African Music Success Algorithm

 Afro Beats is going places far beyond where it originated.

Burner Boy. Source: Burner Boy Instagram Page

The current Afro Beats (not to be confused with Afro Beat) started in Ghana, but, like a UK based Ghanaian DJ puts it, “the Nigerians pick it up and polished it, and they are gone.” Afro Beats is over ninety per cent Nigerian. A lot of Africans want to join what has become a band wagon. So, there is a dogged search of the formula to achieve this dream. In proffering solutions, sadly, we see a lot of lies from folks that are bent on feeding fat on the ignorance of wannabe musicians.

There will always be abuses of anything that is designed with a good intent to help people. Some assume, without researches, that what they think of something is what it is. Others are aware that they are ignorant of a topic, but care less and knowingly go on to dish out lies.    YouTube is one platform that has been abused. There, there is this huge lie that why the Nigerians are successful in contemporary African pop is because many of them speak a lot of languages from across Africa. What that means is that Davido will probably speak Swahili, Zulu, Wolof, Hausa... in addition to the Yoruba and English that he speaks.  

It is not true that if your music must succeed you must speak multiple foreign languages. “Theories” like these work against what they are intended to solve –helping intending artists. Artists would only get more confused, since there are multiple of these sorts of lies that are told.  It is the reason why I am posting this to let people understand, precisely what is required to become successful in music.

Here are they:

Talent.

An “artist” must have the talent. The singer must have the vocal ability, if he wants to sing.

You must know how to write professional lyrics.

If you are not sure how to achieve this, listen to successful musicians to study the structure and content of their songs. These days, with the internet, there are always lyrics of popular songs posted online. You can download and study it. And the word “study” shouldn’t scare you. Studying could just be ten minutes of you reading to see what the artist has said in the song and how it is related to his life.

You must be original in your singing style. 

This is important. Originality is the quality of uniqueness that is natural to you. Check out the vocal character of every successful artist. You will see that he is unique. 

You should be able to sing with an urban feel. 

Growing up in a major city should give you an urban personality.  But it is always good to start somewhere and grow.

Find a good producer.

There is the need to find a good producer. How do you know if someone is a good producer? You know a good producer from the consistency of his good works.

Your song must have a hook.

In this context, a hook is that mood that gets your head spinning or which “makes your head scatter” as the saying goes in Nigeria. When people keep coming back to your song, you surely find relevance.

Understand when your song is good.

Not all good songs get heard. It does come from poor publicity or ill luck, sometimes. There could be other factors. If you know your song is good, despite its inability to get heard, you understand that the problem isn’t you.

It is dangerous for an artist to be unable to understand that not all good songs or albums rise above the horizon. The danger is that the artist begins to try other needless and counterproductive approaches.

The Wailers songs weren’t known, for instance. It was after they broke off and found individual successes that people started looking into their past works to discover how good they were. What if they didn’t know that they were good?

 

Yiro Abari High is the author of How to Become a Music Maestro: 

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523494999?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

The Tiwa Savage Sex Tape Seems Staged

Captured from the Tiwa Savage video     

 What is trending within the Nigerian music circle, at the moment, is the topic of Tiwa Savage’s Sex Tape. I first saw it on YouTube, but shoved it aside –I had other issues on my mind when I logged into YouTube that day. Later, I saw it on Facebook, when a former Nigerian Senator commented on it, saying he would faint should he dare watch the video.

When I decided to watch it on YouTube finally, it wasn’t the full tape. It was a short slot shown in an interview in which Savage was hosted. The interview was on something else, but the Nigerian singer changed the trajectory of the discussion by introducing the story of the sex tape in a manner that seemed so unnatural. If she had failed to bring it up, the interview would have gone without the host asking anything about it. To her, it is an accomplishment the world needs to know.

The idea of a sex tape is an American subject. It was trending in the US for some time until the tide of events brought forth other issues that drowned the topic of sex tapes. Scandals about sex tapes seem old-fashioned. It was in connection with top American celebrities. It never happened anywhere else. At least we never heard it happening somewhere outside the US. Now, it is “happening” in Nigeria, not in the UK, not in Germany, not in France and not in Italy. It seems Nigeria is in a rush to narrow the gap between it and the US, at least on this subject.

There is no doubt that Savage is the Nigerian diva. If, however, some Nigerians, including Savage, are of the notion that stardom for a woman is never fully accomplished without a sex tape, then they have got it wrong. There hasn’t been any sex tape in connection with Beyoncé! There hasn’t been any in connection with Brandy whom Savage recently featured in one of her songs, “Somebody’s Son”! Neither has there been any in connection with Rihanna. Yet, these American women are among the most accomplished global music superstars.

