"Music is the fuel that fires up our souls. It's the oldest form of communication, predating language itself. African music is synonymous with the word Afrobeats." So begins the first episode of Journey of the Beats, a new docu-series that follows the journey of Nigerian and black music through the years, and is now streaming exclusively on Showmax.
 
Told through the lens of music historians and some of Nigeria's biggest artists, like 2Baba, P-Square, Onyeka Onwenu, Daddy Showkey, Flavour, and D'Banj, the 10-part documentary series traces the origins of Afrobeats that has taken the world by storm.
 
Journey of the Beats is produced by creative entrepreneur and the creator of Storm Records, Obi Asika.
 
Watch the trailer for Journey of the Beats: https://youtu.be/5NF3yj6hPG4
 
Each episode of the series is complemented by a Spotify playlist. Episode One: Origins and the Switch Up is curated by Ed Keazor, co-director and producer on Journey of the Beats and a historian, lawyer and musician.
 
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.
 
Find the Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6zYlHpavDbsI8RpQJ5zbyC
 
The playlist covers the birth of highlife music, through to 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.
 
New episodes of the music documentary drop every Friday exclusively on Showmax. Afrobeats fans, documentary lovers and anyone who appreciates music can subscribe to watch the docuseries on www.showmax.com.