A famous poet says: “Good Music Doesn’t Have An Expiration Date”. The type of songs ruling the Nigerian airwaves today is not heart warming and has kept me wondering as Femi Kuti insisted: “when will the nonsense stop”? In this period of recession, the last thing that I want to get close to is noise from any of the broadcast media, be it television or radio station. Contrary to music being a good therapy for healing the mind and reducing high blood pressure (BP), the cacophony of trite messages in today’s songs can make one lose sanity and even lead one to early grave. I get easily worked up every time I hear a word repeated 20 times in a song of 3 minutes duration. Is there a dictionary name for this type of music?
Today’s generations are in a hurry to gain prominence without understanding the rudiments in music composition and rhythm. To remain relevant now and in future, a song must have certain flavour that would always draw and hold its listeners’ attention. I doubt if today’s generations care about the lifespan of their compositions because if they do, they would work more on their lyrics. Why is it that today’s music focuses more on women and wealth? Even though, we know that music of yesteryear, also focused on those two important things of life. Songs about them were, however, done with decorum unlike what is happening today where the videos to illustrate a song parades semi-nude girls of easy virtues, dancing seductively. A society that allows such careless display of seduction in music video without regard for morality of youths has surely lost complete regard for the society value system.
The regulatory bodies to correct these anomalies have remained laid back and encouraged more of such productions overtime. Quite agonisng though, the moral decadent videos are not only on the local airwaves. I wake up every Sunday with the agonising shouting of the Hallelujah chorus: “O sing O sing O Praise the Lord, Praise Him Everyday” blasting the air from church speakers. Why must there be noise everywhere one turns in Lagos? Inside Danfo buses, there is noise, at motor parks, there is noise, in the salon, there is noise, on the streets there is noise and the most annoying thing is that the music all sound alike.
I remember that years ago, musicians played pivotal roles in the society as they used their music as instrument of change and preached so many values in their music. Today’s generations have so much to learn from the music of the past, especially on why those songs of yesteryear still sound very refreshing today as it did years ago. Though, it is heartbreaking that today, the songs of the older generations have ceased to receive maximum airplay on radio stations across the federation except for some very few that still remember them. The memories of the great legends have since been faded, little wonder today’s generations don’t have anything to use as guidelines.
It is high time we changed the beats and do more songs that would prevent impending dangers in our society. Why hasn’t there be songs on Boko Haram, Kidnapping, Rape, Money Ritual and Laundering, etc Come on guys, slow down and stop the noise.
