DAR ES SALAAM: REACHING over 150 million viewers in a few weeks after its release, “Yope Remix” by Innossi B featuring Diamond Platnumz hit the global music arena interwoven with African-inspired dance, poetry and ambience.
The presence of Diamond Platnumz added power to the hit that previously had only 200,000 viewers, most of them from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Brazzaville. But the best from “Yope Remix” came from Innoss B’s brother, Djizzo Balume, who sweetened the song with his suave guitar sound similar to the style Benico ‘Zero Faulte’ Ipopolipo played for Koffi Olomide in his Ultimatum clip. Yope Remix style is Afro Congo, as Innossy B himself labelled it and after the epic dance, it climaxed with “… Don Fumbwe salimia Mkubwa Fella… “
If Diamond were a Nigerian or Yoruba, that could mean a salute to Great Fella (Fella Anikulapo Kuti), the inspirational figure behind Afro Beat that also includes Afro Congo and Tanzania’s Afro Beat, Bongo Flava. For Saidi Fella to be called Mkubwa Fella arguably makes him among Fella Anikulapo fans as it was a common nickname for Tanzanian youth of the 1970s who adored Fella Kuti’s music and challenges he imposed on the African leaders. It’s Bongo Flava in Tanzania and Kenya, Afro Congo in DRC, but the world labels “Yope Remix’’ as Afrobeat as Pan African Music suitable for the whole mankind.
It’s Fella Kuti who coined Afrobeat, the music genre that has remained even more powerful today when Burna Boy, Davido or Asake command the global music stage. Kuti was part of an Afrocentric consciousness movement that was founded on and delivered through his music.
The Afrocentric movement, to Tanzanians and the majority of East Africans, created a musical allegiance with American pioneers of Soul, Funk and R&B, and that is still crystal clear across Africa today. Guided by the Afrorock style initiated by Ghana’s super group, Osibisa, Tanzanian Patrick Balisidya of Afro 70 fame said after performing in the FESTAC 77 in Lagos, Nigeria, that the Afrocentric movement was an inspiration to Pan Africanism, and music played its pivotal role.
Among the notable Afrocentric works sung in the Kiswahili language are Dunia Ina Mambo’’ by The Mighty Cavaliers of Kenya, while Tanzanian Balisidya paraded his Afrocentric awareness in ‘‘Uwe Karibu Nami’’ and ‘‘Ukombozi Wa Africa’’ (African Liberation). Afrocentric music also enjoyed a good spell in Kenya, where Slim Ally and his Famous Hodi Boys won the global market in the mid-1970s after releasing ‘’You Can Do It’’ which also earned him a gold disc.
In Zaire (now DR Congo) Verkys Kiamwangana Mateta ‘s Veve Stars joined the Afrocentric race with “Bassala Hot’’ and it was a real hot stuff. Fella Kuti, Osibisa and Manu Dibango will remain the pioneers of the Afrocentric music that the present generation enjoys today. Aligning with Kwame Nkrumah’s policy, Fella Kuti promoted Pan-Africanism and socialism and called for a united, democratic African republic.
Tanzanian musician, James Mpungo, who led The Sunburst, a band that fused Funky guitar with African folk music, said they took the Afrocentric movement as an anti-rumba campaign.
“We fused American pop with Wangoni traditional beat called Kitoto (Lizombe), but Tanzanians, who were then firmly glued to Congolese rumba and Swahili dance music, couldn’t understand it,” Mpungo told the reporter during an exclusive at the then newly established Radio One. ‘‘Na Poi’’ opened Fella Kuti’s Afrobeat door to Tanzanian audience in 1971 before later releases such as ‘‘Shakara’’, “Lady”, “Everything Scatter”, “Zombie”, “V.I.P.” (Vagabonds in Power), and Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense. “Shakara’’ and “Lady’’ remain Fella’s most adored hits today.
Through Fela Kuti’s influence, Nigeria’s top Afrobeat musicians are now defining African music on the global scene, led by the “Nigerian Big Three” (Wizkid, Burna Boy, and Davido) who consistently headline international arenas, closely followed by a wave of massive contemporary hitmakers and vocal powerhouses.
Burna Boy is today the African giant, highly decorated with Grammy awards and famous for his energetic afro-fusion sound. Davido is a billionaire superstar and highly influential hitmaker, driving the genre forward with anthems like “Fall”.
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Asake is known for his high-energy stage performances and fusion of Fuji with Afrobeats, dominating charts with songs like “Lonely at the Top”. Tiwa Savage is a “Queen of Afrobeats,” boasting a legendary catalogue and massive international influence. For a deeper look into the careers and global dominance of these Nigerian music giants, There is Fella Kuti’s influence in all these megastars as he is the principal innovator of Afrobeat.
The Nigerian audience feels Fela Kuti pulse in Tonny Allen drumming magic, and Shina Abiodun’s call and response percussion style as evidenced through Olakira – Maserati Remix Ft. Davido. Also, in ‘Feel’ by Davido, Aye also by Davido. In “Ema dami duro,” Davido sparked a movement that reshaped African pop on a global scale. “Skelewu ” was Davido’s eponymous hit for Tanzanians after it was incorporated in Diamond Platnumz’s ’Number One’ hit. He called his style Afrobeat, a combination of Apala, funk, jazz, highlife, salsa, calypso and traditional Yoruba music.
Tony Allen, Kuti’s drummer of over ten years, was instrumental in the creation of Afrobeat. Tony Allen’s drumming notably makes sparing use of 2 & 4 backbeat style playing, instead opting for outlining the time in shuffling hard-bop fashion. Allen would usually play tightly swung, aggressive triplet patterns on his hi-hat.
On his snare drum, he would often play patterns that implied the clave feeling underlying the whole piece, but not explicitly stating it. Nigerian artists see much of the Afrobeat in Tony Allen and Shina Abiodun’s drumming, but Fella Kuti’s fans in America and other Western countries see through the interlocking guitar rhythm.
The key innovators, as per Western world’s music experts, were Oghene Kologbo and Leke Benson. The driving sound of two interlocking guitar parts, with Benson assigned to rhythm duties and Kologbo to tenor guitar, enriched Fela music, according to the analysts.
It was one of Kuti’s main innovations, especially during his 70’s heyday was to have all three of the guitars (bass, rhythm and tenor) maintain one pattern each with no deviation for the whole runtime of a piece, though some songs might have contrasting intros or modulations into a different key.
In a more complex example, he mocks African women’s aspiration to European standards of ladyhood while extolling the values of the market woman in “Lady”. In 2022, Kuti was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Kuti at number 188 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
In January 2026, the Recording Academy posthumously honoured Kuti with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at the Special Merit ceremony of the 68th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.