Is Afrobeat hindering today’s musicians from making protest music?

Nigerian music fans are a really tough group to please. They are fickle, have opinions on everything, attack you when you fail, and celebrate you with vigor when they finally accept your art.

From the group of guys at the bar, to the students sneaking music playing devices into hostels, down to the lady at the market who sells her fish while turning up to the latest Davido song, to the bank MD who just wants to be in touch with the culture as he balances his books.

Every one of us consume Nigerian music. And we all have different opinions about the art, how it should be produced, and style of music being shopped around. But in all of these polarizing discourse, we all agree on one thing; we need more conscious music. We need more songs with messages. We need records that capture the current state of Nigeria and more via the lyrics.

And the problem isn’t that that type of music is not available. It is available in excess. Adebantu, Femi Kuti, Seun Kuti and more are making these songs about the African spirit, the Nigerian struggle, the lingering colonial mentality and more.

But the central problem is that it is not connecting. The mass market isn’t connecting with it, and enjoying the records as they should. Afrobeat, which is steadfastly regarded as the sound of protest in Nigeria is still the go to genre for creating protest music.

And that’s where the problem is. Afrobeat, in its true form, is losing its hold on Nigeria pop culture. It’s era is slowly shifting and as the years go by, it is fast losing its grip.

Back then, Fela Kuti created a new sound. Using pounding eclectic rhythms drawn from music traditions around the globe (Jazz, Funk, African Highlife), he mixed it with incendiary lyrics to openly attack the corrupt and repressive military dictatorships that ruled Nigeria and much of Africa. That music not only rocked Africa, but much of the world.

It became popular music at that point, and the timeless lyrics have kept the specific records alive. To this day it still rocks circles. That has been the reason why Fela is legendary, and his genre is now synonymous with protest music.

But music tastes are changing, and just like all the other genres Fela amalgamated to make Afrobeat, it is no longer the top genre. Jazz, Funk, old Highlife, and folk songs are now niche genres for a select group of people. The kids of today don’t fully appreciate Afrobeat. They are hooked on other sounds now. That’s why Femi and Seun Kuti are respected, but their music is not popular. The new generation have moved on.

But our Nigerian musicians fail to understand that. They still make music using Fela’s template. And it almost never connects with the younger generation, no matter how much you sell it. Only a few have studied the art and found a solution.

So by sticking to Afrobeat in its original form, artists fail to connect with the younger generation. The genre that once supplied the soundtrack to our collective struggle as Africans, has become the stumbling block to today’s artist who are struggling to make their conscious music become popular.

But there’s a solution to this. And although it is not pretty, but it has worked occasionally, not in message, but in sound.

The technique to overcoming this is to break down the original, merge it with today’s sounds and invent a new pop sound. That’s what many Nigerians have enjoyed, but without the message. Wizkid’s ‘Ojuelegba’ is a great example of such a new age amalgamation of sounds. It takes the Afrobeat template, but it is hacked to create a new dynamic flow. His other hit number, ‘Jaiye Jaiye’ featured the heir to Afrobeat, Femi Kuti, who brought on the horns, and orchestrated the fusion of Fela’s genre, with music’s new age peculiarities to create one of the best songs Nigeria has ever had.

Tekno’s recent single, ‘Rara’, which is raving across the country followed a similar path. But his was more spot on, because it carried the conscious message, and was given the full promotional treatment.

My Country people, eeh-ehThem go talku-talku, eh... ehThem just dey perambulate (rara-rara-rara), ehEh, so-so story, story every year ooh-oh, aahNEPA no bring light oh'NEPA no bring light ooh, aah'Generator wan tear my ear'Generator wan tear my ear ooh-oh-oh'Plenty greedy man 'Plenty greedy men for there oh, yea'Takey project oh, forgetti na the matter ooh

That’s the secret to making protest music for today. The sound can be carried into today and be tweaked to still possess its power, but appeal to a younger set of Nigerians. Music purists and romantics would hate to see this happen. But it’s a necessary compromise to keep Fela’s legacy alive, and increase his influence. Afrobeat is malleable, and it can be incoporated into new sounds, fused and released to good effect.

And this is not to say Afrobeat has no place in today’s society. It does. Aside serving as the source material for Nigerian music, it also enjoys a huge following across the world. People of refined music tastes and the older generation love the genre, its simplicity, power and vision. And as long s it still has a purpose, it does not belong in a museum. But if it wants to enjoy pop status, it has to mate and give birth to younger sounds.