Fela! on broadway

Hey guys! Remember when I discussed Fela! the Broadway musical based on Fela Kuti's life. Well, since I didn't have much time I couldn't really talk about it as much as I wanted. Here is some information and a couple of videos about Fela!

Extra:
Documentary about The King of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti

Peace and Harmony,
Iphy

Highlife Music

Highlife is a music genre that originated in Ghana in the 1900s and spread to Sierra Leone, Nigeria and other West African countries by 1920. It is very popular in Liberia and all of English-speaking West Africa, although little has been produced in other countries due to economic challenges brought on by war and instability.

Highlife is characterized by jazzy horns and multiple guitars which lead the band. Recently it has acquired an uptempo, synth-driven sound. 

Check out some old school classics from back in the day 

Peace and Harmony,

Iphy

ELDER'S CORNER - SIJI AWOYINKA'S MUSICAL DOCUMENTARY PROJECT

Siji Awoyinka starts a documentary project called Elder's Corner to give us a glimpse of Nigeria's music legends and their unique afro-beat music. Enjoy!



Peace and Harmony,
Iphy.

The Ghanaian Dance Craze Known as the Azonto

So, there's this new dance craze taking over West Africa called the Azonto (originally from Ghana)
I guess we can call it the West African dougie because everybody and their mama is trying to learn/teach this dance.

watch them teach you (and random people on the streets of Central London..lol) the Azonto dance below





*Hits the Azonto*

Peace and Harmony,
Iphy

The Youngest Son of the Afrobeat King

Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti is a Nigerian musician and the youngest son of Afrobeat king and  pioneer Fela Kuti. Seun (as he is commonly called) leads his father's former band Egypt 80.

After Fela’s death of AIDS in 1997 Seun, then only 14 years old, became the lead singer of Egypt 80. He honed his musical skills for several years. Those skills were showcased to the world with his 2008 debut album, Many Things, produced by Martin Meissonnier, who had already produced two albums for his father.

About three-fourths of the current Egypt 80 line-up consists of musicians that not only played with Fela Kuti, but often were arrested and harassed alongside Fela. Live sets consist of both new material and originals from Seun’s father. 

Seun is also a political and human rights activist like his late father. He participated actively in the Occupy Nigeria protests against the fuel subsidy removal policy of President Goodluck Jonathan in his native Nigeria, in January 2012.

Seun is wonderful performer, I watched him perform back in Nigeria in 2008, and I saw him perform for the second time at the SXSW Africa Showcase. It was very exciting to watch Seun perform with original members of hi late father's band. It was like I was hearing Fela live; a very spectacular experience.

Totally unrelated, but I hear Seun is a male diva 

Diva: A woman who is usually perceived as bitch or self-absorbed, which in some cases they are. A diva is a woman who has self-confidence, self-respect, and hella swagger.

..but c'mon he's earned the right to act like one ...no? If it's his way or the highway...well you better take his way! hahaha

Heck! If I were Fela's child, best believe I'll be a diva too. 

Peace and Harmony,

Iphy.

Seun Kuti: Afrobeat Forever

CNN - Nigeria Music Industry (psquare)

One of my favorite Nigerian and African musical acts is the dynamic duo known as P-square.
Love these dudes.

Check out a CNN story on the Nigerian music industry and P-square below.

I admire that they have broke n the barriers that Nigerian artists could not break easily in the past- that is , gaining an international audience.

Check P-square out!




Might I add that they are from my home state? Anambra state... Google us baby! lol

Peace and harmony,
Iphy

A brief history on the origin of AFROBEAT

   So today while I was listening to some Fela Kuti music (as usual), I realized that I actually never informed my wonderful readers about the history and origin of the musical genre, Afrobeat. So I did some research and found some little info on Afrobeat history.

  " Afrobeat originated from the southern part of Nigeria in the 1960s where Fela Kuti experimented with many different forms of contemporary music of the time. Prevalent in his and Lagbaja's music are native African harmonies and rhythms, taking different elements and combining, modernizing and improvising upon them. Politics are essential to afrobeat, since founder 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 1960s, 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.

Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularized in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, who used it to revolutionize musical structure as well as the political context in his native Nigeria. It was Kuti who coined the term "afrobeat" upon his return from a U.S. tour with his group Nigeria '70 (formerly Koola Lobitos). Afrobeat features chants, call-and-response vocals, and complex, interacting rhythms.

The new sound hailed from a club that he established called the Afro-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 Afro-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 as it has African ones with its exuberant style and polyrhythms."

Thanks to Wikipedia and Google.

Peace and harmony,

Iphy 

Some African Music Websites

Hey guys!

Here are a few African music online radio stations or websites I think y'all might fancy. I work for one of the online radio stations (abadie radio) as a publicist. Check us out! :)

http://abadieradio.blogspot.com/

http://gidilounge.fm/

http://notjustok.com/

http://tunein.com/radio/Africa-g133/

Enjoy!

Meet Nneka Egbuna

Nneka Egbuna is a 31 year old Nigerian-German Soul/hip hop musician.  The daughter of a Nigerian father and a German mother, Nneka Egbuna was born in Warri, Oil City in the Delta region of Nigeria at the height of its new found wealth in the mid 70s.