The tape was, allegedly, recorded after Savage came out of a concert in Lagos. So, what it means is that immediately she ends any concert, the next thing is to have sex. I thought the next thing would be to shower. So, who is that Nigerian that has become so sophisticated (or rather stupid) to conceive this idea? How did he break into the hotel room to plant the camera without being noticed? Why was Savage in a rush to break the news?

Nigerians haven’t that kind of liberal culture. What we have is this warped notion that we are big when things happening in the US also happen in Nigeria. Sadly, Savage is of that notion as well. I had thought she had grown past the circle of people with this mindset. It is fine to put on revealing dresses in a music video and dance in a very seductive manner, but I think that there will be a problem if a video comes out that features you having sex.

Tiwa Savage was married to her former manager, Tunji Balogun until another sex scandal led them to end the marriage that had yielded a son. Since then, she had remained single, preferring to date, rather than get married. Meanwhile, she has continued to occupy the front seat of Nigerian and African Avant-Garde. But she needs to understand that a sex tape does not consummate stardom and that she needs to keep things real.

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

Why Did My Second Album Fail?

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

Jah Device in Collaboration with Sly and Robbie

Jah Device

Till now, Nigeria’s biggest reggae indices had been Majek Fashek and Ras Kimono. With the death of of Ras Kimono and the dormancy of Fashek, a huge void seemed to have opened. But, that is not true; Jah Device is set to take over and has been making an impact on many who care to tune their ears in the direction of Reggae Music. With long hair-locks, he is an eccentric and brutally passionate reggae artist.

Nigerians have no reason to worry about the creation of a void in the reggae fraternity; Jah Device is big and an embodiment of many artists in one. He went to St. Joseph College, Vom, Plateau State, his home state. After that, he studied at the Plateau State Polytechnic and decided that he wasn’t going to walk the streets with a small derisive folder in the name of job searching. He took to reggae music with a lot of energy that goes kaput when he is on stage, the long matted hair often ferociously whipping the air.  

Between 2017 and now (2020), a lot has happened to promise Nigerians that finally, there is a successor to Kimono and Fashek. Device started doing dub session in late 2017. These he sent to international reggae promoters like Zige Dub and the Reggae Boyz. After Zige Dub listened, he decided that Jah Device deserved to be heard by a global audience.  So, he held Device’s hand and led him to the largest reggae music label in Europe, the Stringray Records. That year, Stingray tested him and Daddy West, another Nigerian, with the 1-2-3 Rhythm. The rhythm was to feature globally famous reggae artists of which Luciano was one.  For Jah Device, it was eureka; his song found its way into the compilation. He was featured in two additional compilations leading to contract litigation that ensured he found himself under the canopy of Stingray Records. 

Having been signed, his Ray of Light EP project with Stringray started. It included seven tracks and was released in August 2019. One of the songs, the Ships of Tarshish featured a Jamaican giant, Natty King, famous for his song Bring no Guns to Town.

Meeting with Natty King was a huge milestone, not just because King is a global brand, but because it paved the way for additional leaps. Natty King has an annual fund-raising concert in Jamaica, the Wellofest. It brings reggae artists from around the world to perform and help raise funds to support needy children within Jamaica and around the world.  Jah Device became the first African artist to perform at the event. The performance took place in November 2019. 

The visit to Jamaica helped him to travel across the country, promoting his EP and visiting places that included Bob Marley’s home. But the groundbreaking event of the tour was meeting with the famous Luciano and Duo, Sly and Robbie. We have been hearing about these names since we were kids some forty years behind. Sly and Robbie worked with nearly every name across many decades: Bennie Man, Sean Paul, Peter Tosh, Black Uhuru, Gregory Isaac, Dennis Brown, Ini Kamoze, Spanner Banner, etc. Thus, meeting the duo was an extraordinary milestone. It led to collaboration. It will be a major project that will be consuming Device’s time and energy this year. The duo is taking very seriously, so much that Sly said, "Jah Device 2020 is for us to do some work." 

Of the many songs, they will be doing with Sly and Robbie, one will be released by WelloWell Records, which is owned by Natty King. Hopefully, the project will drop this year. 

Jah Device is a modest reggae artist and an envoy of his nation; he believes there are more reggae talents in Nigeria that are better than he is. He says, “I may be here talking, but may not be the best from Jos because the Bible says, ‘time and chance happen to everyone.’” 

His music is all about glorifying God, something that is mirrored in his name. 

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

 

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