“RAPT” takes audiences on a journey to the floating village of Makoko, Nigeria, known as The Venice of Africa. This short film captures the joyous, moving moments of residents' daily lives, and the hidden beauty and unseen sides of a slum town fighting for survival.

Female-led, London-based Afrobeat band, Kokoroko, is simultaneously reviving and reinventing Afrobeat at a time when pop, Hip-Hop, rock, electronic dance music and Latin are the five most popular music genres worldwide.

RAPT is the first-ever official music video by Kokoroko, launching the band globally,

while also introducing new music-loving generations to the Afrobeat sound.

London has long been a hotbed for music from West Africa. Following pioneers Ambrose Campbell in the 50s and 60s, and Fela Kuti in the 70s, Kokoroko are its newest Afrobeat innovators.

Kokoroko are driving the music forward for a new generation. “We don’t want this music to die” says Kokoroko percussionist Onome Edgeworth; while trumpeter, Maurice Grey, asks: “What does this music sound like for my generation?”

The brief to elevate Kokoroko’s Afrobeat sound and launch the band globally through a film featuring three tracks from their album “Could We Be More”: Ewà Inú, Home, and Age of Ascent, re-imagines the music as a soundtrack to a triptych of interconnected stories set in Makoko.

The Director’s objectives were to inspire, inform and educate viewers about Makoko and Nigerian culture. And to enhance the incredible sound of Kokoroko through emotive film to bring the band’s debut music-video to audiences globally.

As Kokoroko’s first ever official music video, “RAPT” re-imagines the band’s music as a soundtrack to a triptych of interconnected stories. Much of the debut album was an inquiry into what “homecoming” means, so the video also returned to their West African heritage.

Set in Makoko, a community built on water, surviving at the literal and metaphorical edge of Lagos, Nigeria, this beautiful short film was conceived and directed by the multi-disciplined filmmaker, Akinola Davies Jr.

Hitting the bittersweet emotional notes of the tracks, Akinola shares an allegorical and enigmatic story. “RAPT” celebrates the rhythms of life, just as Kokoroko's ebullient music does to bring the Afrobeat sound to new music-loving generations and set it within its origins, showing West Africa in new contexts.

Inspired by the struggle of the people of Makoko, the British-Nigerian director headed to the city to film Kokoroko’s first video: a short film to soundtrack three of the band’s songs from their debut EP, “Could We Be More”: Ewa Ina, Home and Age of Ascent, released by Brownswood.

Shot on 35mm film, the narrative takes us through the busy waterways of Makoko. We see residents going about their daily lives in vivid colour, from going to the market, to playing pool and cards. Moving, personal moments are captured.

Hitting the bittersweet emotional notes of Kokoroko's tracks ,religious metaphors hint at the idea of a second coming in this outlier community. A journey through pregnancy, birth, exorcism and ascension it’s told sensitively, showing the humanity, grace and beauty thriving within, seeing the entire community coming together to take in a striking West African sunset.

Kokoroko write their own music. They don’t want it to sound too ‘clean’, opting instead for grooves with added grit, purposely sounding rough, like hearing music pushed through speakers at an outdoor festival, or capturing the energy of people dancing at acrobat parties.

So for the director, shooting the video in Makoko was entirely appropriate. Indeed, the film reimagines the music as a soundtrack to a triptych of interconnected stories set in Makoko - a community originally settled by fishermen excluded from official census records and under threat of demolition, told through a allegorical and enigmatic story.

Shot over two days, the film is highly narrative, taking a documentary approach that was sensitive to the peoples of Makoko. Akinola worked with local fixers and a charity to ensure a positive impact for the communities they filmed.

The film “RAPT” launched Kokoroko, the eight-piece Afrobeat band, onto the global stage, introducing these London-based Afrobeat innovators to international audiences and celebrating a music genre that was ripe for revival.

Following the film’s release, the Guardian newspaper's music critic Ammar Kalia named the band “ones to watch”. He commented “This female-led, multicultural collective of under 30s is a vital example of not only jazz’s new form but the shape of things to come.”

The production company provided an endowment to The Special Youth Foundation in Makoko upon completing the shoot to ensure a positive impact for the communities they filmed.

Thanks to the exposure from “RAPT”, Kokoroko’s final track on its EP - Abusey Junction - won track of the year at the Worldwide Awards, made many end-of-year lists and received over 20 million plays on YouTube.

Listeners attentive to Kokoroko's lyrics will enjoy a lesson in social and music history. One track is a meditation on the way societies evolve after conflict, another is a redemptive song about the cultural trope of the ‘black superwoman'; a third is a soft lullaby recalling old West African folk melodies.

Noteworthy too is the film’s sensitive and poignant filming of the peoples of Makoko. The city built on stilts is under constant threat being torn down by the Nigerian government. With a light touch, Akinola Jr.’s objective to inspire and educate viewers about its residents' plight was beautifully achieved. Kokoroko's music “gifts the listener feelings of homecoming and joy” says the band. The same natural and ultimately joyous tone imbues Akinola's film.