Nigerian music in 2019: The good, the best and the new heights

I was waiting to flag down a taxi, silently humming to a favourite song some time ago and I was interrupted by the echoes of ‘Pick up’ by Adekunle Gold coming in my direction. With curiosity, my attention was drawn to the next ‘thing’ coming up. Alas! a motorcycle, ridden by a young man, who was obviously having fun. He nodded to his sound, and was singing along religiously. As I stopped him,there was no grumpiness on his face as typical drivers, who have had long days in the changing weather conditions, respond to passengers.

Though in Yoruba, I asked ‘Oga you are very excited this evening. Are you sure I should pay for this ride?’

He resounded with glee referring to the new track that was already playing from his invented motorcycle speakers.

‘Aunty Dangote still dey find money, Burna Boy don talk am ‘.

We laughed about it and literally it was a ride I didn’t exactly want to end hurriedly. From the comfort of the sound ,there was an unspoken distraction from whatever hardcore issue the day had come with. Music lovers attest to this regularly, discoveries always tell how music can change the mood; any time.

Gyrations and movements, vibes and uplift to the soul are the identifiable reactions to the sounds of music anywhere in the world. Nigerians are particularly excited when the Afro pop and hip hop genres are in the DJ’s collection, because, they represent the agility inherent in us. Nigerians are immersed in music so much that it’s no longer a strange thing to hear the bass and sing along from a moving vehicle and even bike men, with their croaky or good voices as the case may be.

This narrative of sound over the years has been experimented on by Nigerian artistes. From the days of Fela to the age we are now, pristine genres, deep lyrics and professionalism in production has sprouted in the music industry. Nigeria remains steadfast in this repertoire, breaking boundaries, gaining global recognition, and spilling matchless creativity consistently. A magical season of music is what many termed the totality of Nigerian music this year.

So many awards embellished the industry in gold and silver, in plaques and honours, locally and internationally; all worth documenting.

When some were asked how the industry should be graded this year, the reviews were positive, with some saying the relevance of the industry would be for a very long time.

Barrister Halleluyah Annakar from Benue said: ‘I haven’t been a big fan of our indigenous music for some time, but I had to be one this year. The music industry really grew tremendously this year. One thing that was key for me was the fact that several artists showed up in different ways. For the past couple of years, the spotlight has been fixated on Wizkid and Davido but this year so many more artists came out of their own and made a stake to be one the best. From Burna Boy deservedly getting worldwide recognition to Naira Marley making headlines for every reason possible, to Zlatan being the most featured artist, to Rema,  Joeboy and Fireboy rising fast and having more than five Nigerian artists on a Beyoncé album. This was the year Nigerian music really stood out tall. Things can only get better in the coming years.’

Moving forward, Daramola Damilola, an instrumentalist and producer gave his ratings as above 70 per cent . He gave the publicity, creativity and lyrics as excellent and hopes more awards would be given to deserving artistes. He also said in his review that ‘genres development is also great as we see more Nigerian artist diving into different genres not just Afro pop’.

The change in style of music, lyrics and the new revelations this year also brought a new phase into the music industry. Burnaboy’s effort cannot be overemphasised. He brought the feeling of nostalgia with the new tempo and movements in his album, an album that finally got him the enviable Grammy Award nomination. Fusion between artists around the globe is also a laudable feat. So many collaborations with them did not only put Nigeria on the global listening map but also added economic value to those involved. One of the trends on social media was when Barack Obama, former president of the United States tweeted about Rema’s song, a new sign up with Mavins Record label owned by Don Jazzy, music producer and singer.

Habib Hammid’s response to the poll when asked was that there were proven lyrics, formidable production with A and R that was dope.

Davido collaborated with Chris Brown on ‘Blow my mind’ and was streamed at 35million views on YouTube after its upload, and the climax of the achievement this year was Beyonce featuring six Nigerians on the Lion king album ,in persons of Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Mr Eazi, Wizkid, Burnaboy and Tekno to later be on the Grammy award nominations. These developments have changed a narrative. Creativity is not scarce in this part of the world.

Nigerian artists sold out concerts outside their country. Burnaboy, Naira Marley, Wizkid ,Davido, Teni, Olamide all had  successful concerts.

The other aspect that Nigerians mostly argue about is the fact that producers and artists only focus on beats and rhythms, forgetting that lyrics are important part of music too. There was a change in this as topical issues on governance, wealth creation, love, sanity, war against rape and sexual abuse, were all sung about. Falz, Patoranking, Tuface Idibia, Simi and Adekunle Gold among others, worked hard on lyrics. There were representations of grievances of Nigerians in their songs as a work on hope for change to come.

Damilola Oyewole, a Nigerian in the Diaspora said he was pleased with the music industry and all the new things the artistes have worked on.

Oyewole said: “Artists like Fireboy Dml, Asa, Johnny Drille gave us different vibes to party bangs like ‘Mafo’ of Naira Marley,  Zlatan Ibile. At some point, we totally wandered away this year, with lyrics like ‘Idi Araba, Idimu , Idi Arere’, which really did not make much sense.  But generally, I think this is the year we finally took centre stage, thanks to Burna Boy, Femi Kuti collaborating with Coldplay and Davido with Chris Brown and so many others.”

In other reasoning, Nigerian artists still need to work on their personalities and be free from scandals that could tarnish the glory. It was almost a rough time this year as controversial Naira Marley and rapper Zlatan got themselves enmeshed in court cases over mundane lyrics that the public and concerned adults saw to be bad influence on young ones. The concern was these young ones would listen to these songs, and interpret the lyrics as support for fraudulent practices and groom negative orientations.

In all these glories, more can still do more by experimenting with different sounds and not just club bangs. Live shows that speak deeper lyrics, acts that are real and creative, satirical works like that of Fela Anikulapo can still be inculcated.

The future of the music industry would be better, with the popularity of social media making way for untapped talents in the four walls of the nation to show their skills. And with more global listening and recognition,the best is yet to come.