Composer describes music as strong tool for social reformation

Israel Echie, the music director at St. Albert the Great Major Seminary, Abeokuta, Ogun State, has called on the government and the private sector to support the industry to grow.

Echie told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos that the sector was also a strong tool for social reformation.

He  said that most developed countries had benefited from such investments.

“In most developed countries, life is spiced by the basic knowledge of music. Children learn how to play musical instruments and this makes them develop credible minds.

“Any investment in music by the government will be a gigantic stride because music is one sector of the entertainment industry that can generate huge revenue,’’ he said.

He, therefore, advised the government to invest in people identified to have talents in music.

The specialist in Gregorian chants also appealed to private entrepreneurs to invest part of their funds in the music industry.

He said that the music industry would be able to compete with the oil sector in few decades to come if given a boost.

The composer and arranger of both sacred and contemporary music also said: “All through the years of human existence, music has remained an integral aspect in the journey of reformation.

“Music and society have always been inextricably related because it creates and reflects social conditions-including factors that either facilitates or impede social change.”

According to the pianist, music is a way of life which takes listeners to where words cannot.

He added that music also served as a voice of caution and for societal redirection.

The music lecturer noted that when people engaged in bad deeds, and they listen to some music, their lyrics could make them regret their wrong actions.

According to him, such musical lyrics include: “ise agbe ni ise ile wa”, “akwukwo na-ato uto”, “bata mi dun ko ko ka”, “omo mi a see ohun rere  tire a dara o”, and many others.

Echie also said that musicians had used their music as a medium to communicate with the government on how good or bad their policies had been on the society.

• Only good contents should be accepted by music listeners — Ikayh

He said that the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Chief Ebenezer Obey and many others sang songs on political and social issues as they affected the society.

He also said that the Nigerian Music Industry (NMI) had grown over the years.

He said that the NMI in the early years of Nigeria’s nationhood enjoyed music that centred around freedom, the nation’s independence and dignity of human beings.

Echie, however, expressed concern over the contents of music composed by contemporary artistes.

“One basic reformation that any music requires is the quality embedded in it. Sadly, people just go to the studio, create beats and anything goes.

“Quality beat without content is noise, and it will lead to producing songs which cannot stand the test of time both in the secular and in the religious worlds.

“Even, the so-called worship music has only become a hybrid of pop music,” he stated.