 Check out more about her on her official website here Nneka's official website


I really love her soulful sound. She performed at SXSW and it was awesome.  Check out one of my favorite songs from her below.



Peace and Harmony,
Iphy

PS I finally figured out how to embed videos on here. so tech savvy huh? haha

Africa Storms SXSW. Spinlet presents: ALL AFRICA SHOWCASE SXSW 2012

I am too excited for this! CANNOT wait. I have to admit, I get over excited when it comes to African music. Maybe because since I left Nigeria and moved to Austin, I've missed live shows by African musicians.
Seeing M.I, Bez and the rest will certainly give me a nostalgic feeling and a longing for HOME....but then, it will satisfy my craving till August when I visit my motherland again.

Hope to see you guys there jamming to these awesome artistes!

Peace, love and harmony,
Iphy.

Introducing Bez

Guess who's coming for SXSW? That's right! Bez!

Let me introduce you to the soulful, talented and gifted Bez. Bez is a young Nigerian soul singer from Lagos, Nigeria. The SXSW website describes Bez as a crooner of "Soul, Jazz and R&B music that sets him well apart from the mainstream Afro hip-pop movement. His songs of love, life and loss are modern gems that fit right beside the music of singers like John Mayer, Amy Winehouse, and John Legend."

This is one of my favorite songs from Bez, reminds me of the silly stupid songs we used to sing as children back in Nigeria.

Check out his website at www.bezidakula.com
and enjoy the song below!



Peace, love and harmony
Iphy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi6VmTu1Sgc&ob=av2n

So for some reason, when I try to embed YouTube videos on here, it doesn't work. I am working on getting this fixed soon.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti - King of Afrobeat Music.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti, born in Abeokuta, Nigeria in 1938, was a singer-composer, trumpet, sax and keyboard player, bandleader, and politician. Kuti was one of Africa's most controversial musicians and throughout his life he continued to fight for the rights of the common man (and woman) despite vilification, harassment, and even imprisonment by the government of Nigeria. Born to Yoruban parents, Kuti was strongly influenced by both parents, his mother being Funmilayo, a leading figure in the nationalist struggle. Practically all of his records are dominated by political events and discussions from the approach of Pan-Africanism.

In 1954, Kuti joined the Cool Cats as a singer in that highlifeband (highlife being the rage of the Lagos music scene at the time). During this period Kuti developed his own unusual sound which he described as highlife-jazz. In 1968 Kuti announced the arrival of Afro-beat, within the year was promoting his sound all over the USA on a 10-month tour where he became influenced by American jazz. When he returned to his homeland he opened a nightclub, the Shrine, and changed the name of his band to Africa 70 (and later to Egypt 80). His bands traditionally included the typical huge line-up consisting of many singers and dancers, numerous saxophonists, trumpeteers, drummers, percussionists, and of course, many guitarists blending African rhythms and jazz horn lines with politicized song lyrics. His music was intricate, rather than calling it Afro-beat you might more arguably consider it Afro-jazz. Entire recordings often consisted of just a few songs and this propensity for jamming set up a roadblock for Fela to attain commercial acceptance in the United States. He also abhored performing a song after recording it, and this led to audience disinterest in the U.S. where the people wanted their music to be recognizable hits.

Kuti continued his outspoken attacks on the Nigerian government. When the people returned to power in 1979, Kuti began his own political party - MOP (Movement of the People). The military returned to power in 1983 and within the year Kuti was sentenced to five years in prison on a spurious currency smuggling charge. He was released in 1986 after yet another change of government.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti died on Saturday, August 2, 1997, at 4pm (local time) in Lagos, Nigeria. It had been rumoured for some time that Fela had a serious illness he was refusing treatment for, many said he was suffering from prostate cancer. But as it turns out, Fela died from complications due to AIDS. As Fela's brother, Olikoye Ransome Kuti, said at a news conference:

"The immediate cause of death of Fela was heart failure, but there were many complications arising from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome".

Fela was a man with great influence in the African music world, he is irreplaceable and his presence will be sorely missed.

Be My Man- Asa

Aṣa (pronounced "Asha") (born in 1982) is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and recording artist. Her stage name "Aṣa" means "Hawk" in Yoruba. 
Born Bukola Elemide, Aṣa was born in Paris, France to Nigerian parents. She was two years old when her family returned to live in Nigeria. Aṣa grew up in Lagos, in the south-western part of Nigeria. 


Be My Man is Asa's lead single of her latest album, Beautiful Imperfection. 


I love the creative blend of Western and African music styles in this track. I'm also digging the old school feel of this video.


A smooth jam, that reminds us of the awesomeness that is Asa's soulful voice


Yours in harmony and sound,
Ify

Hey there!

Hello! This is your girl, Ify. Welcome to Shakara radio blog. This is my little web corner where I share my love for Afro-beat and African music and discover new and exciting artists and songs belonging to this genre. I was born and raised in the southern part of Nigeria, but I live in Austin, Texas at the moment. I have loved African music since I was a child and my love for Afro-beat and African music became even stronger when I moved to the United States. I guess it's true what they say- Distance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder.

Now let's enjoy the awesomeness of Afro-beat and African music together!

Cheers,
Ify.