Afrobeat was created in Nigeria in the late 1960s by Fela Kuti and drummer Tony Allen, blending West African highlife and Yoruba rhythms with jazz and funk. It's known for long, hypnotic grooves, call-and-response vocals and lyrics that speak out against injustice. Its modern descendant, Afrobeats, led by stars such as Burna Boy and Wizkid, now fills dance floors worldwide.
Amapiano, Zulu for "the pianos," came out of South Africa's townships around 2012. It mixes deep house and jazz with soft piano chords and a deep bass sound called the log drum. Producers like Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa made it a movement, and Tyla's amapiano-influenced hit Water won a Grammy in 2024 and brought the sound to the world.
African jazz mixes jazz with local rhythms, melodies and instruments, and it takes different forms across the continent. South Africa gave us the township jazz of Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba and the Cape Town sound of Abdullah Ibrahim, Cameroon's Manu Dibango blended jazz with makossa, and Ethiopia's Mulatu Astatke created Ethio-jazz. The roots of jazz itself trace back to the rhythms carried from Africa.