REVIEW OF ‘AFROBEATS: THE BACKSTORY’

I must confess that Ayo Shonaiya did a great job with Netflix’s first-ever music documentary in Nigeria. This documentary will take you on a nostalgic ride and have you humming and dancing to some of the oldies of yesteryears, like Shake bodi from one of the earliest Afro-pop boy band groups – Trybesmen.

Documenting the journey of Afrobeats before it metamorphosed into what it is today is remarkable. The effort put into documenting, profiling, and showcasing the origin and historical milestones of Africa’s pop culture is profound.

This documentary featured interviews with stellar veteran performers, the OG, Dj Obi Asika, Eedris Abdulkareem, Daddy Showkey, Dj Jimmy Jatt, Paul Play Dairo, the late Sound Sultan, Dayo Adeneye aka D1, Tuface, Eldee, Freestyle, Weird MC, Mode 9, and so many others. He started documenting the journey in 1999 when he began his career in music management. That was the year he began filming what would become the documentary, Afrobeats: The Backstory.

There is always a backstory to every success, and that’s what this filmmaker and talent manager showed. Ayo Shonaiya took us to the roots – how it started. Was it from Lagos, Ghana, or London?

This documentary was insightful, and it explained a lot. It clarified the misconceptions about who fused Afrobeats and who brought it to the world? 

It was a tale of how it started: the origin, the progression, the collaborations, and the influence of Fela’s music on the worldwide sound. This 12-part docu-series took me into the early days when songs like Fefe Ne Fe rocked, to today’s hit songs from artists like Tems, Burna Boy, Wizkid, etc.

This is only a review, I won’t give you the full breakdown of all the episodes. But let me drop a few hints. The first episode talked about pioneers, collaborations, and the three-boy bands. The evolution and the transformation of the Afro-pop culture (Afrobeats) began with two men – Kenny Ogungbe, aka Keke, and Dayo Adeneye, aka D1.

They were the hosts of the popular AIT JAMZ, later known as Primetime Africa. What began as a need to bring local content to the fore led to the formation of the three-boy band group like The Remedies. It explained a lot about how the trio (Eedris AbdulKareem, Tony Tetuila, and Eddy Remedy – also known as Eddy Montana) met and how the name came about. After The Remedies, other groups like Plantashun Boiz and Trybesmen came into the scene. They were the early groups that revolutionalised Afro-pop.

They created a musical identity, localised their songs to the lingua franca everyone in Nigeria could understand (pidgin English), and globally changed the African music game; founded urban sounds and created relatable music that was original and unique. Produced beats that competed with the world. Soon enough, other musical groups began to emerge, and people began to pay more attention to local music. We didn’t stopped listening to foreign music, but gradually got wrapped up in our Naija music.

Fela’s Afrobeat was a major influence on this style of music. The fusion of Afrobeat and hip-hop birthed the ‘Afro beats’ with the ‘s’. It was a good thing Shonaiya didn’t walk on the path of wrong historical assumptions, but had first-hand stories and testimonies from the witnesses to back up his claim.

Credibility is one of the cores of a documentary because it’s all about the facts. The way the story was authenticated made the storyline faultless. Using archives of photographs/videos and interviews made it credible. This shows how much work went into this production. 

You will get some nostalgic feeling seeing old bands and listening to hit songs that rocked the 90s and early 2000s. It sorts of creates an emotional connection with the story. 

Another element of a good documentary is the audio quality. Getting a good and clear background narration plays a big role in your storytelling, and Ayo Shonaiya delivered crystal clear audio quality. There were no breaks in between or interruptions

The video quality was top-notch, though Netflix wouldn’t go below standard. 

Watching this series will make you appreciate Africa’s music culture. The backstory brings you face-to-face with the originators of the beat-making rave on the international scene. Afrobeats is one of the genres that have its tentacles spread across other genres, and Ayo laid a very good foundation of how it started from the 60s through the 90s down to the 2000s and right to this present day.

With Burna boy bringing home the prestigious Grammy award in 2021, the growing list of Afrobeats artists on the Grammy nomination list, and collaborations with international artists like Drake, Beyonce, Justin Bieber, and Kanye West, Afrobeats has no doubt taken over the world.

This was truly a beautiful masterpiece – the richness, the details! If you are a lover of art and music like me, grab a seat, get some popcorn, and watch this masterpiece.

Netflix and Chill!

Let me know what you think.