This month’s World Beat feature takes us to Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa and source of many entrancing music styles, from highlife and juju to Afrobeat and Naija pop.
Reading about music from the so-called “Giant of Africa”—and listening to some of it in our Hear the Music and Extended Play sections—is great, but seeing it performed is even better. With that in mind, we’ve gathered a few video clips for your further enjoyment. First off is juju man King Sunny Adé, performing “Ja Funmi” with his African Beats on British TV in 1983. Note the use of pedal steel guitar (the flat stringed instrument being played with a metal bar), a sound most often associated with American country music.
Next up is the inventor of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti, performing “V.I.P.” with his Afrika 70 band at a 1978 concert in Berlin. In typical Fela style, this song goes on for a while—more than 16 minutes—and for its first half, the focus is on horn solos and a simmering groove. At 8:48, Fela and his female backup vocalists start singing at last, trading rhythmically complex lines that tell a tale of power and inequality in pidgin English.
Today, Fela’s Egypt 80 band is led by his son, Seun Kuti. Here’s a 2014 video of their song “African Smoke,” featuring rapper Blitz the Ambassador.
Finally, a taste of Naija pop from twin brothers Peter and Paul Okoye, better known to the world as P Square. This is the video for their 2014 song “Shekini.”