Afrobeat is a combination of Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, and funk rhythms, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularized in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti

who used it to revolutionise musical structure as well as the political

context in his native Nigeria. It was Kuti who coined the term

\\\"afrobeat\\\" upon his return from a U.S. tour with his group Nigeria 70

(formerly Koola Lobitos).

The new sound hailed from a club that he established called the

Afro-Shrine. Upon arriving in Nigeria, Kuti also changed the name of

his group to Fela Ransome-Kuti & Africa 70. The band maintained a

five-year residency in the Afro-Shrine from 1970 to 1975 while afrobeat

thrived among Nigerian youth. Afrobeat is now one of the most

recognisable music genres in the world and has influenced as many

Western musicians as it has African ones with its exuberant style and

polyrhythms.

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