Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, and the Ivory Coast. The region is the source of Ghanaian Highlife, Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, the more recent Afrobeats wave (Burna Boy, Wizkid), and Senegalese Mbalax — collectively, much of contemporary African pop.
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Folk & WorldAfrobeats2000年代以降、ナイジェリアの都市ラゴスを震源に、ダンスホールの跳ねるリズムとR&Bのメロディを呑み込んで広がった西アフリカの現代ポップ。伝説的ミュージシャン、フェラ・クティの「アフロビート」とは、末尾のsひとつだけ綴りが違う。
Folk & WorldAfrobeat1960年代末にFela Kutiが確立した、ハイライフ・ファンク・ジャズを融合した政治色の強いアフリカ音楽。3分のシングルではなく、長尺で軍事政権と対峙するための音楽だ。
Folk & WorldHighlifeThe Ghanaian dance music invented in the 1920s ballrooms and refined across two branches — big-band highlife with horn sections and guitar-band highlife with interlocking electric guitars.
PopGhanaian AfrobeatsGhana's mid-2010s onward main pop lane — highlife guitar figures, hiplife Twi rap, dancehall bounce and Nigerian afrobeats drum programming melted into one sound.
Folk & WorldAsakaaThe 2020 Kumasi drill wave — Twi-language rap over UK-drill beats, ignited by 17-year-old Yaw Tog's 'Sore' and cosigned by Stormzy.
Hip Hop / R&BAfro FusionBurna Boy and Tems-era Nigerian sound that pulls Afrobeats off the dancefloor and toward R&B confession.
Electronic & DanceCoupé-DécaléIvorian-Parisian club music born in early-2000s diaspora nightclubs — fast electronic kicks, sharp hi-hats, French and Nouchi vocals about spending big.
Folk & WorldMbalaxSenegal's national pop sound, where Wolof sabar drums and praise-singing collide with electric guitars and jazz horns.
SacredGospel HighlifeThe Ghanaian Pentecostal-charismatic church music that transposes highlife's guitars and horn arrangements onto Christian worship songs.
Folk & WorldPalm-wine MusicThe late-nineteenth-century acoustic guitar music of West African coastal palm-wine bars — the parent form of highlife.
