The pandemic and lockdown of 2020 may be over, but the music scene has continued to hit us with wave after wave of sonic variants which has kept us streaming or permanently in our grooving shoes ever since. It’s been an Afrobeats pandemic! However, unlike the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, people are more than elated to experience this sonic pandemic.
This Afrobeats wave has particularly been championed by a new generation of sonic chefs like Cappella whose “Yo Yo Yo” single became a sensation on the video-sharing social platform, Tiktok (which has been the catalyst for the Afrobeats wave across the globe as seen with artists like Ckay, Victony, Buju Bxnx, etc.) which then got him massive airplay on radio across the country and even Africa.
Born Ilerioluwa Oluwasaanu (which translates to The promise of the Lord and Lord have mercy) to Yoruba parents from Ondo state in Nigeria, Cappella like the select few of the new generation acts dominating the airwaves, have wielded Afrobeats like Thor’s Storm breaker that opens the Bifrost, and just like the fictional weapon from the marvel universe, Cappella and the league of new sonic chefs have opened Bifrosts of limelight using Afrobeats across the globe. The whole world is infected by the wave. It has become a pandemic of its own. Tiktok challenges abound, from Korea to India to Europe to the Americas and back to Africa, millions of earthlings are singing their lungs out and moving their bodies to the Afrobeats sonic wave.
The Language barrier shattered, and music for Cappella like his peers has become a tool of global unity. To build on that frenzy and further solidify his place in the league of Afrobeats torchbearers, Cappella is putting the final touches to “Afro Syndrome,” a 7-track extended play (EP) project, which is set to be out December 13th.
According to Cappella, “The Afro Syndrome EP will delve deep across African sound and create a sonic fusion that crosses borders and cultural blockades.”
The 2020 pandemic may have ended, but it is crystal clear that the Afrobeats pandemic is here to stay. Get your dancing shoes ready, a syndrome is about to hit town.
