“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.”
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 sex 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.
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 any 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.
[Article written by Etcetera]