Nigerian Music: It’s Now All About Sex and No Sense

Prosper

By Onochie Anibeze, Laju Arenyeka, Juliet Ebirim, Adeyeri Aderonke
At the mention of the name, Fela Kuti, one might conjure up images of a half-naked man, ‘strutting his stuff’ on stage, accompanied by over a dozen half naked women following his lead. But the actual impression of many Nigerians and people all over the world is much more than that; Fela embodied a struggle for a truly democratic, free Nigerian state.

Whether it was his 1975’s Monkey Banana which warned the poor not to be hoodwinked into a life of servitude by the propaganda of the rich, or his 1978’s Suffering And Smiling which spoke without fear against religious hypocrisy of people in government; or his 1981’s Coffin For Head Of State which called out the Nigerian government on the Kalakuta raid that led to the rape of his wives and death of his mother, Fela’s message was one of change – very much like music of his time.

D’banj, Tuface, Wizkid and Tiwa

Although peculiarly different from Fela’s Afrobeat, Osita Osadebe’s much-loved Highlife music was also very much about the message. His hit song, Osondi Owendi, can be translated to mean ‘One man’s meat is another man’s poison,’ portraying the ironic nature of the world.

Onyeka Onwenu’s One love was and still instrumental to building national unity. What about Christy Essien Igbokwe’s Seun Rere, a timeless piece that remains ever fresh despite its lack of naked girls shaking their booties? Who would have thought that a song admonishing a child to behave well so that things would be well with him would remain a hit for generations to come? Yet value-glorifying songs like that, and Hear your mama by Mike Okri still remain unforgotten.

Perhaps not the best club song, Edna Okoli’s Happy Birthday will be a tune of celebration for all seasons. And even now, Felix Liberty’s Ifeoma still gets people dancing and miming to their loved ones at parties. Yet it wasn’t all politics and values for the old timers; Victor Olaiya’s Baby Jowo was, and still is a love song that will never wane. Ask Tuface Idibia, who recently did a remix with Olaiya decades after the original release of the song. And when compared to today’s crude ‘shake your bum bum lines,’ the duo of Sunny Ade and Onyeka Onwenu gave a purer rendition of love in the song Wait for me.

In today’s music industry, the tune is different and so are the lyrics. Danceable beats, catchy phrases, signature dances, hi-tech editing, and a whole lot of sex and money appeal define music today. The audience doesn’t mind singing ‘Take banana till you go yo’ 60 times in one song; it seems, that music is now defined only by how it sounds, and not what it means.

Dearth of good lyrics: What does the future hold?

Lyrics are simply words that make up a song, often consisting of choruses and verses.

Sadly, these days, Nigerian musicians do not give much attention to the lyrical contents of their songs and most people do not listen to the lyrics of songs either. They only dance along to the beats. Now, the song is good if the beat is catchy and rhythmic. Musical lyrics nowadays have deteriorated to the extent that good and meaningful lyrics are hard to come by.

A common trend in contemporary songs is the flaunting of wealth, sex, drugs and alcohol.

Music lyrics have a way of sinking deep into our minds and impacting on ou         r thoughts. Each song carries a message that the singer is trying to pass on. Are you feeling sad or depressed? Slot in a “feel good” dance hall song into your CD player and notice how your mood changes.

Most music artistes of today have fallen short in terms of quality lyrics. A good song should come with quality lyrics. For instance, one song that has enjoyed massive airplay in recent times is Iyanya’s All I want is your waist.’

For the first one minute of the song, all you hear is, ‘your waist, your waist, all I want is your waist…’ and a few mumbled words which he chants intermittently. ‘All I want is your waist’, a request to which the girl responds in the affirmative as she sings in an erotic tone “all you want is my waist, my waist, you want my figure 8”.

At some point, the singer gets really excited and begins to call out names of popular female celebrities demanding for nothing else but their waists and he sings more of ‘your waist’ and then the song fades. A song of about four minutes, enjoying massive airplay around the world, whose central theme is the woman’s mid region, scores low in terms of lyrics although you may give the rhythm a pass mark.

Over the years, music has been a universal language which cuts across ages, time and space. It is represented in patterned rhythm, lyrics and systematic repetitions with a mission to communicate mood, time and ideology to an amorphous audience. It is found in every known culture varying widely between time and space. Music has been a powerful tool for societal change. The same way cultures and values can be preserved by good music, so can certain aspects of cultures be wiped out of existence by influx of bad music.

One of the major functional and strategic appeals to the mind is music. By it, a worried soul can be enlivened; a wrinkled face can wear a smile and beam in the euphoria of joy again. By it, imagination can rule the mind. Lyrics can set the mind imagining of the future or reflecting on the past. Likewise, an unpalatable situation can be painted with sounds of hope. Music can both be emotional and functional depending on the feeling the originator is trying to elicit. Many songs have been built on the basis of helping to promote an idea, especially in the corporate world, where advertisers employ the power of music in promoting products and services for greater patronage.

With good background sense, the early musicians in the world concentrated more on the content of music than on the instrument accompanying it . Although both variables – lyrics and instrument work together, one should have a greater percentage of priority than the other. Sadly though, the priority has shifted from lyrics to instrumentation especially on our shores.

Nigeria’s contribution to the development of West African Highlife and Palm-wine music, which fuse native rhythms with the techniques imported from the Congo gave birth to several popular styles like Apala, Fuji, Juju, Highlife, and Yo-pop, unique to the country. However, the dish of undiluted music, which was coming from Nigerian musicians of old, got contaminated with time.

Music can be used to curb corruption, promote love and peaceful coexistence and it can also be used to teach morals in our society.

Consider for instance, the lyrics of Onyeka Onwenu’s One Love: …One love keep us together

Somebody tell me; Oh why do we fight it

One love can set us free; if we just let it be

Take heart in a brand new day

Cause love is all we need; To chase the past away

You never need worry; If you just let it be …….

This song preaches the need to show love even when it hurts most, regardless of tribe and religion or race, lack of which is the genesis of the insurgency in the country for some time now. This was an article of faith and hope for a brighter future and our commitment to realizing and creating a united Nigeria that our children would be proud of.

Our appreciation of the musicians who truly created songs to praise and preserve our culture to the envy of the Western world has diminished drastically, occasioning dominance by foreign music which lacks the essential things that make us Nigerians. “Ace” was a musical fusion between Juju and Afro beat; a rhythmic collaboration which pierced ethnic, cultural and language barriers in Nigeria by Sir Shina Peters (SSP). Shina Peters also released Shinamania (Afro-Juju Series 2) that changed and revolutionized the Juju Music scene in Africa. Sir Shina Peters is still regarded as the creator of a well-respected music genre (Afro Juju) that exists in its own class till this day.

No doubt, our pop music is fast losing face, values and morals, and the younger generations are not making any effort to change that. Rather, they celebrate and inculcate some kind of corrupt western style of music to the detriment of ours.

2Face, in his Kolomental sings:

“Make you craze dey go; That’s nonsense; Make you no make sense ...”

Gone are the days when good music was characterized by words filled with values and morals; songs that were highly philosophical.

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