A sound previously confined to family weddings and specialist radio shows is seeping fast into the mainstream. It's a musical mish-mash: Ghanaian and Nigerian pop, Western hip hop, funky house and Afrobeat - the groundbreaking melange of jazz, funk and African chanting pioneered by Fela Kuti in the 1970s.
The biggest facilitator of the UK Afrobeats scene has been DJ Abrantee, who popularised the genre via his Saturday-night Choice FM Afrobeats radio show.
"In the last eight months, it's suddenly gone woomph! People told me I could never fill Proud2 with 3,000 people on a Sunday. But we've done it," says Abrantee, who was born to Ghanaian parents and flies to Africa almost weekly to DJ.
The scene's biggest stars are Africans such as Nigerian rappers D'Banj (recently signed to Kanye West's record label) and Wizkid, and Ghanaian hip hop artist Sarkodie. However, home-grown acts such as Vibe Squad, Mr Silva, Donae'o and Olu Banks are also breaking through. Then there's May7ven.
The scene's biggest stars are Africans such as Nigerian rappers D'Banj (recently signed to Kanye West's record label) and Wizkid, and Ghanaian hip hop artist Sarkodie. However, home-grown acts such as Vibe Squad, Mr Silva, Donae'o and Olu Banks are also breaking through. Then there's May7ven.
Described as the "African Beyoncé" (despite having grown up in Wembley), the Nigerian-born 27-year-old regularly plays to the African diaspora across the globe"I want to show I'm African so I go overboard on the beads and have fire-eaters in my performance," she explains. SOURCE - Evening Standard
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