The year 2023 has been great so far when it comes to music. From the current music releases to the promised music drops, it is evident this year will be amazing for music listeners. We are also currently seeing the continuous rise of African music. The Afrobeats and Amapiano genres keep penetrating new markets due to the successes of African artists this year. The attention on the African continent is right on time for the revival of another genre called Alté.
What is Alté?
Alté is a fusion genre of music that combines elements of Afrobeats, dancehall, reggae, hip-hop, and alternative R&B. Beyond music, it means alternative, individualistic, and non-traditional modes of self-expression” through music and fashion. This music genre has experimentation at its core. This genre has birthed a talented selection of artists who have shared their brilliant artistry with the world.
The History of Alté
Alté as a movement started in Nigeria around the year 2007, and its musical genre emerged in the mid-2010s from the DRB LasGidi collective which was one of the first “alte” group of artists. The term alté—meaning alternative—can be traced the 2014 song”Paper” by BOJ, a member of the DRB collective, which had the line “The ladies like me because I’m an alté guy.” The term would then grow to refer to an aesthetic that is alien to the traditional music and style landscape. The sound then gained commercial success in the late-2010s thanks to alté artists and pioneers such as Cruel Santino, Odunsi (The Engine), Amaarae, Tems, and many more. The entire culture and its music have made exponential strides since then, following the music releases of its artists.
The Evolution of Alté
Over time, the genre has acquired an active audience, and it has seen its artists grow and evolve with the sound. As its core rides on experimentation, each alté artist has taken the sound to different heights. Even though it has a huge fanbase, and has seen some mainstream commercial success with some releases by its artists, it has never been considered a mainstream genre. Nigeria’s influence in the genre has been invaluable. Recording artist Amaarae was one of the leading Ghanaian alté pioneers, and was often even mistakenly assumed Nigerian by many due to her numerous collaborations with the Nigerian alté community.
As it evolved, Alté grew beyond the borders of Nigeria into other African countries like Ghana and Kenya. The sub-culture and the alté sound began to brew in different spaces. In Kenya, the EA Wave collective, a collective of Kenyan Dj producers, were actively shifting Kenyans soundscapes through their eclectic music. In Accra, the music collective La Même Gang, were creating their very own alternative sound and garnering massive support. these countries besides Nigeria can boast of alternative artists who are pushing their own alternative sound such as SuperJazzClub, All My Cousins, Karun, Hiribae and many others.
SuperJazzClub Photographed by David Nana Opoku Ansah
Alté artists have been recognized in various ways through their collaborations with other mainstream acts around the world and have contributed to genres like Afro-Fusion, Afro-Swing, Afro-Pop, and Afrobeats.
As African music is being more recognized globally, Alté music is one of the genres slowly gaining the spotlight as it draws in new audiences thanks to the past work of its pioneers and its current trailblazers. The future is bright for the Alté sound as the world is tuned in for another step in its evolutionary process. As the culture keeps growing, the sound moves accordingly. Amaarae just dropped her “Fountain Baby” album, taking the sound to new heights under the scrutiny of the global music industry. Known Afrobeats artists have also shown their interest in the genre and dipped their hands into it.
The Future of Alté
The Recording Academy announced Tuesday, June 13, 2023, that three new categories will be added to the awards show in 2024: Best Pop Dance Recording, Best African Music Performance, and Best Alternative Jazz Album. The Best African Music Performance category will include the Alté genre among others, which is good news and a promising future for the genre. I believe the Alté genre will receive its flowers and gain more listeners soon.
Best African Music Performance Category
Opinions
In a quest to gather other opinions, I sent out a question to three people with extensive knowledge of the music ecosystem in Africa.
The question under scrutiny is;
In your own opinion, where do you see the trajectory of the Alté music genre in a few years due to the globalization of African music?
“African music is in a good place, and we can only get better. With a seat at the table now, everyone doing any type of music from the continent with the right mechanisms can enjoy a piece of the global pie. We have already seen people return to their Alté roots. Teni, Rema, Ayra, and others. Artists like Amaarae are doing amazing things on the global stage. So we should expect Alté music to receive its flowers on a larger scale. What we saw in 2017/18 would be even bigger with the global acceptance of African music.” – Nana Kojo Mula (Writer)
“I think being a standalone genre might be an impossibility in some years to come. I think people mistake globalization for Westernization. African music at this point is being Westernized, and the West hasn’t been conditioned to tell the numerous indigenous genres apart. Unfortunately, mainstream Afrobeats artists have already tapped into the Alté scene to make it look like it’s Afrobeats. Davido started making songs with Odunsi and Boj and never looked back. Another artist who did the same is Runtown. WizKid’s biggest record was with a true alté artist, Tems, and to the West, all these records are Afrobeats.” – Ato Kilson (PR Expert)
“The proponents of alté would proclaim that it was a movement and not a genre of music and honestly I feel the same because Alté is coupled with lifestyle and fashion. As a genre it has a wider appeal and audience because it is essentially African music (Afrobeats) fused with or borrowing from other genres like Hip Hop, R&B, Punk, Rock, Indie, Hard Rock, Emo etc. allowing people from western countries to easily get into the genre. I would call it a bridge connecting two worlds apart. More than ever the world is paying attention to Africa and our music; Afrobeats, Amapiano etc. which are very exciting times for us Africans and Alté has recently been recognized by the Grammys, I think it’s only up from here no downward spiral, cheers to that!” – Yaa Serwaa (Music curator/A&R)
Written by Brian Benjamin.
