Afrobeats: A multi-million dollar industry

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Arguably the fastest growing music genre in the world, Afrobeats artists are playing to sold out crowds in the most coveted venues across the globe.

What started as an umbrella term in London, UK, to encapsulate pop music of African extraction has become a major force in pop culture.

But is Afrobeats able to emerge as a major economic force within the continent and can it leverage on its global appeal to boost other sectors including fashion and the arts?

We hear from the pioneers like Abass Tijani, one of the very first DJs to play Afrobeats in UK clubs and Ayo Shonaiya who created the first TV show featuring musicians from Nigeria and Ghana.

We also hear from Weird MC and Paul Play Dairo – two artists whose experimentation of sound in the mid-1990s contributed immensely to the growth and appeal of the genre.

Produced and presented by Peter MacJob.

(Image: Burna Boy performing at the NBA All Star game 2023. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	The attacker had very good knowledge of banking systems.
0:04.2	$2.1 billion in stolen funds.
0:06.4	Money laundering operations.
0:07.7	A cyber criminal group.
0:08.8	These are smart guys.
0:09.9	From the BBC World Service, The Lazarus Heist is back for a brand new season.
0:14.0	Catch up with Season 1 of the podcast now by searching for The Lazarus Heist, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
0:20.7	And get ready for season two coming next week.
0:27.1	Today on Business Daily, we are taking a journey into sound.
0:36.6	I am Peter Maggob, and this is Afrobeats.
0:46.3	Arguably the fastest growing music genre in the world.
0:50.1	What started as an experiment in Nigeria and Ghana with a fusion of traditional music and the bit of hip-hop
0:56.3	has today become a major force in pop culture.
1:04.4	From the streets of Lagos and Accra to the world stage,
1:07.7	Afro beat has gone global.
1:10.0	This genre has taken the world by storm. But in spite of
1:13.8	its West African roots, Afro Beat was actually officially created outside the continent. Abbas Tijani
1:21.1	is a DJ and one of the pioneers of Afro beats in the UK. Sometime in the early millennium, 2007, 2008, that name Afrobeats in the UK. Sometime in the early millennium, 2007, 2008,
1:30.6	that name Afro Beat with an S emerged in the UK
1:33.7	is a very, very specific UK term.
1:35.9	And it emerged to basically create like an umbrella title
1:39.6	for pop music of African extraction.
	...

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