The guitar from its lowly beginnings in palm-wine/tombo bars had, at the turn of the eighties, shaped Highlife and its hybrid genres of popular music in Nigeria for nearly five decades. As from the seventies it was now the turn of the youth; more in-tune with and influenced by ‘global’ […]
MUSIC REVIEW Until about a decade ago, the average Nigerian musician wasn’t keen on pursuing the right to royalties anytime his music was used anywhere, on radio, on TV, in a movie, in an advert-anywhere. Now, several singers, some song writers and some music producers are keen on their […]
We lost Victor Olaiya on February 12, 2020. And Tony Allen went after him last Thursday. But long before they left, many of the country’s highlife veterans, like them, had passed on. Rex Jim Lawson left us […]
London is the place for me; a line from a hit song by the popular West Indian musician Edmundo Ross, captures the essence of why musicians from different parts of the world gravitated to London in the sixties to create the Swinging Sixties on the British […]
Afrobeat music; a fresher, musically expanded and enriched version, is being played and recorded for posterity; somehow under the popular radar. This phenomenon has evolved from a dream and focused experimentation on the shape of Afrobeat to come-that has been actively going on for two decades-to the happy reality of […]
In the face and cultural threat of the new definition AFROBEATS, it is necessary and urgent to reclaim the original nomenclature of AFROBEAT. In this age of social media and free self-expression, we run the risk of re-branding by people who don’t know and understand; aided by gullible bandwagon followers […]
The elderly man dressed in a flashy, open-necked shirt speaks slowly, with a perceptible effort of breath. He is telling of a time of wondrous memories, so smiles aren’t far from his face. The camera is patient, thankfully, and the microphone is free of static. To someone who has made […]
THE MARLIANS: THERE WILL BE CASUALTIES, BUT…. Parents are panicking. Mothers are secretly checking on their baby girls’ undies. Teachers are having sleepless nights trying to make the kids wear belts around their waists, again. The fad among a […]
Who Owns The Music…Producers, Beat-Makers or Singers…? Let’s Talk Music by: Mallam Abdul Okwechime I have deliberately chosen to describe those that are usually called ‘musicians’ in Nigeria, today, as ‘singers’ and not musicians. Because that’s what they are. They are, by and large, singers/song writers who perform their songs […]
This is NOT about FELA. It cannot be. If you lived in the FELA era or had a chance to stay close to him, you’d be sure that there can never be another FELA. Bob Marley put it squarely: “there is only one FELA in the whole World”. “Our […]
