Journey of the Beats Episode 1: Spotify companion playlist

Journey of the Beats tells a once-in-a-lifetime story that explores the origin and evolution of Afrobeats and black music. Each episode is complemented by a Spotify playlist.

Episode One: Origins and the Switch Up

Curated by Ed Keazor: Co-director, and producer on Journey of the Beats and a historian, lawyer, and musician.

Time period: Antiquity to 1990

Number of songs: 103

Listen time: 10 hours

This Spotify playlist of 103 songs straddles the grooves that made Nigeria dance from the dawn of time, with traditional drum and melodic tunes, through to the birth of modern popular music in the 1920s.

The playlist covers the birth of highlife music, through the influence of Latin and Caribbean genres like rhumba and calypso, US jazz, soul, RnB, and funk, as well as the birth of a uniquely Nigerian sound, with juju, highlife, Fuji, and Afrobeat.

Journey of the Beats is a 10-part documentary series produced by creative entrepreneur and the creator of Storm Records, Obi Asika,

Watch the trailer for Journey of the Beats

Each episode of Journey of the Beats is told through the lens of music historians and some of Nigeria’s most prominent artists, like 2Baba, P-Square, Onyeka Onwenu, Daddy Showkey, Flavour, and D’Banj. The series goes behind the scenes to shed light on the Afrobeats movement that has taken the world by storm.

New episodes of the music documentary drop every Friday exclusively on Showmax. Afrobeats fans, documentary lovers, and anyone who appreciates music will love it.