A Moroccan radio personality and Hit Radio Music Programming Manager, Omar Es Saidi, has revealed how Nigerian music dominated the Moroccan music industry through sensational singing duo, Psquare.
Omar, who spoke exclusively to Saturday Tribune during the All African Music Awards (AFRIMA) nomination announcement held on Monday, said he was in Nigeria to introduce Moroccan music to Nigeria with the aim of bridging the musical gap between the two countries.
According to him, there is an apparent imbalance in the musical awareness of the two countries. He said while Nigerian music has been massively accepted within the north African airwaves, the west Africans were still in limbo of a growing music culture in Morocco.
Omar is responsible for programming music contents for over 14 radio stations in his country. He disclosed that he introduced Nigerian music into the entertainment menu of Morocco through the songs of Africa’s biggest singing duo, Psquare and Dbanj and has been amazed by the success ever since.
He said, “Moroccans, four-five years ago, did not know about Nigerian music. But we decided to introduce Nigerian music with Psquare, Dbanj and others. I don’t know how else to tell you, but Nigerian music is a big success in Morocco. Psquare is a big star in Morocco. Festival Nawazine is one of the biggest festivals in Morocco. Psquare was booked to perform at the festival in 2015. It was a huge success. Over 60,000 persons came for the festival”.
He also mentioned how Moroccan artistes have had to indigenise Psquare songs in the Moroccan language in order to enjoy the songs better and also curtail the musical monopoly of Nigerian songs.
According to finding by Saturday Tribune the cover of Shekini by Psquare retitled “Hek Lili Nifi” in Morocco has reached over 35 million views on Youtube since 2015, while Runtown featuring Davido’s song Gallardo retitled “Barbapappa,” ,has been viewed over 19 million times on Youtube.
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