Nollywood and Afrobeats
From Fela Kuti's Afrobeat to direct-to-video Nollywood and today's global Afrobeats stars, Nigerian popular culture conquers Africa and then the world.
- Nollywood: The Creation of Nigerian Film Genres — Jonathan Haynes, University of Chicago Press (2016)
- Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon — Michael E. Veal, Temple University Press (2000)
- Nigeria: What Everyone Needs to Know — John Campbell and Matthew T. Page, Oxford University Press (2018)
In the 1970s Fela Anikulapo-Kuti fused Yoruba rhythms, highlife, jazz and funk into Afrobeat, with long songs mocking soldiers and corrupt elites. After his 1976 album Zombie ridiculed the army, soldiers stormed his Lagos compound, the “Kalakuta Republic”, in 1977; his mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, died of injuries linked to the raid.
- Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon — Michael E. Veal, Temple University Press (2000)
In 1992 Living in Bondage, an Igbo-language thriller shot on video and sold on cassette, launched a new industry. “Nollywood” now makes thousands of films a year, in English, Yoruba, Hausa (“Kannywood”), Igbo and more, and is one of the largest film industries in the world by output.
- Nollywood: The Creation of Nigerian Film Genres — Jonathan Haynes, University of Chicago Press (2016)
From the 2010s a new sound, Afrobeats, made stars such as Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy, Tems and Rema global names; Burna Boy won the Grammy for best global music album in 2021.
- Nigeria: What Everyone Needs to Know — John Campbell and Matthew T. Page, Oxford University Press (2018)
Why it matters today
Nigerian films and music are a huge source of pride and soft power, and a rare thing that unites the country across region and religion. When Burna Boy plays a stadium in London or Nollywood dominates screens from Accra to Nairobi, many Nigerians feel the world finally sees them as they see themselves.