Origins of Afro Beats and Bashment

Audience research
My magazine's genre is afrobeats but there will be small aspects of bashement as they are quite similar. 

Origins of Afrobeats and Bashement:

Afrobeats:

Resources: Wikipedia

Afrobeats originate from the Nigeria. It is a combination of   Yoruba music, jazz, high life, funk, and chanted vocals, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Afro beat 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 poly rhythms.

ts main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, 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). Afrobeat features chants, call-and-response vocals, and complex, interacting rhythms.

Afro beat originated from the southern part of Nigeria in the 1960s where Kuti experimented with many different forms of contemporary music of the time. Prevalent in his and Lagbaja's music are native African harmonies and rhythms, taking different elements and combining, modernising, and improvising upon them. Politics are essential to Afro beat, since founder Kuti used social criticism to pave the way for social change. His message can be described as confrontational and controversial, which can be related to the political climate of most of the African countries in the 1960s, many of which were dealing with political injustice and military corruption while recovering from the transition from colonial governments to self-determination. As the genre spread throughout the African continent many bands took up the style. The recordings of these bands and their songs were rarely heard or exported outside the originating countries but many can now be found on compilation albums and Cd's from specialist record shops.

Although this spectacular music is recognised world wide its still a niche market, especially in Britain because it's not as recognised as it should be. If I were to create a magazine my target audience would read it because they depend on it more to get there weekly insight into the latest tunes from afrobeats instead of being a couple of months late because they had no way of finding out the latest news.

Although afrobeats and bashement is played on capital xtra formally known as choice, they are the only radio station to broadcast this type of music. They to know that people of my generation listen to this type of music in order to get there Saturday nights started hence the fact they only broadcast it on Saturday's. However most students and teens don't find radio that useful anymore as times have moved on. A magazine however is irreplaceable, your always going to walk into a news agent and see that afrobeats/bashement magazine just glowing, waiting there for you to pick it up and check out the latest tunes, news and events.

It is a good choice of genre because all the music is very lively, upbeat and its a way to even get the older generation off there feet and just let there hair down. Its a way of striping negative stereotypes off the young generation; we just want to have fun and live life to the fullest not cause trouble. 

An example of a popular dance that has come from afrobeats is the azonto.

It is a very popular dance that challenges everyone to get on the dance floor and interpret there own dance, freestyle!

This is just an example of what afrobeats does, Its brings everyone

This picture claims afrobeats is taking over London. A couple of years back most of the population didn't know what afrobeats was until fuse's hits antenna and azonto came out. I in vision making this more accessible to every household, by breaking conventions such as negative stereotypes that only lower class citizens listen to this music and make it more presentable so it will be a magazine you will want to have on your coffee table next to your radio.

together!

Well known artists from afrobeats:

-Wiz kid

-Fuse

-D'banj

-Iyanya

-Davido

-Flavour

-Brymo

-Ice prince

-Bracket
 

This picture claims afrobeats is taking over London. A couple of years back most of the population didn't know what afrobeats was until fuse's hits antenna and azonto came out. I in vision making this more accessible to every household, by breaking conventions such as negative stereotypes that only lower class citizens listen to this music and make it more presentable so it will be a magazine you will want to have on your coffee table next to your radio.

Bashement             

Bashment which is Jamaican Patois is another term for dance hall music which was developed around 1979. It may also be used to mean a large, raucous party or rave where this type of music (dance hall) is played.

Both my genres fall under Dance hall, However my audience can easily distinguish them due to the accent and the columns that there will be in my magazine.

Artists for this type of music are:

-Elephant man

-Major Lazor

-Nicki Minaj

-Vybz Kartel

-Gyptian

-Konshens

-J capri
-Gaza Slim

This genre of music will effect my magazine as it is also a niche market and I will be able to create a trend among the young, get them back into reading magazines as there are no afrobeats or bashement magazine websites.

(Konshens-gal a bubble)

 

However I will be using less explicit photos because i want my franchise to come across as a more discreet brand so not only do the teens like it but also the parents will feel more happy and satisfied that there teen isn't being badly influenced.

There will also be some nudity as a part of sex appeal but not extreme nudity e.g. revealing of bum, cleavage, inappropriate pictures.

This music is also very popular amongst my generation because it is easily interpreted so therefore you can find yourself and make it your own. This video above shows just how much people can interpret it and its quite amazing!

This genre is more sexual and openly uses sex appeal compared to afrobeats so therefore it will be appealing to the 16-20 year old's who are old enough to be exposed to this sort of music and imagery.

Fashion

The fashion within my Genre/s are very similar to rap as they to are influenced by urban surroundings.

In afrobeats the original clothes of native Nigeria were more

nomadic but through out time it has evolved as well as the music.

This is mostly because the artists who produce the music either live in places such as London or in cities, or may still live in Africa but because of western civilizations huge impact and influence on most of the world and there fashion sense many have turned to where casual more street wear such as jeans, trainers, jewelry e.g long chains with dollar bill signs , accessorize

The coogi sweater many rappers wore during the 80's was also influenced by native African heritage but this more towards Jamaican and Caribbean influence(reggae vibe).

This type of clothing is more of a traditional Nigerian attire but  as generations evolve people turn to more of the global trend within music and that is mostly dominated with American street where.

In addition most of the world, especially colonialised countries, are more influenced by the western civilisation.

We usually see bashment being played in places such as south and east London because of its high Caribbean community. Because that area is quite a close nit community there will be social events such as parties, weddings etc which offer to play music of there tradition. This then connects and evolves into street music because the people that originally listen to it originate from more working class families. As times have changed places around have learned to embrace diversity and therefore allow more traditional aspects to spread. So now we here bashment in events such as Notting hill carnival which is a world recognised event that manages to bring everyone together and unite to have some fun because that's what this music is about; letting your hair down and having fun.

Because afrobeats originates from Africa in countries such as Nigeria and Ghana it is highly listened to in communities through out London but particularly north as there are huge and close African communities. However with both genres we can understand how people associate them together due to the fact that they are used in many occasions at the same times e.g. raves which is a very young scenery.

This would be a good way for me to promote my music within my magazine because I'd have a weekly play list with every edition that would say "rave tunes" in order to get the audience more interactive with each other about the latest bashement and Afro beats music.

The only way in which both bashment and afrobeats are broadcasted on a national level is through radio stations. In particular capital Xtra FM. Every friday, Saturday and Sunday nights dj abrantee comes on with his best afro/bashment beats which allows the young generation to get into a party atmosphere because these are the days in which we can kick back, relax and have fun.

There are no magazines that specify in this particular area of music. This makes it a niche market but ironically it will attract a large amount of advertisment amongst the young teens.
Most of the information we find out about afrobeats and bashement is online and there are no prints on sale.