The word “ALTÉ” can be found as a short form of the word “ALTERNATIVE” in the English dictionary. But over the course of time, the music scene in West Africa evolved into something else.
What exactly is Alté music?: Cruel Santino, Odunsi the Engine, Lady Donli, and DRB Lasgidi are just a few of the unconventional, free-thinking, and progressive creatives hailing from Nigeria who are at the forefront of the unusual genre.
The latter part of the 2000s saw the introduction of this musical revolution into Nigeria’s mainstream. However, the genre did not begin to garner significant attention until the latter part of the 2010s. On the other hand, the genre was accompanied by its own distinct culture. First, let’s talk about what’s trending in the world of fashion: bucket hats, crop tops, baggy pants, layered jewelry, dyed hair, and dirty sneakers, if I may add. These were the symbols that identified one as a member of the ALTE Guy or ALTE Babe community. However, the movement encompasses much more than that.
I went to the ALTE Fest that was held in Ikeja, which is located in the state of Lagos. I was taking a drink from my red cup as I boarded my cruise. I stopped what I was doing for a moment to take in the high energy all around me, and then I had an epiphany about the genre that I had never understood despite being a part of its culture for the past two years.
This Gen-Z fan base, decked out in their aesthetic looks, hopped and jammed up to the ALTE Performers as they did their thing on stage, which was the combination of various sounds in music, including silky R&B, mid-tempo Pop, and Afro Fusion — Coming together as one sound to make a simple statement, “Let us be.”
What exactly is alte music? It refers to the type of music that is not intended to be comprehended but rather experienced emotionally. ‘Rare’ by Odunsi the Engine, ‘Mandy & the Jungle’ by Cruel Santino, ‘Enjoy Your Life’ by Lady Donli, ‘Pioneers’ by DRB Lasgidi, and ‘Pioneers’ by DRB Lasgidi are some of the projects that have been released recently. Answer the question that is posed in the heading of this article after you have listened to every verse, hummed to every beat, and experienced every sound. What exactly is “ALTE” music? It is up to you to figure it out.
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