Burna Boy is a figurehead of Nigeria’s booming music scene. Its most prominent genre is Afrobeats, a modern-day sequel to Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Burna Boy’s grandfather, Nigerian broadcaster Benson Idonije, was Kuti’s manager. But the star of contemporary Afrobeats rejects comparisons to the pioneer of original Afrobeat.
Burna Boy prefers to call his music Afrofusion, for its blend of African and western styles. His songs occasionally touch on politics, but shy away from the revolutionary energies of 1970s Afrobeat. The Port Harcourt-raised singer, real name Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, would rather dwell on pleasure and good times. His philosophy is summed up by the chorus in a song from his new album, Love, Damini: “I don’t want to waste my days, I want to spend them on enjoyment.”
His sixth studio album is topped and tailed by tracks featuring South African choral troupe Ladysmith Black Mambazo, placing Burna Boy in a wider framework of African singing. His own vocals are attractively soft and melodious, with well-worked gear changes into a more impassioned mode. Lyrics are sung in a mix of English, Nigerian Pidgin and Yoruba.
Following 2020’s self-aggrandising Twice as Tall, which won the Grammy award for best global music album, the mood of the 19 tracks is mellower and more modest in outlook. “The fast life really ain’t all that,” Burna Boy murmurs on “Rollercoaster”, whose title belies the song’s buttery-smooth groove. It has a turn from reggaeton singer J Balvin.
Other guests come from across the musical spectrum. Pop superstar Ed Sheeran appears on the ballad “For My Hand”, while UK rapper J Hus features in “Cloak & Dagger”. Jamaican dancehall singer Popcaan sings on “TAS”. Amid these mainly male supporting roles, US R&B vocalist Kehlani lends her voice to romantic slow jam “Solid”.
The risk of combining all these different reference points is that they’ll cancel each other out into blandness. But Burna Boy plots a course through his hybrid music with confidence and an experienced touch. Guitars weave through songs with a precise cascade of notes, like threading a needle, while horns cast a warm glow. Sing-song melodies are set against gently pressing beats. Enjoyment is the aim, and also the outcome.
★★★★☆
‘Love, Damini’ is released by Atlantic
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