This article deals with the transcultural popular music styles of sub-Saharan Africa that has evolved since the 19th century as a blend of local elements and imported ones from the West, Islam and the black diaspora of the Americas. The latter has acted as a catalyst in the creation of many African popular music genres even in colonial times and can be treated as a black musical ‘homecoming’ (A. A. Mensah, 1971), ‘cultural feedback’ (Stearns, 1988), ‘affinity’ (Roberts, 1974) or ‘resonance’ (Jacobs, 1989).