BLACKBERRIES, MUSIC AND DIMES...

BY: B - elect (Bright Igho) 

 The time is about 8.30 a.m, deciding on an early start to the day and jumping it with a transaction at a branch of one of our numerous financial instutions, I was chilling on a customer’s chair right next to two chaps,dressed up for the day, shirts tucked in and smart(my ensemble of a t-shirt and denim shirt upon  cream coloured khaki pants with brownish slip ons looked so varied in contrast),blackberry phones in hand, typing away.

With their intermittent smiles and grimaces, as much as I wasn’t particularly suited for the parade I still felt like one in a line of three, regimental (save for my hip looking sense of fashion),orchestrated and cliché-esque dudes,spurring me to put my own blackberry in my shirt pocket, tucking in my expressions stimulated by either a post or a comment received on twitter or facbook” in an attempt  to avoid being just one in the number.

Service was a bit draggy at present ground zero, so looking all around and trying not to stare unashamedly at the well curved rear of female anatomy donning brown tight pants  and black high heels(whew!) right in front of me, in between hoping my transaction goes through on time and generally enjoying the cool blast from the AC to my right hand, my hand impulsively goes back into my pocket and pulls out that handy device that seems to always make us communicate less with second party when together and more with same when we are apart, the mighty (un)healthy” blackberry…and once again I seemed to be in line with my fellow  blackberry in arms partners…..

Okay, ping!This is not necessarily a discourse on blackberries, but rather a parallel on how the Nigerian music industry seems to have taken monotony and  repetition as it’s locomotive fuel and hopefully we shall still get to the usefulness and extracurricular profits of a blackberry later on.

At a point where the entertainment industry in Nigeria..oops!Naija is getting mad props, creating jobs, propelling young Nigerians to international stardom with the likes of Asha and Nneka for instance,witnessing support from big brands, as well as creating mass bootlegging profits for many who do not value a cd(N100) much more that a bag of sachet water, it’s easy to avoid checking  out the other side of the coin.

The big Question mark is do we really have an industry? this can be looked at in two ways, in our usual fashion1) Either we are ahead of time in the present day decline of record labels on the international level, weaving over the dividends of publishing rights, an outright disregard of the role of an A&R  in projecting artiste’s potential and span as well as structure or 2: Considering that the biggest record labels in the world have the challenge of making adjustments to the  world of the internet and consequences therein, one would say that Naija trends in a new direction i.e. cutting off the fundamental role of the record label in securing sales, longevity and royalty for the artiste,I mean in a struggling corruption infested  economy where most have started seeing the lucrative aspects of music and performing far over purpose and love for creativity as a primal driving force,trust that artistry becomes the last thing the artiste has on his mind..as it  is no more  mind over “hammer!”

Secoundly, how can you blame a younger generation who have been disregarded by the generation before them in terms of structure and a  lack of a  proviclity of the system  to project for it’s future, then building it’s talent into profit now here we are in an industry where originality stands out like a sore thumb because everyone wants to jump on board the “maga,kparaga,swagga must gain” train.This naturally creates problems because as much as we are claiming “afro hip hop (pardon me) as the new way to go,like my blackberry regiment earlier on,we could all end up every instance in one line,jumping on the same bandwagon and doing the same kind of sound,the same type of act and the misinterpretation of music or entertainment as a new school that might end up breeding one half or possibly whole one track mind approach to entertainment, education and life…. creating a monster that would choke it to death!

In the long sea of “upcoming artistes, seriously, a lot will not see the shores of financial gains, common man, how hot can an individual really be after 10 years in the industry: so with no royalties, publishing rights and the surity of a standard life after “industry, these projections are things that should be addressed by another form or structure since Naija industry absolutely has it’s own peculiar one.

For instance this is a report from CNEt news on the state of the world’s biggest labels and I quote”Record stores are fading fast, the big labels--EMI, Sony/BMG, Universal, and Warner--are on their last legs, and commercial radio stations rarely play new music. The big music retail chains: Tower, Virgin, and HMV are all gone.

People still listen to music, it's how they hear it and find it that's changed. Oh, and they don't want to pay for it”, you can read more on: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-10218696-47.html#ixzz18732tGzg

Damn!There’s too much music out there, it’s almost like I can meet dude up on facebook and by the next day he’s like yo!check out my new track…  how do you get to connect with rare and right stuff(…since this was formerly the role of the label, hence a lot of good music will die and of course in the Nigerian situation, a very budding music industry would have to come together for a whole fresh way to generate enough to go round and make everybody happy while the industry grows as well, and taking a country with a population of 150million and more, the suggestion would be a differentiation of genre…something that has constantly been swallowed up.I mean it dosen’t have to be a Hip Hop” world,because other African countries do have these classifications,hopefully we will get a way around it.

As for making ching’ out of the industry, the economic terrain and unstable, unpredictable governance naturally hasn’t given enough room for more investor’s confidence so every aspiring artiste wants to play on the bill of(or be endorsed by)of the usual telecom and  beverage drink suspects and as much as the monotony is killing me(and you too)I think: I mean what’s the span of an average hit track in Naija huh??

As for the statement on difference, having been bred for a quiet a while in J-Town, the original playground of the M.Is.,P-Quares and Tufaces of the industry, I perceive to a large extent combining your dad’s record crates with good ol’ musical variety on the radio(Jos had an FM station in the early 90s which had the utmost clarity of reception and dishing out of quality music) will eventually produce  a difference in your approach and make you a  leader rather than a follower of templated clichés and production styles,because music is that lady that won’t let give you all except you do her from the ‘ soul’ and hence it dosen’t matter “where you from, it’s where you at” at the end of the night.

Let’s hope that with a cluster of new radio stations in Lagos,apparently Nigeria’s Mecca of the music industry ,the potential will increase to classify and deliver something fresh like the new sounds of Bez,Ibiyemi,Kore(of olorioko fame) amongst others,feeding the different  strata of consumers in a way that we keep the sanity of  neo highlife,rock,afro pop,fuji,rap and jazz, or a combination of all these in any form so we can be respected not just for the “swagga,maga yahoo” infested  vocal swarms but also for the fact that we have a diversity of sounds to offer that reflects our different tribes  and western influence on these.Hopefuly,we won’t all be desiring the same semi-cacophonic and overtly suited “will sing for food” sounds now rampart in the market, not meaning to say it ain’t all good but it’s obvious that we can  do better.

As the tables turn and DJ spins the wheels of cream and we’re hoping he saves our lives, a chunk of very up-tempo party tracks still stand out though, a divergence in finessing tracks  and creating anthemic phrases in local dialects and broken slanguage have a certain appeal as much as the package could lack the distance to carry you through the  next seven or eight tracks of pain or possible pleasure…if you get my meaning.

As a rap lover,I propose a toast to rap being one of the genres of music in Naija that would be given the attention it deserves with time,without bias and undue dis-regard,which means a rap artiste can still be accepted  for his style for instance if  he dosen’t catalyze as a lil Wayne,Drake  or Jay-z in  my head and a reggae artiste in his heart dosen’t have to switch styles completely and change his dancehall to “dance all “and come to think of it,I can have something besides the Darey and Obiwon to  croon her  into secret garden in the absence of Barry White.

On that note, let’s toast to more variety and quality, and as for,Henessey,Moet,Chuck cranberries Berry or Blackberry,N1500 bling, music, cash &co.,I’d say,common!!Gerrup,stand up…. give the people something they can feel.Naija rocks!!