By Olamide Jasanya
Cool FM OAP, Mannie has bared his mind on the state of music in Nigeria, describing it as appalling and lacking in content.
The dread-locked singer turned OAP said this today on the radio while hosting the Good Morning Nigeria show along with co-hosts, Shyne and Mercy. According to him, Nigeria’s music industry has suffered a loss of content recently which explains why the songs don’t last. ‘Why don’t new school songs last?’, he asked.
He further challenged music promoters and practitioners to own up and clear the industry of most new musicians who hesays are not worthy of being called musicians. He argued that every musician ought to be grounded in the art since music is spiritual.
He however gave kudos to Fela Anikulapo Kuti and son, Femi, 2face and Psquare for having made positive impact.
Mannie is a singer, OAP and currently the head of innovations for Wazobia FM and Cool FM.
7 comments
na true u talk o………as far as im concern…dz comercial sense in naija music has had it loose it value…only few of our naija artist mak classic…n those who mak gud songs are force 2 bcom trash singerz….al we do naw is pop hennesy..shake our buddy…trash…even most int’l artist dat sing commercial stil mak song dat mak sense…
Wow,av bin askin my self dis particular qtn,all we hear nw is beat,nd not d content,mostly we ladies dance to dis songs,knowin fully well dat we r bin arrassed,I doff my heart for 2face,sound sultan,asha nd odas givin us d value for oUr money.thanks mannie
Mannie on point. Truth be told 90% of our current hits willl not make it to 2014.
Well the write up by Mannie wasn’t too bad but wot i don’t understand is the commendation he has given Femi Kuti in terms of positive impact????If i rem clearly,is it songs like ‘Bang Bang Bang,i jus dey go….Her breast be like Dunlop Marine????Wot +ve impact is dat abt pls?I understand that he shares the name Kuti with his father whom we all acknowledge and give kudos to till tom but hey,it doesn’t correspond to us equating Femi’s impact to Fela’s.P-Square haven’t done too badly but i don’t really see them being different frm the other Nigerian musicians in terms of lyrical depth.2face has a sonorous voice and in almost all cases,whatever he sings sounds pleasing to the ears but if we really sit and table his lyrical lines in quite a number of cases,there isn’t much spectacular to most of them.I appreciate basically only his love songs ‘cos as far as me thinks,his love lyrics make u wanna jus fall in love which is deffo a good thing.As for current songs not lasting,i totally disagree!No one like u by P-Square is one song that is still being played at weddings till tomorrow,Fall in Love by D’banj which is approx 4 years old now is still so very much played at weddings till date and quite a few others as well.I think almost evry musician has made some sort of impact.Music is not only limited to lyrics or vocals only.There’s much more to music and as we all know,music is very relative and what tickles one’s fancy may be totally different frm wot tickles another.I listened to a song by D’banj as comical as we all kno he is,its titled ‘Celebrate’ frm his Entertainer album back in 08 and the lyrical depth of that song was inestimable.It actually inspires one not to let worries get the best of one and stand tall up against all odds.This came frm D’banj,as funny and comical as he is so really,almst all of them av one impact or the other.Some amuse us with their lyrical sense of humour,some with their voices,some with their delivery etc.All in one,we can only but wish them well.I must also state that the Americans who sing in most cases have dirtier lyrics than the Nigerian counterparts,far dirtier lyrics!I however still support a bit more lyrical depth jus as Mannie has emphasized but the commendation on the selected few is wot i don’t totally agree with at all.
Peace and Out!
Teni u need to clean ur ears listen to dance in the rain, rain drops, e be lk say, u no holy pass, only me, for instance a these are not love song look at their lyrics and correct the nonsense u said about 2face. I am not surprised u yoruba guys lk your own that’s why dbanj that even tells us he is an entertainer and not musician is ur best musician lyrically…. Its a shame!!!
@David,i think ur the one who needs to open ur eyes properly and read wot i have written.I did not give preference to one particular person so pls make an effort to digest and interprete properly before dropping any comments.This has nothing to do with tribalism so don”t be so silly as to mention such.Did i write that D’banj is my best lyrically or is the best lyrically?U definitely need glasses.
@David,secondly is it that u don’t understand English?I understand that ur in love with Tuface hence ur baseless defence over him but let me re-emphasize to u again,some of his songs lack lyrical depth and i wld say this over and over again.Songs like Enter the place,Implication,Excuse me sister,many songs frm his new album ‘Away and Beyond’ which seems to be a bit of a flop and so on.Like i mentioned earlier,his love songs are the best in the whole of Nigeria.I wld be stewpid to say otherwise!So my dear,make an effort NOT to be blinded or deafened by the love u have for Tuface and be fair in ur judgement.By the way,yes D’banj is an entertaining talent and am glad u urself can’t dispute that but the fact that he’s more of an entertainer doesn’t mean u and ur likes shldn’t make an effort to listen carefully to his wordings ‘cos the truth is,he does make sense in the real sense of it sometimes.Like i earlier pointed out,all of them have one impact or the other so giving kudos to some selected few is very silly of anyone.