Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Sarah Montague.

My guest today is a hugely successful Afrobeat star.

Omar Lay is a young Nigerian musician, just 25, but he's broken into Western markets,

partly because of a collaboration with Justin Bieber, but also because Afrobeats music is becoming popular around the world,

even for the first time winning a Grammy. Afrobeats emerged from Afrobeat political music,

a way to address social change, which was pioneered by the legendary Nigerian musician

and activist Felakuti. This latest musical incarnation is less politically charged.

O'Maree sings about love, heartbreak and longing. With other Western megastars like Ed Sheeran and

Madonna tapping into the Afrobeats genre, are they benefiting West African music or

riding its momentum for their own commercial benefit.

And what does it mean for the way Afrobeats will evolve?

O'Malley, welcome to Hard Talk. Thank you.

Fela Kuti described his Afrobeat music as a fusion and combination of high life, jazz, funk, Psych Rock, Salsa, Black Power,

Anti-Colonial and Anti-Corruption Politics.

How would you describe your music?

I think it's probably the same thing,

but I don't know if I'm going to say politics, anti-corruption, I don't know.

Because, but every other thing is the same but um it's just

that i do it differently now because you know music is different now and um yeah um high life

is still the same afro is still the same the element that makes afro beauty still the same

it's just that you know it's a new world and I just do it how we do it now in this, in this our modern age. So, yeah, it's still Afro Beat and it's just different people doing it.

The Afro Beat originally, it was political. And you have been public on political issues, but you don't

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