In this week’s online class we meet West African polyrhythms, learning how cool even the youngest kids can sound when they drum three beats at the same time as their friends drum four. We do this as we sing “Bale Ile,” our take on this Nigerian hit.
Tag Archives | Nigeria
Femi or Seun? Both!
Femi Kuti or Seun Kuti? Seun Kuti or Femi Kuti…? Legendary originator of Afrobeat, Nigerian “Black President” Fela Kuti, was father of many musical children, the most famous of whom are Femi and Seun. Both create music in their father’s image, but each with a different vibe; Femi, with his band Positive Force, uses an Afrobeat foundation as a launch pad for world fusion, while Seun, performing with many of the original members of his father’s Egypt 80, is Afrobeat to the core, continuing his father’s forward motion. Which works better for you, Femi or Seun…? It’s a trick question. You don’t have to choose.
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In Nigeria Music Matters
This week in our online class we go to Nigeria — by far the most populous country in Africa — where we meet music that is an extraordinarily fluid mix of traditional African rhythms and Western jazz, funk, hip hop and soul. While we’re at it we learn to make two rhythms at once and discover how to talk like a drum.
You Can’t Beat Olatunji, so Join Him
We end this week’s deep dive into Nigeria with Babatunde Olatunji, whose “Drums of Passion” brought African rhythmic drumming to an international audience for decades.
Babatunde Olatunji traveled the world as an ambassador for the powerful music of his native Nigeria, inspiring generations of percussionists. One of his most-widely known songs is his performance of “Akiwowo.”
We had grand fun in Nigeria. Next week we head to Central Africa where we meet two Congos.
Drums Talk, We Listen
Want to talk with Nigerian master percussionist Ayan Bisi Adeleke? Pick up a drum….
The “talking drum,” most widely known in Nigeria as the “dundun,” is a West African hourglass drum a percussionist can manipulate to mimic a human voice, giving it a way to “talk.” The drummer does this by constricting the ropes that run along its sides to tighten or loosen the drum head and by using a mallet to hit the head in particular ways to elicit particular sounds. This is as cool as it sounds.
The Sunny King of Juju
King Sunny Ade is Nigeria’s party music monarch….
A tour of the music if Nigeria must start, as we did, with Afrobeat, but beyond Fela there is so so so much. One of the most energizing genres is Juju, a rollicking Yoruban percussion music that can’t help but make you dance. The undisputed champion of Juju music is King Sunny Ade, who became particularly well-known for performing juju at lifecycle parties — weddings, birthdays, baby namings — known as “àríyá.” Watch this video of the Ade and His African Beats and you’ll appreciate why.
