Popular musician turn writer Etcetera in this piece
distinctively slams Olamide, Lil Kesh and the way
Nigerian music are made.
In his words read below:
“Shoki hey hey Shoki!” cries a voice from the radio to
the beat of a nerve-wracking pandemonium that seems
designed to drive you insane.
A quick flick of the dial and “Shakiti bobo” is playing.
The worse thing is that the raucous noise emitted by the
artiste is no match for the loud, odious din coming from
the beat. The lyrics are completely lost – which may not
be regrettable to some – but the whole tumult sounds
more like bad static than music.
I tuned the dial again. This time it was Olamide
screaming “Vanessa Vanessa.” Continue…
As the last strains of the song died away, the OAP
cheerfully and enthusiastically breaks in, “Yes, that’s for
all you listeners out there. That’s the way we do it right
here at your cool station. We personalise our playlist to
make you feel cool.”
Cool kor, cooler ni…. I felt like telling the OAP that his
choice of songs made me feel SICK.
This is simply today’s Nigerian music! Something is
terribly WRONG with it! Yet millions around the country
– especially the young people – listen to it by the hour.
WHY?
What is there about this music that is so gripping? How
can something so meaningless hold millions under its
spell? Why does it serve as a common denominator – as
“the tie that binds” – for so many youths?
Judging from how and what they’re saying and singing, it
is easy to conclude that some of these artistes should be
taken for mental evaluation! Music mirrors our emotions;
it reflects our thoughts; it echoes our activities – it shows
us the way we really ARE!
Most Nigerian artistes are confused and bewildered – or
they wouldn’t sing songs about not being able to tell right
from wrong, or songs which purposely don’t say or mean
anything, or which try only to “embody an emotional
state that points indirectly to marijuana and crazy s*x
positions.”
Music – just like other forms of art – is like a social
barometer. A strong and healthy society produces
dynamic and stimulating music; a diseased and decaying
society produces sick and decadent music.
It’s a simple matter of cause and effect!
This is now a SICK SOCIETY and, therefore, it produces
SICK MUSIC. It’s just that simple! Both parents and the
young people are to blame. My point is, we all don’t
have to be a part of this sick society – or its sick music.
Even talking about today’s gospel songs, many are lacking
in purpose and quality. The gospel singers are forgetting
that God believes in QUALITY. Look at the universe He
created! He also believes in human improvement and
GROWTH. “Become ye therefore perfect” (Matt. 5:48) and
“Grow in grace and knowledge” (II Pet. 3:18), He
commands.
God wants His people to grow in the right kind of culture
– the right kind of appreciation for the finer things in
life. He says that mature Christians are “those who by
reason of use have their senses exercised to DISCERN
both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14).
God wants us to EXERCISE our five physical senses. He
wants us to learn what the true values for the enjoyment
of the senses are. One of these senses is hearing. And one
of the ways we need to exercise our hearing sense is in
the appreciation of quality music. Quality in music
involves, first of all, the way it is composed or arranged.
Secondly, it involves how the music is performed. And
thirdly, the setting (the place and occasion) in which the
music is heard.
Read More on Spyloaded.com blog
You attend a concert only to see artistes with a
hodgepodge of idiotic noise played from a CD and the
audience seated at round tables like they are in a
canteen, screaming with mouthful of small chops and
‘samosas’ as every new song is introduced by the
performer. What utter nonsense! What is WRONG with
us? How did we completely lose our sense of value
regarding music? Do we even know the purpose of
music?
A mother justifies her daughter who’s listening to an
obscene song by saying, “If you listen to the words of that
one, it’s pretty rough. But it has a real good beat. My
daughter says she doesn’t pay attention to the words
anyway.” Are we really that naïve? What erroneous
reasoning!
Go along with the crowd – even if the crowd is on the
way to suffering, misery, pain, extinction? Do we think
that these songs have no part in the tidal wave of
promiscuity, venereal disease, illegitimate babies that are
all over the country today? If you are one of those who
like today’s Naija music, you ought to honestly and
truthfully ask yourself WHY.
