@ Loverb
The question was is the Naija music popular among Africans in general and I said YES! what part of d question did i miss?

The question : WHY ISNT NIGERIAN MUSIC VERY POPULAR INTERNATIONALLY?

I think we need to market Nigerian Music much more, and we can do it ourselves, instead of waiting for people to do it for us. did u ask me how?, if we can harness the control of the western media, i guess we can make use of the internet.  That is why i appreciate people like Bella Naija ( check www.bellanaija.blogsot.com ) and Dami on Naijavixen (www.naijavixen..com) who do their own little bit of marketing Nigerian artiste. I also have www.naijabrains.com where i dedicate the whole blog to NaijaMusic.

Good point gbenga, but seeing as we can't own the western media remember we didn't own it when King Sunny ADE and Fela were still on top; We might as well try to collaborate with western media and diversify our marketing, instead of showing them on Nigerian TV abroad only or promoting them to Nigerian/African audience alone we can partner with "mainstream" promoters and T.V stations

Some Nigerian promoters/artist and event organizers re lazy actually they enjoy being the big fish in a very small rivers, they are happy to just be the "big boys" withing the Nigerian/African community.

Lagbaja's Never Far Away is great by the way

All what Nigerian musicians do is to mime their own songs on stage.They still have a long way to go. But they are trying though and will soon get there.

@ ROFLMAO and Others.

Do you guys know TaTu? Do you know Fort Minor, Do you really know Fat Joe and Big Pun like you claim to do? Do you know Shakira, Frankie J, Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Amerie, among other foreigners who've made it in hip hop?

Okay, do you know Sauce kid and Eldee? Do you know mode 9, Tuface, P-Square?

Do you know Femi Kuti, Omoluther, Lagbaja, Kaysha, Koffi Olomide, Awilo Logomba?

Seal did not leave the country until he was more than 12. Check the scars on his face, he used to have a yoruba tribal mark. the name seal is an acronym of his names.

I'll leave you to the research you claim to do. Please go to www.wikipedia.org and do a search on each of these artistes maybe you can learn a thing or two, i won't do that for you.

and to those claiming we should quit the westerners' ways, i bet you've stopped wearing jeans, suits and boots, go back to wrapper, kembe, and salubata so you can be very African, or we can't dress better than westerners too?

@ All who think we can't do it better than the westerners

Who knows Celine Dion's origin? Why's the Rnb and Hip Hop scene dominated by blacks? That means if a Nigerian leaves the country at 10 and goes there he can make it, or if he steps foot there and has the right connection, he can as well make it. I remember Craig David going to the west and he made it big time, despite being British. There's still discrimination between British and Americans. Check out the grammy awards and MOBO awards. That's why it's hard for people like Lemar, Dizzie Rascal, Jamelia and other British peeps to gain grounds in Yankee. Even Craig David had to change base totally for him to gain grounds in the Yankee, yet he is a king in the UK, he struggled in his second and third albums released in the US.
Besides, how do you sell Ice in Iceland? - Packaging!
Do you watch Trace TV? All these french guys doing their thang. At least you Know Matt - Don la peau? This dude sold like fire worldwide even though he was french! Nigerian music may not be popular due to popularity, definitely not quality, and if you say recording quality, then i've heard worse recordings from abroad too.

I don't need to start going into details, but if you've been on NL for a while, and you visit the Music Thread frequently, then you should know you have a wrong contender here, you are the ones who need to get facts before jumping into conclusion.

Bottomline: It's difficult to make name in America, music-wise, if you are not based there.
But to say that we can't do it better than the westerners is something i'll forever disagree, cos peeps like Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe have defeated these guys in their fields. This igbo guy in Systems Engineering also and a host of other great Nigerians. The human mind is like blotting paper. Dedication, determination and time is the basis of success and I don't see any big deal in what the Americans do, i've seen equally, if not better works of Art by Nigerians lately and I don't respect anyone saying we can't do it. What do they do? SIng and send the heavens open?

Even talk of Opera, Have you ever attended the concerts of The Apostolic Faith? But for Country music and Rock, What part of the Western or European Music have we not done well in, is it Jazz? Rap or RnB? Just a little more publicity and hype and we got everyone clamoring for us.

I quote Wyclef here: "I don't like the way you refer to your artistes as local artistes, they can stand anywhere in the world and their works speak volume". Someone please tell me, what's music in 50's "Candy Shop"

The following weeks, we heard Collabos from Wyclef and some Nigerian Artistes as well as Beenie Man with Tuface. What more conviction do you guys need.

If you were not proud of Nigerian Music, this is the right time for you to be, cos while you are in this pitiable state of Ignorance, our Music industry will surpass you and send you back to the stone age.

@christino, na true talk.

If you guys have listened to Soul E " baba dey here" and "naijaisblessed" and tell me how many young british artiste can have such a nice concept as he is.

See this is why I don't bother getting into that much discussions on this board. Far too many "Christinos" roaming around the board with the typical Nigerian mentality of "I know more than everyone else. This is the same person who thinks fat Joe, Big Pun, Christina Aguilera, Amerie ain't Americans at all, Shakira, Frankie J, Akon, Enrique Iglesias, much as they love peanut butter sandwich, ain't Americans. This lame even believes the retarded Nigerian rumor that Seal's scarred face was from Yoruba tribal mark, SHFH @ the level of absurdity some ignoramuses can actually believe to be true.

This dude even thinks The West = America only. How pathetic! called Craig David a huge success in America when everyone know that punk's success in the States is mediocre at best and he is NOT a king in the UK as twisted as you might have gotten that. And Celine Dion's origin is not a secret. I knew that far back when I was still in Nigeria at the age of 12!

