The quality of Nigerian music has gone down drastically since the late 1980s. When I listen to the music played on the Nigerian airwaves these days, I keep on wondering whether these new breed artistes have anything in their heads at all.
Music is supposed to be exciting! But most of the new generation music we hear today on our radio stations is repulsive, the lyrics are vulgar and the rhythm is far below standard when compared to what is obtainable in the other African countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Congo, and Cameroon.
The music of the 1970s and 1980s are far better than the nonsense the new breed artistes are churning out today in the name of music. The problem with the new generation musicians is that they lack proper orientation and training. Music is a longtime investment; a good music artiste needs to play at least one musical instrument and takes time to compose good music making good use of his/her cultural attributes.
Originality is the mark of a good musician, but what do we have in Nigeria today? Imitators and copycats! Everybody want to do rap, hip hop like the Americans forgetting that there are a lot of cultural differences between Africa and America. No African born and bred in Africa can compete favorably with an American born artiste in pop, rap and hip hop music just as no American artiste would beat a Nigerian in highlife, juju and fuji music.
Our new generation musicians should do their home work very well by listening to artistes like Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Osita Osadebe, Rex Lawson and Christy Essien Igbokwe all of blessed memory. They should also listen to the living legends; King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey and Onyeka Onwenu.
Emeka E. Okeke
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