afrobeats is underlining all those traditional rhythms.”
The Grammys 2022 African nominees and the winners
Africa went into this year’s Grammys with a history-making nine direct nominations, five of which went to Nigerians: Wizkid, Femi Kuti, Made Kuti Burna Boy and Tems.
The African artists who bagged awards at the 2022 Grammys
The top prize, Album of the Year, went to African American Jon Batiste for We Are, beating fellow nominees Doja Cat, Lil Nas X, H.E.R., Kanye and others.
Africans who won awards were the following:
- Best Global Music Album: Angelique Kidjo (Mother Nature)
- Best Dance/Electronic Album Award: South Africa’s Black Coffee (Subconsciously)
What’s your take on the rise of African music genres? Comment below!
