Antibalas is an American Afrobeat band from Brooklyn, NY. Their music incorporates influences from reggae as well as Caribbean and Latin American musical styles. Their horn section has appeared on mainstream recordings including Mark Ronson’s ‘Uptown Funk’.
Chicago Afrobeat Project (CAbP) as their name states, are an American band from Chicago. They describe their music as an "ever-evolving musical experiment." Their music uses Afrobeat at its roots and expands outward to give listeners the experience of rich vocal melodies that meshes with hip-hop verses. CAbP worked with the late Tony Allen, an Afrobeat drummer from Nigeria, for several years to help develop their sound.
Fela Kuti was a Nigerian composer, bandleader, and saxophonist who is considered, along with drummer Tony Allen, to be the creator of the genre. Highly critical of Nigeria’s military dictatorship, he was an advocate for decolonization, Pan-Africanism and Socialism, setting a precedent for activism within the genre.
Femi Kuti is a composer, bandleader, saxophonist, and political activist. Like his father Fela Kuti, Femi has worked with international organizations such as the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF). While heavily influenced by his father’s Afrobeat style, he incorporates influences such as soul and R&B, and has worked with hip hop artists like Common and Mos Def.
Formed in São Paulo in 2019 and named in tribute to Fela Kuti’s mother- Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, the Funmilayo Afrobeat Orquestra is considered “the only Afrobeat band in the world formed only by women and nonbinary black people.” Their lyrics are political in nature and have been labeled as “afrofeminist.”
Fummilayo. (n.d.). Bandcamp. Acessed 24 January, 2024. https://nyp-records.bandcamp.com/track/negra-o
Les Amazones d’Afrique is a musical collective consisting of artists from Mali, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Benin, Gabon, and Guinea. They are dedicated to campaigning for gender equality and erasing ancestral violence. Their lyrics address subjects including violence against women, female genital mutilation, and free expression and are sung in a number of languages including Bambaro, Yuroba, English, French, and Wolof. Their first single, I Play the Kora, written by band member, Sona Jobarteh, proudly proclaims the use of this instrument by women that was traditionally only reserved for men for hundreds of years.
Roben Denselow. (2022). Kora player Sona Jobarteh: “I didn’t want to be told: you are good for a woman.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jul/27/kora-player-sona-jobarteh-i-didnt-want-to-be-told-you-are-good-for-a-woman#:~:text=In%20west%20Africa's%20griot,female%20player%20of%20the%20kora
Mulatu Astatke is considered the father of Ethio-Jazz, which combines Ethiopian influences and modes with American Jazz. Astatke has influenced many afrobeat and afrobeat adjacent artists due to his distinctive use of African musical styles and instrumentation as well as his role in popularizing African music with an international audience.
An afrobeat pioneer, Tony Allen is credited with creating the distinctive and complex rhythmic patterns that helped to define the genre while working with Fela Kuti. In addition to his work with Fela, Allen had a successful solo career and frequently collaborated with contemporary artists such as Air, Charlotte Gainsbourg, The Chicago Afrobeat Orchestra, and Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz, The Good the Bad, & the Queen).
