Music gone Mad

“Arise from your sleep Africa,

 Arise from your sleep America,

There’s work to be done Africa,

There’s work to be done America.

If we unite… We will be free, so long

For too long… So long, for too long…”

A portion from a song I grew up listening and as I grew older I realized how much I liked not just the melody but also appreciate the message contained in that music. How often I listen and a sigh of “now that’s music, good music” comes as a confirmation of the satisfaction it brings.

Now if you don’t agree or worse, don’t even know the song; then don’t bother reading through the blog. I’m writing with slight cut of hurt in between my heart because this guy on the spotlight is a living manifestation of his former glory.

And so it was on that day I read through a publication titled “Fame to Shame: The Many Faces of Majek Fashek” and right below the publication is the picture of him; an extremely “beautiful” man.

Majek Fahek is among the iconic Nigerian musicians to have attained international fame and success. For a testament, his songs have stood the test of time and are forever young in the minds of those who knew and appreciated his music. Sadly, the owner of such inspiration and quality is far from the fountain of youth. The Majek Fashek of now is a joke compared to the physical Majek Fashek of the “Send Down the Rain” days; thanks to drugs or whatever it is that is eating this man up.

However, the irony of this all is the fact that talent like his which made good music is in desperate need of rehabilitation, while the sane Nigerian talents of today are making songs that need rehabilitation.

“Caro your body necessary… ah necessary,

 Caro carry leave story… ah leave story,

 Caro dey make my head dey turn,

 Caro dey make me wan dey loose am,

 Caro dey make my head dey bang,

 Caro dey make my head dey scatter…”

Truth be told, I have this song on my playlist and I listen to it every day. Well yes, the melody and beat and of course, the sound of Wizkid on it killed it. Until my 6 year old nephew who was also listening along side with me asked, “Aunty, what is Caro giving without getting tired?” (From the line, “Caro dey give she no dey taya”). I didn’t bother to offer an explanation because it dawned on me that the kid is not stupid to have kept quiet till that line. That was enough evidence that the kid was not just hearing but listening. And please, let’s not begin with the “censorship” crap because most of these Nigerian dance tracks will end up with just the instrumental and a few verbs if they radio edit them.

Good songs for our hearing pleasure and bullshit for the minds of many young ones who hum to the tune of almost every song on radio. “Give it to me”, are the most common lines used and these kids who have an exceptionally curious mind that wants to know what is being given. Ok how about,

“Take banana till you go yo! The dude actually says it 16 times in every chorus and we assume these kids see a real yellow banana in their heads?

Word is out, the secular Nigerian music industry needs not just censorship but rehabilitation and I don’t even want to discuss about the videos.

 Back then my elder ones played songs without my presence freaking them out but reverse is the case now as musicians narrate their crazy fantasies with music in the background.

 As if it wasn’t enough as regards to my nephew’s question, I received another BC on my phone and behold it was a link containing a mix tape of which I did not bother to open, talk less of listening. But then somehow one day, I mistakenly opened the link and the music played.

As a trained communicator, I was taught to converse in simple and straight forward vocabulary and language. Applying this now, open the link below and maybe you’ll breathe a sigh of relief that among the many insane music content, there is hope for the industry.