MUSIC MONDAY: “Blackman Know Yourself” – Celebrating Afrobeat (LISTEN)

[Photo credit: Fela Kuti by Leni Sinclair / Getty Images]

The roots of Afrobeat began in Ghana during the early 1920s. When musicians incorporated influences like the foxtrot and calypso with Ghanaian rhythms like osibisaba (Fante).

Nigerian artists later solidified the Afrobeat groove in the late ’60s led by Fela Kuti. The sound is a complex fusion of jazz, funk, soul, Ghanaian highlife, psychedelic rock and traditional West African chants and rhythms.

This playlist features Kuti, his longtime collaborator Tony Allen, and his sons Femi and Seun. Plus The Funkees, Antibalas, Angélique Kidjo, Chicago Afrobeat Project, William Onyeabor, The Lijadu Sisters, and many other originators and modern practitioners of the art.

Enjoy, and don’t even try to sit still while it’s on.  Until next week, stay safe, sane, and kind.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:0F5CPmd4JNblXRZGsMTxan”/]

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwestSpotify: marlonwest)