‘Afrobeats, From Nigeria To The World’: Watch the 1st part of this music documentary this weekend on TRACE

The first part of TRACE’s new music documentary Afrobeats, from Nigeria to the world will be broadcast on Sept. 3 at 8pm on TRACE Naija (DStv channel 325), on Sept. 3 at 8pm on TRACE Africa (DStv channel 326) and on Sept. 4 at 10pm on TRACE Mziki. It will also be available worldwide on these days and on these channels via TracePlay, TRACE’s SVOD platform.

The two-part music documentary Afrobeats, from Nigeria to the world retraces the socio-economic, historical and musical aspects of the biggest African phenomenon of these past 50 years.

Afrobeat is a multifaceted style of music initiated by Nigerian legend Fela Kuti. Today, the modern term Afrobeats, refers to a sound that has been adopted around the world and gained a ubiquitous presence on the radio, TV, social media and on the dancefloors of most nightclubs around the world.

Afrobeats has achieved mainstream success outside of Africa, with big names in the music industry such as Drake, Chris Brown, Alicia Keys, Jidenna, MHD, Booba, Maître Gims and Major Lazer collaborating with African superstars.
Apart from this, new generation key players such as Wizkid, D’Banj & Tiwa Savage are signing international record deals.

Questions arise: What exactly is Afrobeat ? How did this music genre impose its style so rapidly ? Where does it come from ? Who are its founders ? And most importantly, what does this new wave of sound mean for the future of the music industry ?

Featuring exclusive interviews with Yemi Alade, Davido, Femi Kuti and many more!

In order to get answers to all of these questions, TRACE travelled for 4 years around Europe, Africa and in the USA to collect over 40 testimonies from the movement’s key actors among whom are Davido, J Martins, Psquare, D’Banj, Bracket, Skales, Akon, Femi Kuti, Flavour, Jidenna, Yemi Alade, MHD, Niska, Sidiki Diabaté, Fuse ODG, Sarkodie, Wizzboy, Eddy Kenzo, Youssou N’Dour, Passi, Mafikizolo, Khuli Chana, Cassper Nyovest, Banky W and many others.

Hugo Claveau, writer and director of the documentary says “This movie is the result of meticulous work. It’s about over 40 interviews collected by our team on 3 continents, for almost 5 years. TRACE has a privileged place at the center of African contemporary music worldwide. This place allows us to follow daily and in an exclusive way, the evolution of Afrobeat today. Originally Nigerian and now African, we have tried to understand how over the years, Afrobeat has become the soundtrack of Africa and a worldwide phenomenon.”

The two to four-part documentary will be broadcast across Africa on TRACE Naija, TRACE Africa and TRACE Mziki in September. These channels are available worldwide on TracePlay, TRACE’s SVOD platform.