By Efe Omorogbe
If music, art by extension basically mirrors society, how realistic is it to expect today’s music to be quiet on certain aspects of our everyday reality? The Headies and NMVAs have in the past, shut out certain songs from the pool of materials for nomination owing to what has been described as ‘unedifying’ message and ‘incorrect lyrical content’. This is a choice they no doubt, have a right to make. I respect that but do I exactly share that view? Not entirely.
If the song doesn’t promote hate or violence or present a clear and present danger to peace and security, I’ll nominate it for ‘Song of the Year’ if artistically, it is a freaking masterpiece. I love Bigiano’s ‘Shayo’. I neither drink nor smoke and it didn’t tempt me to try. Do I think the fact that I neither drink nor smoke makes me a good person or even a better person than the next guy who does? NAH! It’s just a matter of personal choice and has painfully little to do with the quality of heart or mind one carries within. Again, my personal opinion.
Now, a lot of alcohol is consumed in Nigeria – fact! Sexual activity level is high – correct and illicit – fact! ‘Hip-hop’ didn’t create these scenarios. We have honest people, we have thieves too. We have intolerant people and we’ve also got a lot of warm and friendly people too. We’ve got the good, the bad and the downright ugly and the music will reflect every shade of these, whether we like it or not.
I’m under no illusion that these arguments will disappear anytime soon but I seriously don’t think I’ll get tired of pushing my position anytime soon either. Like all faulty generalizations anyone has been guilty of making, analyzing independent occurrences outside the context of established biases can be extremely difficult. Most of us have been guilty of this at one time or another.
For what it is worth, I’d love to point out the fact that the last three years have produced a flurry of pop hits with heavy highlife influence. Bracket, Wande Coal, D’banj, Duncan Mighty, Psquare, D’ Prince, J. Martins and Flavour among others have scored massive hits riding on highlife-spiced rhythm and seem to have established the dominance of this pseudo-highlife vibe that’s taking the world by storm. This should make proponents of ‘indigenous’ grooves happy, I suppose.
Let me sign off with a piece of advice to all our beloved purists across the land. You can’t contain artistic evolution neither can you legislate a ‘correct’ cultural identity for our music. Whenever there’s contact of cultures, there’s interaction and integration. It is a natural process. The art will take the shape of the minds – diverse in the broadest sense of the word. That’s how society evolves. It is okay if one musician decides to experiment with a fusion of fuji and blue grass. Keep your focus on the artistic quality of the end product. That’s how frontiers are expanded. Change is the only constant in life. As the cultures interact and experiences change, let the music evolve. We shouldn’t be apprehensive. It would always come around and ultimately define who we are, where we are as a people. We define our sound and it in turn, defines us. Our music is distinctly Naija. From the standard English lyrics of Timi Dakolo and Bez through the pidgin and indigenous language-laden dime pieces of Sound Sultan, 2face, Banky W, Psquare and Sunny Neji to the conc flows of Barrister Smooth, Osayomore Joseph and Pasuma, the music remains a reflection of the multi-layered peculiarities of our social landscape.
All dead or dying forms of artistic and cultural expressions are those that refuse to adapt to change. All species extinct are those that could not adapt to their changing environment. Anything that stops growing starts dying. Please let the music change! (CONCLUDED)
