It is common to see people making comments across most Internet forums, especially nairaland to express disdain at musicians who sing in the typical Nigerian fashion i.e. Relying majorly on the beat to carry the song. The most recent was a post on nairaland front page opining that Tiwa Savage should leave Mavins record as her sound has become Wack since she joined them.
Right from the days of Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Sir Oliver de Coque to the recent TuBaba, Sound Sultan, Kel and most recently Yemi Aládé, Iyanya, Wizkid and Davido amongst others, there is something Nigerians love about our music and it is Dance.
We are a groovy people, and this is evident by the amount of money we spend on 'owambes' and the fact that our nightclubs are virtually always full. Nigerians love to dance.
The school of thought that criticize most Nigerian songs prefer the hardcore rap, hip hop and RNB. While these genres are beautiful, as I also listen to Eminem, Sia, Beyonce,Emeli Sande and the likes, they are foreign and not indigenous to our own ways. That is not the Nigerian way of singing.
Those who sing in a groovy way are just representing the mind of Nigerians and what we like, just go to church and sing Blues and see the kind of reaction you get. This is also represented by the fact that many artists who used to sing in those genres eventually change, e.g. Iyanya and Tiwa Savage; and those who choose to persist usually tune it in a 'Nigerian' way e.g. Praiz.
This is not in anyway saying foreign music isn't good, as I said earlier, many songs on my music list are from those genres, but what I'm saying is, we shouldn't call Nigerian Music 'pangolo' because of the beat.
On the flip side, I believe that there are two major things Nigerian musicians can do to improve their songs;

1. Sing with better lyrics, the fact that the song is groovy does not mean the lyrics should be lazy.

2. Drastically improve stage performances, don't just let the DJ play in the background while you sing in a terrible voice. When we do a lot of live shows, we can be called upon to headline international concerts.

All in all, I like my Nigerian songs because I like to dance, I like melody, don't demean them and force foreign genres down my throat.

Cc: lalasticlala mynd44

Can we at least put a name to our "genre" of music, some artistes in Nigeria don't know the genre they sing, that's BTW.

Everyone can't be all groovy, if some people feel Nigerian songs are wack, it is their opinion, but then again, as you mentioned, lyrically, Nigerian artistes are extremely lazy.

You hear some lyrics and you go WTF is he/she saying/ trying to pass across?? I rep the likes of Cobhams, Bez, beautiful Nubia and their likes anyday, anytime, anywhere.