Yesterday, the world stood still when it was announced that multiple Grammy winning music superstar Prince died in his home. Even though Prince wasn’t the only celebrity that died that day, his death got everyone talking including the president of the United States of America, Barack Obama. This came as no surprise, Prince was a legend. Now let’s bring it home to Africa’s music powerhouse.
I recently read a piece in which the writer, a Kenyan, argued that Nigeria is colonizing the East African powerhouse through its entertainers. This is true for several other African countries as the likes of D’banj, P-Square, Wizkid, Davido, Olamide and the rest of them are making disciples of citizens of several other African countries. But one thing is being sacrificed – good, top quality music.
These days, all that a music needs to ‘blow’ is a ‘sick’ beat from the likes of Young John The Wicked Producer, Pheelz, Shizi, I.D Cabassa, Don Jazzy and the rest of them. Just ramble some words they may – or may not make sense and the track is set to make people go crazy in the club. When it comes to performing hit songs at events, the artists (definitely not musicians) that we have these days know that the audience is more interested in seeing their faces than seeing them perform their favorite hit songs live without the likes of DJ Jimmy Jatt, hype man and someone throwing wads of currencies in the air. Yet big corporates will pay the artistes millions of naira for the kinds of shabby performances we are seeing these days. Yet If you follow the performers on social media, they will brag about how they rehearsed and gave their fans the best performance.
When I think about these and other issues as they affect Nigeria’s music industry, I shake my head knowing that all that everyone wants now is to make money and not good music. Vic O is even better than several of the guys we celebrate in Nigeria. All hope is lost, but there is redemption.
Over the last two years, my attention has been drawn to an emerging crop of young musicians who are producing top quality songs. These new school artistes are who you can truly call musicians. If you doubt me, click play below just to have an idea of the kind of music that I have in mind.
That’s may latest favorite music sensation, Simi, talking about love in a way that other musicians in Nigeria had never done before. I started following her music when she released JAMB Question which is also a song with very rich lyrics. Just few weeks ago, I also heard Simi on Falz’s song ‘Soldier’. Reading an interview she gave a newspaper, I found she actually wrote the song but Falz fell in love with it. She also has a regular live performance at a location in Lagos. I hope I can watch her live sometime soon cos I know it would be refreshingly cool.
Another musician that is catching my attention is reggae sensation, Patoranking. I don’t have the details of how he got his name but, o boy, that boy can sing. I first heard on the remix version of his song Girlie O featuring Tiwa Savage. Alubarika is probably my favorite Patoranking song check it out below, and he has several other cool songs too – little wonder other artistes enlist him for tracks especially remixes.
If there is any other musician that I believe so much in, his name is Adekunle Gold. He is one of the very musicians who songs have been hit from back-to-back – Orente, Shade, Pick Up, Ready – are all masterpieces. While his music skills are unparalleled, what many of his fans may not know is the fact that he has a firm grip of art. Many refer to him as the king of Photoshop, and he used to be in a musical group. And he can perform live. Check out his live performance of Sade on Ndani Sessions below.
Every time these three musicians release songs, I am rest assured that they are of the best quality and they are already putting themselves on the same pedestal as true musical Nigerian legends such as Banky W who by the way doesn’t seem to be retiring anytime soon. But when he finally bows out, these guys and Simi will ensure that in spite of the skiboribobo, jantamata, dorobucci and other similar noise around us, good music will not stop playing in Nigeria.
PS: I really wanted to add Timi Dakolo to this list but you know he’s not as young as these guys but sings really good and I can’t have enough of him. And his space is yet to be filled by anybody so I see him remaining influential even in the future. Check out his latest video below.
