Opinion: The Dearth of Originality in Nigerian Music
Nigerian music has come a long way from what it used to be like in the 1980s and 1990s. Nigerian music genres like Highlife, juju and Afrobeat music that dominated those days are dying off like old men IK Dairo, King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey. Deep, meaningful lyrics are becoming a thing of the past, one-liners are the new fad and are recycled from song to song, rhythmic diversity is yesterday’s talk and dexterity on musical instruments is no longer important. I’m not sure what bothers me more: lack of originality or the fact that we are accepting dearth on a platter and having it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lyricists used to load their songs with political innuendos but “composers” these days are incapable of satire much less anything remotely intellectual. Is this something we should be worried about? Well totally. That is why I’m writing this post in the first place.
I hope that I’m not the only one who is concerned that almost all popular music today have the same rhythmic patterns, maybe too much auto tune, one line lyrics repeated throughout the song, dance club videos? Not that auto tune and one-line lyrics are bad in and of themselves, they are just bad when all songs begin to take on the same structure. It becomes monotonous and doesn’t give music lovers like myself something to look forward to. Of course, in every music industry there will always be commercial artistes: the ones who watch the trends, join in and become hits then there are those that love and enjoy the art making good music, start trends and wait for the wannabes to follow. There is a huge problem when the industry has more trend-followers than trendsetters. There is a need for a wide range of genres for the other half of the Nigerian population that wants something other than jollof music. We need middle ground, we need balance, we need someplace where the art music lovers and the jollof musicians can meet halfway. Imagine what would happen if Highlife, Apala, Waka, Yo-beat were improved on by contemporary artistes? Try to wrap your mind around the amazing things that could come from taking Juju music and doing something urban with it? Fela Kuti (arguably our largest export to the West) observed the music of his time and decided to create something new, different and unheard of: afro beat (an amazing hybrid of highlife and jazz music).
A lecturer of mine once said that an African may be able to play classical piano music very well but he can never be able to play it as well as a Caucasian. And a Caucasian may be able to play Bata drums but he cannot play them as well as a Yoruba man can no matter how hard he practises. Not all Nigerians enjoy horror movies and more than a handful of guys actually allow themselves enjoy chick flicks so why should all men and women, as diverse as we are, be subjected to the same recycled beats and one-liners over and over again? A few people may murmur “What about Asa?” It might not surprise you to know that Asa is more appreciated and celebrated in France than she is in Nigeria. Or would you rather talk about Nneka who toured with Damien Marley and Nas, topping German charts singing about her home country? These are women in the diaspora who are in it for the love of music, for art, and are welcomed with open arms by Germans and the French. The usual trend is: when these musicians are heralded as gods abroad, we begin to long for something we should have appreciated from the beginning: originality.
“Oh go down low, baby
shake it for me
whyne your waist
give it to me
you are the woman for me
the girl of my dreams”
And we wonder why men today have the corniest pick-up lines? These sorry excuses for lyrics constitute the most part of lyrics in Nigeria today. It is disgusting and ridiculous.
Since this is not just about pointing out the problems, I will be proffering solutions too. It is really simple. Dear artistes, follow your heart. Do not allow yourself to be blown about by every new wind of musical doctrine. Stick to your art. It’s only normal for you to want to be rewarded for your work when you feel you have put your blood and sweat into it. It only becomes abnormal when that’s the only thing that drives you. It’s the same in every honourable career. Picture a doctor that is in medicine for the money. If he is driven solely by it, it does not matter that his patients die as long as he gets his money. If you are driven solely by fame and money and your twisted idea of success, you don’t care that you’re feeding your audience the same recycled junk and you, literally, kill your listeners. Think about that for a minute.
You enjoy music does not necessarily mean you should make music. At some points in my life, I was watching too much Fashion TV and I began to think that I would make an awesome fashion designer. At some other points, I watched too much Crime and Investigation and I told my father I wanted to be a Criminologist. I have wanted to be a cook, actress, dancer at different points in my life and at all those points I strongly believed those things were what I was born to do. I enjoy all these things do not mean that I should be making them. Listen to me; you do not have to make music! Just enjoy it as much as you can.
For those that still think that music is for them, congratulations. I’m going to tell you here and now that there is no one-size-fits-all formula for success. Success can not really be measured by how many records you sold, how many awards and medals you have because there will always be someone in the world who has more than you do. So as far as I know, success should be contentment with what you have achieved in your career. Success for you right now could mean recording an album or it could mean finding a good producer. Success could mean ticking everything off your to-do list for your day in the recording booth. Success is fulfilment.
Music is your art so you want to invest in a good producer. If you have made up your mind to go into this music thing, you have to throw everything you have into it. Do not regularly waste 7 hours of your life in a crappy studio with a below-average producer only to churn out junk music (and that is not even a genre) Maybe you have not achieved your idea of success because you are doing mainstream. Think outside of the box and do something different. The world just may be hungry for something other than the usual.
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