Cover Art by Abe Odedina
When young African musicians invite the world to a sing-along, and it obliges. When these artists beckon to the world to move its limbs this way and that, and it yields, then a critical issue becomes necessary to bear witness to this unlikely exchange. The electronic dance-music and collectivized embodied responses that instantiate Afrobeats — distinguished from the “Afrobeat” attributed to Fela Kuti — argue for a kaleidoscopic, multidisciplinary approach to 21st century African cultural production on the world stage. This issue on the “lower frequencies” of Afrobeats takes on what goes unmarked, risks being lost, or is quietly gained as African artists, many signed to African-owned record labels, grace the world’s elite stages. Taken together, the entries also reveal where and how Afrobeats applies pressure on Pan-African discourses that tie Africa to African diasporic imaginaries in generative but sometimes limiting ways? The special issue contributes to emerging scholarship around new lines of thinking offered by the sonic, choreographic, and affective worlds generated by, for example, Tyla, Burna Boy, Teni, Sarkodie, Tiwa Savage, and Sauti Sol? Themes covered include Afro-Asian masculinities in Afrobeats; the uneven global circulation of dance and dirt in the era of Afrobeats; Anglophone West African rivalries as creative crucibles in African and global pop; the generative frictions of Afrobeats in African and African diasporic encounters; and the latent ideological struggles present in Afrobeats, which were brought to the fore by political movements like #EndSARS. The issue culminates in a lively conversation among Chicago-based multidisciplinary artists (also DJs) who mobilize Afrobeats in their curation of Black cultural experiences in the city.
– Dotun Ayobade
Guest Editor
For a limited time, download and read the introduction and ““Monsters You Made”: Burna Boy, #EndSARS, and the Use of Restlessness,” by
Dotun Ayobade & Olabanke Goriola for free.
Personal subscriptions are $46 USD and include 4 issues. You can subscribe to our 54th volume here. A limited quantity of print back issues are available in our store. Small stock update coming soon.
The final issue of our 2024 volume will be Ceddo: Black British Independent Film. Keep an eye out for editorial developments and new content for 2025 and beyond.
