The Black Music Research Unit (BMRU) of the University of Westminster has held the Afrobeat to Afrobeats - A British Musical Journey event as part of a new series of talks for the BMRU podcast that will be launched later this year. Focusing on Fela Kuti's music, the event explored the journey of Afrobeat and Afrobeats through past and present West African musicians and their contributions to British popular music.
The event was organised by Mykaell Riley, Director of BMRU, Senior Lecturer and Principal Investigator for Bass Culture Research at the University of Westminster. It was held at the end of March at the Black Cultural Archives, and featured film clips and photography from urbanimage.tv, a panel discussion and a Q&A session.
The panel members included iKECHUKWU Onuorah, Director of Strictly Music Entertainment Ltd.; Ed Emeka Keazor, Music Historian; Isatta Sheriff, Founder and CEO of Doctored Sound; Douglas Jekan, Radio Host at The Beat London 103.6 FM; and Abass Abayomi Tijani, DJ, Broadcaster, and Media & Entertainment Consultant.
The panel discussed how Fela’s music is an example of colonial history and the hybridisation of West African, African American and African Caribbean music, that resulted in the birth of a new genre in the late 1960s. They explained the way Afrobeat and Afrobeats links reggae, jungle, grime, and drill, to the cultural and political landscapes of popular music in Britain. The talk also speaks to the first National exhibition on Black British music at the British Library in 2024.
Talking about the event, Riley said: "Our Afrobeat to Afrobeats event sold out in 24 hours and was joyous, energetic, and informative. This was not surprising as it tapped into the global consciousness of African creatives. The panellists shed light on the complex journey from highlife music in the 1920s to contemporary Afrobeats, with the audience filling in any gaps in the knowledge that was being shared. Such was the success of this event that we will be repeating it later in the year."
Watch the recording of the event at BMRU's YouTube channel.
