[b]The Nigerian music industry of yore decidedly rested on four genres: Highlife, Juju Music , Afro-pop and Reggae (without any disrespect to greats like Fela Kuti and Orlando Julius who played and kept Afrobeat in the limelight). But it was reggae—the Nigerian brand of it—that gained mass appeal and dominated the country’s domestic music scene in the 1980s. It produced not only great stars like Ras Kimono, Orits Williki, Sonny Okosuns, and Majek Fashek, but also generated monster hits like ‘Under Pressure’ (Kimono), ‘Conqueror’ (Williki), ‘Fire in Soweto,’ (Okosuns) and ‘Send Down The Rain’ (Majek).

Undoubtedly shot into global reckoning by Bob Marley himself after the pioneering effort of Jimmy Cliff, reggae sent the Nigerian population into a frenzy, becoming the vehicle of choice to protest social, political and economic inequalities. While there were several reggae artistes across the land, such as Gibb Magib, Too Low for Zero, Alex Zitto, Black Rice, Waleman, to mention but a few, the Majeks, Willikis and Kimonos shone like a million stars and became cult figures. Majek would later become a hot property contested by an international label, Interscope Records (owned by CBS) and Tabansi music, a Nigerian label specialising in the release and promotion of international and domestic reggae acts. The court case between both labels regarding whose property Majek Fashek was, was as unprecedented in the annals of the African music scene as it was symptomatic of the global phenomenon that the Nigerian music industry would become.

As if it had not gained sufficient clout and impact as the foremost music genre in Africa’s largest economy, the debuting Lekki Sunsplash—the first ever music concert of its type in magnitude and scope anywhere on the continent at the time—held on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean on one of the beaches of the exclusive, 52 kilometre Lekki Peninsula in Lagos, and attended by a crowd conservatively estimated at 350,000, heralded the arrival of Nigerian reggae as the brand icon of the country’s music industry.

If anyone thought this rising profile would be sustained, such a person might have been excused for harbouring ambitions in the realm of fantasy. Indeed, two out of the three main ambassadors of the genre (Majek and Kimono) would leave Nigeria for the United States on big contracts, while Orits Williki was left at home to continue flying the flag. Though he also travelled frequently, his band largely remained at home. Sonny Okosuns (now late) flirted with a variety of genres and though he released several songs in the reggae idiom, many would not ideally classify him as a true prophet of the genre.

The depleted ranks of the reggae ambassadors in Nigeria opened the door for other continental acts to emerge, notable ones being the great Alpha Blondy of Cote d’Ivoire and the inimitable Luck Dube of South Africa (and of blessed memory). Blondy made some inroad into the huge Nigerian market but was not officially sold in the country, while Lucky Dube attained respectable commercial following with the end of apartheid.

Read more at The Nigerian music industry of yore decidedly rested on four genres: Highlife, Juju Music , Afro-pop and Reggae (without any disrespect to greats like Fela Kuti and Orlando Julius who played and kept Afrobeat in the limelight). But it was reggae—the Nigerian brand of it—that gained mass appeal and dominated the country’s domestic music scene in the 1980s. It produced not only great stars like Ras Kimono, Orits Williki, Sonny Okosuns, and Majek Fashek, but also generated monster hits like ‘Under Pressure’ (Kimono), ‘Conqueror’ (Williki), ‘Fire in Soweto,’ (Okosuns) and ‘Send Down The Rain’ (Majek).

Undoubtedly shot into global reckoning by Bob Marley himself after the pioneering effort of Jimmy Cliff, reggae sent the Nigerian population into a frenzy, becoming the vehicle of choice to protest social, political and economic inequalities. While there were several reggae artistes across the land, such as Gibb Magib, Too Low for Zero, Alex Zitto, Black Rice, Waleman, to mention but a few, the Majeks, Willikis and Kimonos shone like a million stars and became cult figures. Majek would later become a hot property contested by an international label, Interscope Records (owned by CBS) and Tabansi music, a Nigerian label specialising in the release and promotion of international and domestic reggae acts. The court case between both labels regarding whose property Majek Fashek was, was as unprecedented in the annals of the African music scene as it was symptomatic of the global phenomenon that the Nigerian music industry would become.

As if it had not gained sufficient clout and impact as the foremost music genre in Africa’s largest economy, the debuting Lekki Sunsplash—the first ever music concert of its type in magnitude and scope anywhere on the continent at the time—held on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean on one of the beaches of the exclusive, 52 kilometre Lekki Peninsula in Lagos, and attended by a crowd conservatively estimated at 350,000, heralded the arrival of Nigerian reggae as the brand icon of the country’s music industry.

If anyone thought this rising profile would be sustained, such a person might have been excused for harbouring ambitions in the realm of fantasy. Indeed, two out of the three main ambassadors of the genre (Majek and Kimono) would leave Nigeria for the United States on big contracts, while Orits Williki was left at home to continue flying the flag. Though he also travelled frequently, his band largely remained at home. Sonny Okosuns (now late) flirted with a variety of genres and though he released several songs in the reggae idiom, many would not ideally classify him as a true prophet of the genre.

The depleted ranks of the reggae ambassadors in Nigeria opened the door for other continental acts to emerge, notable ones being the great Alpha Blondy of Cote d’Ivoire and the inimitable Luck Dube of South Africa (and of blessed memory). Blondy made some inroad into the huge Nigerian market but was not officially sold in the country, while Lucky Dube attained respectable commercial following with the end of apartheid Read more at www.gaskiya.net[/b]