Nigerian singer cum columnist, Pascal Uche
Ejikeme better known as Etcetera is popular for
always airing controversial opinion articles on
various trending topics in the country.
.
Etcetera
.
The Punch columnist is back at Nigerian artistes
and this time, its about their music. Read the piece
below:
“Shoki hey hey Shoki!” cries a voice from the radio
to the beat of a nerve-wracking pandemonium that
seems designed to drive you insane.
A quick flick of the dial and “Shakiti bobo” is
playing. The worse thing is that the raucous noise
emitted by the artiste is no match for the loud,
odious din coming from the beat. The lyrics are
completely lost – which may not be regrettable to
some – but the whole tumult sounds more like bad
static than music.
I tuned the dial again. This time it was Olamide
screaming “VANESSA VANESSA.”
As the last strains of the song died away, the OAP
cheerfully and enthusiastically breaks in, “Yes,
that’s for all you listeners out there. That’s the
way we do it right here at your cool station. We
personalise our playlist to make you feel cool.”
Cool kor, cooler ni…. I felt like telling the OAP that
his choice of songs made me feel SICK.
This is simply today’s Nigerian music! Something
is terribly WRONG with it! Yet millions around the
country – especially the young people – listen to
it by the hour. WHY?
What is there about this music that is so gripping?
How can something so meaningless hold millions
under its spell? Why does it serve as a common
denominator – as “the tie that binds” – for so
many youths?
Judging from how and what they’re saying and
singing, it is easy to conclude that some of these
artistes should be taken for mental evaluation!
Music mirrors our emotions; it reflects our
thoughts; it echoes our activities – it shows us the
way we really ARE!
Most Nigerian artistes are confused and bewildered
– or they wouldn’t sing songs about not being
able to tell right from wrong, or songs which
purposely don’t say or mean anything, or which try
only to “embody an emotional state that points
indirectly to marijuana and crazy sex positions.”
Music – just like other forms of art – is like a
social barometer. A strong and healthy society
produces dynamic and stimulating music; a
diseased and decaying society produces sick and
decadent music.
It’s a simple matter of cause and effect!
This is now a SICK SOCIETY and, therefore, it
produces SICK MUSIC. It’s just that simple! Both
parents and the young people are to blame. My
point is, we all don’t have to be a part of this sick
society – or its sick music.
Even talking about today’s gospel songs, many are
lacking in purpose and quality. The gospel singers
are forgetting that God believes in QUALITY. Look
at the universe He created! He also believes in
human improvement and GROWTH. “Become ye
therefore perfect” (Matt. 5:48) and “Grow in grace
and knowledge” (II Pet. 3:18), He commands.
God wants His people to grow in the right kind of
culture – the right kind of appreciation for the finer
things in life. He says that mature Christians are
“those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to DISCERN both good and evil” (Heb.
5:14).
God wants us to EXERCISE our five physical
senses. He wants us to learn what the true values
for the enjoyment of the senses are. One of these
senses is hearing. And one of the ways we need to
exercise our hearing sense is in the appreciation of
quality music. Quality in music involves, first of all,
the way it is composed or arranged. Secondly, it
involves how the music is performed. And thirdly,
the setting (the place and occasion) in which the
music is heard.
You attend a concert only to see artistes with a
hodgepodge of idiotic noise played from a CD and
the audience seated at round tables like they are in
a canteen, screaming with mouthful of small chops
and ‘samosas’ as every new song is introduced by
the performer. What utter nonsense! What is
WRONG with us? How did we completely lose our
sense of value regarding music? Do we even know
the purpose of music?.

A mother justifies her daughter who’s listening to
an obscene song by saying, “If you listen to the
words of that one, it’s pretty rough. But it has a
real good beat. My daughter says she doesn’t pay
any attention to the words anyway.” Are we really
that naïve? What erroneous reasoning! Go along
with the crowd – even if the crowd is on the way
to suffering, misery, pain, extinction? Do we think
that these songs have no part in the tidal wave of
promiscuity, venereal disease, illegitimate babies
that are all over the country today? If you are one
of those who like today’s Naija music, you ought
to honestly and truthfully ask yourself WHY.



source====> http://thenet.ng/2015/07/god-wont-listen-to-nigerian-songs-by-etcetera/