Artists and listening routes
A small selection of artists, with records to start from and connections worth following. These are listening suggestions, not a ranking or a complete catalogue.
Fela Kuti
Fela Kuti is a useful starting point for hearing how Lagos highlife, jazz and soul became Afrobeat. The combination of dance music and political argument matters here: these recordings are also an account of the society in which they were made.
Follow the listening routeTony Allen
Tony Allen offers a way into Afrobeat through the drum kit. His work with Fela Kuti grew out of a Lagos career in highlife and jazz; his later move to France also makes this a story of musical circulation rather than a sound confined to one country.
Follow the listening routeAli Farka Touré
Ali Farka Touré’s music is a route into the traditions around Niafunké in Mali. World Circuit describes how he brought techniques from local string instruments to the guitar, with much of his repertoire sung in Songhai and Peul. The blues connection is a listening entry point, not a complete description of those traditions.
Follow the listening routeTinariwen
Tinariwen connect electric-guitar music with a wider Tuareg musical world. Their own history traces a collective shaped by displacement, cassette circulation and several generations of performers; a single national label cannot describe those connections.
Follow the listening routeMulatu Astatke
Mulatu Astatke gives Ethio-jazz a distinct point of entry: Ethiopian musical material shaped through jazz and Latin music. His vibraphone, percussion and keyboard work connects an Ethiopian scene with an education and recording career that crossed several countries.
Follow the listening routeHailu Mergia
Hailu Mergia opens a window onto the working bands of Addis Ababa’s hotel circuit. While playing with the Walias at the Hilton, he also recorded Wede Harer Guzo with the Dahlak Band at the nearby Ghion Hotel, pursuing instrumental arrangements in a different ensemble.
Follow the listening routeOs Mutantes
Os Mutantes bring a playful, experimental side of Tropicália into focus. Formed in São Paulo by Rita Lee and brothers Arnaldo Baptista and Sérgio Dias, the group connected Brazilian songwriting with electric rock and inventive studio arrangements. Their work with Gilberto Gil places them inside the movement rather than simply alongside it.
Follow the listening routeGilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil offers a route from Bahia into Tropicália and beyond. His early listening brought together Luiz Gonzaga’s northeastern music and João Gilberto’s bossa nova. With Caetano Veloso and other collaborators, he helped turn the meeting of Brazilian song and international pop into a wider artistic movement.
Follow the listening routeKikagaku Moyo
Kikagaku Moyo offer one entrance into Japanese psychedelic rock through improvisation. The Tokyo group brings together krautrock, raga and acid-folk elements, moving between forceful ensemble passages and quieter textures. Their music is useful for exploring how a scene can be rooted in a place while drawing on sounds that travel.
Follow the listening routeYellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra opens a different route through Japanese music: electronic pop rather than psychedelic rock. Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto formed the trio in 1978. Universal Music’s history identifies them with the rise of technopop and the international success of Solid State Survivor.
Follow the listening route