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Nigerian Music History |
Nigeria has been called "the heart of African music" because of its role in the development of West African highlife and palm-wine music, which fuses native rhythms with techniques imported from the Congo, Brazil, Cuba and elsewhere. Highlife was an important foundation for the development of several popular styles that were unique to Nigeria, like apala, fuji, juju and Yo-pop. Subsequently, Nigerian musicians created their own styles of United States hip-hop and Jamaican reggae. Nigeria's musical output has achieved international acclaim not only in the fields of folk and popular music, but also Western art music written by composers such as Fela Sowande. The most vivacious form of art of Nigera was dance and music. Nigerian music is dependent on strong rhythms supplied by countless drums and percussion instruments. Highlife is a type of music heavily influenced by Western culture. It sounds like an Africanized version of American big band or ballroom music. During the 1950s, when they experienced rapid urbanization and a relatively booming economy, the two French-speaking colonies of the Congo area (capitals in Brazzaville and Kinshasa) witnessed the birth of an African version of the Cuban rumba played by small American-style orchestras (called "kasongo", "kirikiri" or "soukous") with a touch of jazz and of local attitudes: Joseph "Grand Kalle" Kabasselleh's African Jazz (that counted on vocalist Tabu Ley, guitarist "Docteur" Nico Kasanda, saxophonist Manu Dibango), Jean-Serge Essous' O.K.Jazz (featuring the young Franco), Orchestre Bella Bella, etc. Each orchestra became famous for one or more "dances" that they invented. So soukous (as Ley dubbed it in 1966) is actually a history of dances, rather than one monolithic genre (Ley's definition originally applied only to a frenzied version of rumba). Afro-beat combines African rhythms and melodies with jazz and soul. One of Nigeria's best-known Afro-beat artists, Fela Kuti, was heavily influenced by American artists such as James Brown. Palm wine music gets its name from the palm wine saloons where it is traditionally heard. Its fast-paced, frenzied rhythms reflect the rambunctious nature of many palm wine bars. Before the Western influence on Nigeria not much changed culturally. At this period Nigeria was at its largest point of cultural shift. This shift would come mostly from religious change coming from cultures that had been in Nigeria and Invaders. Religion then would be the factor, which would restyle Nigerian music the most throughout its history. The nineteenth century started off with Islamic unrest. This caused many people in Nigeria to take in Muslim culture causing them to create a Hausa style of music. Which basically consist of Muslim religious hymns and rhythm with traditional African music. |