Afrobeat, a term coined - I believe - by the late Fela Kuti, is today used to refer to any music from the African continent. And that is unacceptable to me. Using Afro-beat to refer to music from the continent is a gimmick to promote music to Western audiences. However, it does not say anything meaningful about the music. There is too much emphasis on the beat aspect of African music that it is now laughable. All across Africa, there are all kinds of music and many music traditions without drumming or emphasis on the beat. Not all African music calls for dancing, either. When people are grieving, for instance, the music is sorrowful or melancholic and usually without a beat. Hence, the excessive emphasis on the beat reduces the music to just an aspect.
Recently, I noticed promoters using the afrobeat term to refer to my music. To an extent, my music is truly afrobeat in the truest sense of the term. My current trio, for instance, plays with a percussionist instead of a drummer and at first listen, our album Organic Sound - https://iyeecha.bandcamp.com/album/living - is an afrobeat record. Yet, in the album, there are still ‘slow songs’. Similarly, I have released several solo albums and duos where the beat is not the focus. Hence, branding my entire repertoire as afrobeat is thus misleading.
Organic Sounds is the best way to refer to my music because it encompasses what my music is. I enjoy creating all kinds of music with or without a strong beat. Organic Sounds encapsulates all these various aspects and shades that my music in the past has taken or the future renderings will investigate. For all those promoters who ensure that live music continues to thrive, I salute you for your efforts. But I think labelling a piece of music is better done in collaboration with the creators of the music. This is how we can reach a compromise on how to present the music to the people. Above all, musicians would then have a say in the process.