Afro fusion (also spelled afrofusion or afro-fusion)[1][2] is a musical style developed in South Africa, in the 21st century primarily universalized by the indie rock, multi-cultural band Freshlyground.[3] The fusion genre was first characterized as intermingling jazz, blues, indie rock and certain elements of traditional South African music, in 2010.[3]
Afro fusion | |
---|---|
Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | South Africa |
Typical instruments |
|
Other topics | |
Term and widespread usage edit
Ostensibly, after the musical style was globally popularized by Freshlyground.[4] The genre's name appeared to become somewhat of a hypernym to describe both former historical as well as present-day exemplars of blending African music with other genres for instance, Western music.[5][6]
Precedents would be that of Stimela, a South African band formed in the 1970s by Ray Phiri. Phiri featured on Paul Simon's Graceland album as a guitarist.[7] Both Stimela and Ray Phiri were renowned for fusing mbaqanga and jazz.[5] Mbaqanga originated in South Africa in the early 1960s. The genre itself is a fusion of traditional Zulu music, jazz, European and American popular music.[8][9] American, rapper GoldLink's 2019 album, Diaspora merged African, Caribbean and North American music, inclusive of a song titled, "Zulu Screams".[10] "Zulu Screams" demonstrated Bibi Bourelly singing in Lingala alongside Maleek Berry who was described as an "afro-fusionist" by Pitchfork.[11]
History edit
2000s – 2010s edit
Freshlyground was formed in 2002, with its members citing diverse ethnic and multi-national backgrounds, which assumably played a role in the innovation of the afro-fusion musical style as each band member would thus perchance supply culturally as well as traditionally indigenous, distinctive musical elements for the band's musical compositional forms as well as performances.[3][12][13]
In 2010, the band alongside "The Queen of Latin Music", Columbian singer Shakira released the multilingual afro fusion and soca 2010 FIFA World Cup signature-tune "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)".[14] The fusion song is considered as one of the best selling-singles of all time and obtained number 1 status, in 15 countries.[15] The music video garnered over 3 billion views on YouTube, succeeding in it being one of the platform's most viewed, videos.[4]
Between the 2010s and 2020s the musical style appeared to have developed further into having regional scenes as more musicians started to supposedly experiment with afrofusion.[16][17][18][19]
In 2015, Burna Boy appeared to have described afro-fusion as combining numerous genres such as afrobeats, hip hop, R'n'B and dancehall to The Fader a music magazine, in New York.[20]
In 2019, The Pearl Rhythm Foundation hosted the 7th Pearl Rhythm Festival, a festival hosted at the National Theatre of Uganda in Kampala, "to introduce and strengthen traditional and fusion music in Uganda".[21]
2020s edit
In 2020, rapper and singer Jidenna's "Feng Shui" song which was featured in HBO's drama-comedy TV series, Insecure was described as an 808s-meets-afrofusion inclusive of a sped-up, highlife guitar sample.[22] The song was from the singer's 85 to Africa album. Jidenna travelled between two African countries, namely South Africa and Nigeria which the album was presumably, inspired by.[6]
In 2021, Mixmag named Magixx as "Nigeria's next big afro-fusion star". The Mavin Records signee released his debut self-titled extended play, Magixx which incorporated blends of various afropop genres, dancehall and trap.[23]
In 2022, Ghanaian musician, Supa Gaeta released his debut EP Road to DND. The EP's songs outlined Supa's path to success.[24]
In 2023, in an interview with Complex as reported by Daily Post, Burna Boy divulged that he introduced an original genre of music dubbed afro-fusion considering the seemingly fact that "he did not want to be boxed into the popular West African genre, afrobeats".[25] Burna's, 2023 studio-released album, I Told Them included withal concoction additions in particular reggae inclusive of the former stipulated; hip hop, dancehall and R'n'B seemingly with the aim to have had made the album internationally palatable.[26]
"Afrofusion is a big melting pot of cultures and sounds. Afrofusion is not a box. Let me break it down, why I created afro-fusion because I didn’t want to be boxed into any afrobeats or hip-hop or anything. Because I don’t believe in genres. I had to create my own."
Burna Boy, Complex
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Williams, Kyann-Sian (11 October 2023). "BNXN: meet the next Afrofusion superstar". NME. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Gaanakgomo, Constance (2 October 2023). "Afro-fusion star Siphokazi chats music hiatus and new project in the pipeline". TimesLIVE. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ a b c Mshale Team, News Agencies (1 February 2013). "Freshlyground – refreshing music hailing from South Africa". Mshale. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ a b Mukotekwa, Leeroy (25 June 2023). "'Waka Waka' hitmakers – Where did Freshlyground disappear to?". The South African. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Ray Phiri: South Africa's Graceland star dies". BBC News. 12 July 2017. Archived from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ a b Will, Ill (7 July 2023). "Jidenna has got another 'Afro-Fusion' album all ready to go". HipHopDX. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ Zeeman, Kyle (17 July 2017). "'Shocked' US star Paul Simon offers support to Ray Phiri's family". TimesLIVE. Archived from the original on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ Lottering, Carla. "Mbaqanga South African music". South Africa Online. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ Mathibela, Nombuso (26 January 2022). "Mahotella Queens, the crown jewels of mbaqanga". Pan African Music (PAM). Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ Younger, Briana (11 July 2019). "GoldLink's "Diaspora" reviewed". New Yorker. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ Pearce, Sheldon (19 June 2019). "Goldlink: Diaspora Album Review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ Eyre, Banning (10 April 2013). "Freshlyground: Polished African Pop On The Global Dance Floor". NPR. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Howell, Rob (17 November 2015). "Freshlyground: South Africa's secret hit-making machine". CNN. Archived from the original on 16 November 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Flores, Griselda (30 November 2022). "Why Shakira remains the Queen of World Cup Music". Billboard. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Smith, Courtney E. (19 June 2019). "Shakira has the biggest World Cup Song off them all. Here's how she did it". Refinery 29. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ^ ""I don't do Afrobeat, I do Afro-fusion", singer talks on Beats 1 Radio". Pulse Nigeria. 27 July 2016. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Day, The News (17 May 2018). "Afro-fusion artiste Langa speaks on music career". NewsDay. Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Bambalele, Patience (26 July 2019). "Siphokazi streams live into history". Sowetan Live. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Kasambala, Text Natty (29 January 2021). "Meet Omah Lay, Nigeria's rapid rising star and afro-fusion artiste". Dazed. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Penney, Joey (25 November 2015). "Meet Burna Boy, the Nigerian singer putting Africa first". The Fader. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Illado, Lucy (22 October 2019). "Behind the scenes of Afro-fusion in Uganda". Music in Africa. Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ "Listen to Jidenna's upbeat new single 'Feng Shui'". OkayAfrica. 24 April 2020. Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ Solomon, Robert (28 October 2021). "Get to know Magixx, Nigeria's next big afro-fusion star". Mixmag. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Nii Okai Inusah, Attractive Mustapha (2 October 2022). "Ghanaian Afro fusion musician Supa Gaeta releases first EP". ModernGhana. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Itodo, Sunny Green (24 August 2023). "Why I created afro-fusion genre – Burna Boy". Daily Post. Archived from the original on 3 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Okon, Wongo (5 September 2023). "Burna Boy's 'I Told Them...' finds Afrobeats taking a backseat in his vision". Uproxx. Archived from the original on 5 September 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
External links edit
- Freshlyground – "Ma' Cheri" (Live performance in Johannesburg at the Sandton Convention Centre, 2008)
- "19:40; Burna Boy has been Afrofusion" – (Complex, 2023)