On Closing the Nigerian-Ghanaian Music Gap

Shatta Walle, a Ghanaian music artist

And the Ghanaian DJ said, “We will start something, the Nigerians will pick it up and polish it, and they are gone.”  He is a UK-based Ghanaian DJ who was visiting Ghana. He was asked how Ghanaian music was doing abroad.

Ghana has hundreds of successful music artists. The issue, though, is that their number isn’t proportional to the Ghanaian population. Plus, Ghanaians want to be the best, an aspiration that you find in many African countries.

I also listened to Shatta Wale, a famous Ghanaian Afro Hip-Hop artist, talking about the fact that Nigerian music has gone far, and that Ghana will never close the gap in five million years. Though Shatta Wale is very famous for his brutal truths as he is for his music, I don’t agree with him a hundred per cent.

I have also listened to Ghanaian music artists whining about the fact that Ghanaian promoters are more preoccupied promoting Nigerian music, rather than Ghanaian music.

It has been the constant worry for Ghanaians, the issue of the gap between Ghanaian and Nigeria music. The gap can be closed faster than folks think if Ghanaians understand where the problem lies. Matter of fact, Ghanaians should not be thinking of closing the gap between them and Nigeria as far as this subject is concerned. They should just focus on improving their music.

I want to believe that a lot of Ghanaians don’t even believe Shatta Wale. At least, the passion for careers in music hasn’t diminished in Ghana, despite his opinion.

Recently, I have been watching a Ghanaian TV channel, named TV3. Each time they play Ghanaian music, I watch, as often, with the eyes of a music analyst, rather than just a music fan. For most of the videos I have watched, the problem is the issue of originality, the issue of a natural feel in the music, the issue of spontaneity. Originality is what makes the music professional and conquering.

Let us be specific about the issue. When an artist is performing, whether in a video or live, for instance, he displays an attitude. The attitude is triggered by the music. For the video or performance to convey that feel of originality or spontaneity, the artist should not be acting more than the music is pushing him to. It amounts to falsification. Its consequence on the music is very grave, despite the fact that people underestimate it.  Unfortunately, this is the case, the issue of overacting, with most of the videos I have watched.

Overacting is one instance of harm that can be done to originality as the issue of originality is broad, cutting across the vocals and the instrumentation.

Understanding originality shouldn’t scare wannabe artists. You just need to understand the concept and watch how it plays out in professional music.  You will be surprised that it takes five weeks rather than five million years. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHLytIFGNddajPEnt2Ry_Xg

2Baba - Gaga Shuffle [Official Video]

Dismantling Tekno Miles into Bits

I knew about Tekno from one of his earliest songs, Dance, sometimes in 2013. The song was everywhere: underground, above the ground, in the sky, in rivers, and anywhere else.  

Then, I didn’t know his name. In time, I learned that his name is Tekno. You know a musician is creative even from the sound of his name. I told myself that this guy promises so much for the Nigerian music industry, that he was going to bring his contribution to the role Nigerian contemporary music is doing to the name of the country. 

Today, after hearing the brilliant pattern of rhymes in his song, Diana, on radio, I decided to look up the song on YouTube. I found and downloaded it. Then I went on to download the controversial Pana. Then I downloaded Rara, Samantha, Where, and, even the video to Dance. From this downloads, I saw that Tekno is, indeed, Avant Garde. There is always a new feel in every song, a feel that has never been heard in the history of Nigerian music. Thanks to the vast options presented by music software. But one has to know the worth of these options and know how to harness them. Tekno is one of such artists. 

In the video of Dance, Tekno is younger and full of energy, so much that one could feel a reserve of the energy, saved for the long future ahead.  His music is a mirror of the Nigerian character. He plays the new contemporary Nigerian pop in a way that satisfies. I want to call the style Azonto, but that name is becoming less heard. The music straddles to also include Afro-beat. 

I had been pessimistic that the young Nigerian musicians of today may not be able to play Afro-beat in a way that satisfies, because what I have heard in the past are artists trying to play up the inborn traits of Fela Anikulakpo Kuti, the inventor of Afro-beat rather than playing their own brands of Afro-beat. Just as Wizkid, Tekno proved me wrong. 

Listening to his music, The Nigerian feel is heard and seen in the Pidgin English that flows spontaneously so that originality is not lost. You hear it in elements of the music, and in the dance that is decorated with Igbo native dance effects.

The Nigerian music independence is with us, and, if you fear that there won’t be artists to continue the good works of Tuface, D’banj and the others who led the way, you are making a mistake. Tekno, the Bauchi born artists, is a reason for you not to fear.

Tuface: The Greatest African Lyricist of all time

Tuface. Source: www.Jaguda.com

Over the past decade and half, Tuface Idibia, the Nigerian Afro Hip-hop/ R &B superstar star, has been in the minds of millions of African music fans. For many of us, enjoying music boils down to savoring the melody and the rhythm, without worrying about the lyrics. This is largely how many of us have appreciated Tuface’s music: without heeding his messages. It amounts to wasting so much of what his music has to offer. Paying a keen attention to the lyrics of his music would compel one to see an ignored, yet powerful element of his music, and appreciate the rightful place of the artist.

  

When we talk of outstanding lyrics, what are we looking at? We are looking at the depth of wisdom tied to it, the intricacy of rhyming and the emotion that spills out of it.

After my computer crashed, I lost all the music files I had stored in it. With a new PC, I had to repeat the ripping, sorting and storing of the music files. It was while doing this that I gave Tuface’s music another scrutiny. Amazed by the lyrics, I was compelled to begin looking at the Nigerian music setting to see if there are others like him. I couldn’t find any. I then proceeded across the border to other nations on the continent. To make my work easy, I thought of his contemporaries, artists who had contested awards with him (I recalled he had always scooped the awards whenever he was nominated). Doing this, I came to the conclusion that there is none like him on the continent as well.  Also looking backwards, I came to the decision that there, also, was none like him even in the years behind.  Believe me, Tuface is the greatest African lyricist of all time!

Check out some of the lyrics

higher spiritual healing

My Rainbow

Dance Floor

Dance in the Rain

If you know any African who stands ahead of him, do not hesitate to call my attention (+2348032982190).