Of course, even in the 1980s, the influence of the godfather Fela Kuti was still felt in Nigeria. However, Nigeria 80 leaves no doubt that, firstly, there have always been other musical traditions and, secondly, that Afrobeat has continued to evolve.
A quarter of a century after Nigeria 70, Nigeria 80 offers an equally essential insight into Nigerian music beyond Fela Kuti. ‘Se Rere’ by Lekan Animashaun showcases the classic Afrobeat that Animashaun used to play with Fela Kuti’s band Africa 70. Juju, a popular style in the 1970s and 1980s, gets a funk injection with wah-wah from Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey & His Inter-Reformers Band. In ‘Ocheme Mia’, Prince Nico Mbarga presents a modernised take on highlife. ‘Advice / Oge Chi KanmaG’ by I.C. Rock represents an early hip-hop adaptation. Evi-Edna Ogholi experiments with reggae on ‘The World’. In this context, it is striking that more women are given a voice here than on earlier instalments of the series. This, too, is a testament to Duncan Brooker’s curatorial work. Nigeria 80 is wide-ranging and valuable not least because the originals are mostly hard to come by.
Nigeria 80
