Afrobeat
· Musical. The form developed by Fela Kuti and Tony Allen in Lagos in the late 1960s and 70s — a
synthesis of Yoruba music, jazz, funk, and political consciousness that created a new form out of the convergence
of African tradition and Black Atlantic musical exchange. Afrobeat is not African music plus beat; it is a
specific, politically charged synthesis.
Ascension
· Directional. Upward movement toward a destination above the point of origin — in musical terms, the
trajectory of a form that begins in a specific political and cultural moment and rises to global influence while
maintaining the original intensity of its source.
The Afrobeat Ascension
adj. Of or pertaining to the global trajectory of Afrobeat and its derivatives — the process
by which a form rooted in Lagos political resistance became a worldwide influence on funk, electronic music, and
contemporary production.
n.(an The Afrobeat Ascension) (an Afrobeat Ascension) The traceable rise of Afrobeat
from its Lagos origins through its global influence — the specific quality of a musical tradition that carries
its political origin as an aesthetic force rather than a historical footnote.