Music genre
Afrobeat
Nigeria · 1970s–
Afrobeat is the long, political, horn-driven music Fela Kuti and Tony Allen created in 1970s Lagos. Its sound, its history and how it differs from Afrobeats.
African music
Ten genres, from song forms more than a century old — four of them now recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage of humanity — to the dance-floor sounds streamed by millions every day. Each article explains where the music comes from, how to recognise it, the instruments and the artists who defined it.
Start with the pair most often confused: Afrobeat, the 1970s band music of Fela Kuti, and Afrobeats, the 21st-century pop that grew out of Nigeria and Ghana.
Music genre
Afrobeats
Nigeria · Ghana · 2000s–
Afrobeats is the 21st-century pop sound of Nigeria and Ghana, from D'banj and Wizkid to Burna Boy, Tems and Rema. Where the name came from and how it spread.
Music genre
Highlife
Ghana · Nigeria · 1920s–
Highlife grew from Ghana's dance bands and palm-wine guitarists into West Africa's first great pop music. E.T. Mensah, its styles, and its children.
Music genre
Amapiano
South Africa · 2012–
Amapiano grew out of South Africa's townships around 2012: deep house, jazzy piano and the booming log drum. Its origins, its stars and its global spread.
Music genre
Congolese rumba
DR Congo · Republic of the Congo · 1940s–
Born in 1940s Kinshasa and Brazzaville, Congolese rumba gave Africa Franco, Tabu Ley and Papa Wemba. UNESCO inscribed it as world heritage in 2021.
Music genre
Mbalax
Senegal · 1970s–
Mbalax is Senegal's national pop: Wolof sabar drumming fused with Cuban, soul and rock, made famous by Youssou N'Dour and the Super Étoile de Dakar.
Music genre
Raï
Algeria · 1920s–
Raï began as rural song around Oran, became the pop of Cheb Khaled and Cheb Mami, and was inscribed by UNESCO as Algeria's popular folk song in 2022.
Music and ritual
Gnawa
Morocco
Gnawa is Morocco's healing trance music, created by descendants of enslaved West Africans: guembri, qraqeb and all-night lila. UNESCO-listed since 2019.
Music genre
Morna
Cabo Verde · 19th c.–
Morna is Cabo Verde's slow, melancholy song of sodade, made famous by Cesária Évora. Its poets, instruments and UNESCO recognition in 2019.
Music genre
Semba
Angola · 1940s–
Semba is the urban music of Luanda, born in the 1940s–50s with Ngola Ritmos and carried worldwide by Bonga. How it shaped Angola and gave rise to kizomba.