Afrobeat is a combination of Yoruba music, Jazz, Highlife, and Funk rhythms, fused with percussion and vocal styles popularized in Africa in the 1970s. The genre’s creater was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who coined the term Afrobeat, shaped the musical structure and informed the political context of the genre in Nigeria.
Funk is an American musical style that originated in the mid- to late-1960s when African American musicians blended Soul, Jazz and R&B into a rhythmic,danceable new form. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove grounded in electric bass and drums. Unlike R&B and Soul, which feature many chord changes, Funk songs often feature the vamping of a single chord. Like much of African-inspired music, Funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, Hammond organ, anddrums playing interlocking rhythms. Funk bands also usually have a horn section of several saxophones, trumpets, and in some cases, a trombone, which plays rhythmic “hits.” Important artists include The Meters, The Ohio Players, Kool & The Gang, and The Commodores.
Hip Hop is a cultural movement which developed in New York City in the 1970s primarily among African Americans, Caribbean Americans and Latinos. When Hip Hop music began to constitute itself, it was defined by Bronx-based DJs who created rhythmic beats by looping breakbeats on two turntables, today the main body of Hip Hop is constituted through the sampling of Funk, Soul, and R&B. Lyrics, often explicitly political in nature, are often rapped over the beats of Hip Hop tracks. Important artists include 2Pac, Nas and Jay Z.
House is a style of electronic dance music initially popularized in mid-1980’s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino, and gay communities, first in Chicago, then in New York and Detroit. House is strongly influenced by elements of Soul and Funk-infused varieties of Disco. The common element of House is a prominent kick drum on every beat (also known as a four-to-the-floor beat), usually generated by a drum machine or sampler. The kick drum sound is augmented by various kick fills and extended dropouts. The drum track is filled out with hi-hat cymbal patterns that nearly always include an open hi-hat on eighth note off-beats between each kick, and a snare drum or clap sound on beats two and four of every bar. This pattern is derived from so-called “four-on-the-floor” dance drumbeats of the 1960s and especially the 1970s Disco drummers. Producers commonly layer sampled drum sounds to achieve a more complex sound, and they tailor the mix for large club sound systems, de-emphasizing lower mid-range frequencies (where the fundamental frequencies of the human voice and other instruments lie) in favor of bass and hi-hats. Important early releases include those by Jamie Principle/Frankie Knuckles, Steve “Silk” Hurley, and Masters at Work.
Disco is a genre of dance-oriented music that originated and was initially popular among African American, gay and Hispanic communities in the United States in the late 1960s. Most agree that the first disco songs were released in 1973, though some claim Manu Dibango’s 1972 Soul Makossa to be the first disco record. Musical influences include Funk and Soul music. The Disco sound has soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady “four-on-the-floor” beat, an eighth note (quaver) or sixteenth note (semi-quaver) hi-hat pattern with an open hi-hat on the off-beat, and a prominent, syncopated electric bass line. Strings, horns, electric pianos, and electric guitars create a lush background sound. Orchestral instruments such as the flute are often used for solo melodies, and unlike in rock, lead guitar is rarely used. Other early Disco tracks include recordings by Jerry Butler, Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, and Boney M.
Techno describes the late 1980s union of underground Black American Funk, Disco and House and the futuristic sonic elements being made in Europe with the aid of synthesizers. The music developed in Detroit through the pioneering work of Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May and Juan Atkins among others.
Genealogy of Kwaito 