As I said I rarely like to engage in music discussions with clowns like yourself who think they're Don on Nairaland so I ain't taking this any further with you. I'm impressed you actually know what wikipedia is. You either don't use it or just have some problem comprehending what is written cos you're tying to read what you want the article to be rather than what was actually written. And please wikipedia is not the alpha and omega of research.

Wyclef and Beenie Man collaborates with TuFace and all of a sudden Nigerian music is grabbing media attention all over the western word, yea right! This dude needs to get out of that place to understand how things actually work in the world outside Nigeria.

@ROF-LMAO

I won't be surprised if you are just one of those unfortunate retards out there looking for who to vent the dullest side of your brain on. Since you don't trust wikipedia, why not go to read others and educate us? Does the fact that people love McDonald's Americans? In fact for the fact that ROF-LMAO loves 50, he's american - OLODO! In fact, Tuface is Yoruba because he lives in lagos and he sang OLE - doesn't that also make sense to a daftie pinkie? I'm not a don, neither do I know all but I won't be here to listen to you forcing me to believe some guys are foreigners when it's obvious to the average music fan, they arent! Okay tell me how Akon is american and Frederick Kanoute is not Malian? Anyone who leaves their country for Yankee or Jand should lose their citizenship abi? do you know what dual citizenship means? Seal may claim his face was disgifured due to Lupus or woteva but we all know he had tribal marks as early as the age of 12, and now it's gone! He hated his mother for seizing his passport when he wanted to return to the UK and did not contact her again till she died here in Naija.

No one's challenging your knowledge, why not prove it to us. Trying to make me believe Fat Joe's American because he loves peanut butter sandwich, as your name implies R[/b]olling [b]O[/b]n [b]F[/b]loor [b]- L[/b]aughing [b]m[/b]a [b]a[/b]ss [b]o[/b]ut.

[b]Of what use is you on a forum if we can't learn one or two sensible things from you other than some "supposedly" funny posts which are only funny to 2 year olds?
LMAO!

Before you go any further, get your facts right. As bleak as it may seam to your dull brain, Craig David has sold more than MOST rappers worldwide(naturally RnB sells more than Rap) and how many awards did he win in UK on his debut album? To argue about an artiste from the UK, you'd be a daft punk to say Craig David is not it, in fact you lost it, please go back to Elementary and learn the basics. You spitting too much saliva over the forums like a rotten Pit Bull, get your ass over here and learn new stuffs, LMAO indeed.

Henceforth, i refuse to take you serious as I put you on my Nairaland Auto Ignore list. Peeps like you are "hard to find" as you have no IDENTITY. Beasts of no nation-Egbekegbe na bad society (na Fela talk am if u no sabi)! I shouldn't waste valuable time with boys of limited "vulgar" vocab like you. i'd rather learn from reasonable kids.Pisssss out.

Again Nigerians CANNOT do rap like Americans. Being a successful rapper or musician is more than running your mouth on the mic. You gotta appeal to the market that matters to your recording company and that's what Nigerian acts cannot do because they ARE Nigerians (i.e. It's hard for western audience to understand the humor or the subject Nigerian artist).

rof-lmao

See this is why I don't bother getting into that much discussions on this board. Far too many "Christinos" roaming around the board with the typical Nigerian mentality of "I know more than everyone else.

rubbish! absolutely nonsense!!!!!!!!

u can all listen to nigerian strictly nigerian songs on www.truspotradio.com

christino
we know you are passionate about your music, you are still going around in circles

the only reason why i know eldee.mode9 and some others you mentioned is becuase im nigerian, even some nigerians dont know these people talkless of africans/international music fans

Tuface is probably the biggest artist in africa - according to Nigerians
while People like Yossou N'dor, Lady Blacksmiths are considered african best- international media

i dont think the question says what is the origin of popular-modern music

Are you talking about Nigerian born and Nigerian based musicians or Nigerian born musicians abroad? Which one? Nigerian born but based abroad musicians are recognised internationally because their music is not particularly Nigerian branded, example Sade Adu that was mentioned earlier, also for the actors and actresses that are based abroad and had made their clout abroad, they are recongnised internationally - but if you talk of Nigerian based musicians with Nigerian branded music genre, then you may say not all of them are recognised internationally - not because the music is poor - but sometimes because internationally - their music is not heard - maybe a few - e.g Fela, Sunny Ade, Oliver d' Coque and a few others, these are known because they have been in the business for long, but if you are talking about the new generation of Nigerian musicians, it will take a lot for an American or a European to understand lyrics like, say lyrics rendered in broken english or music genre that seems to be new and unknown, and more so - generally speaking, internationally - you have to be up there before your music is played like in entertainment stations etc.

As for actors/actresses, the problem I see with Nollywood is that it will take a lot for a foreigner to understand what is usualy said on our movies - that is the accent! An American will just look at the pictures because he/she will have a lot of trouble understanding the accent in the Nigerian movies, so for Europeans and all that.

So - I am not advocating a change in accent or music genre to reach out internationally - but doing it along internationally acceptable standards might help.

people cnt understand nigeria music slang and thing because they aint nigerian!

as for superman( like ghanaian usually say) nigeria mainstream music are just wakin up, so maybe they need some time afterall dancehall ragge was once like that! and they came with their slang still people learn and row with it! so it all good runnin your blo*dclot or bomberc*ut mouth like u know but u actually dnt know nothin!

now dnt tell me about those africans that bleaches a lot and believe in strippin their women nake just to get recognition, hope we dnt go that way.

so can i say we wait and see!

@ Superman

Must you abuse just because you want to pass a point accross or just because someone fails to agree with your line of reasoning?

thats not true!

How can someone say Prince Nico Mbarga isn't Nigerian? . . . Have you by any chance met the man before?

As usual, as soon as the debate reaches page 2, it starts to degenerate into insults.

The simple answer to the question is promotion. When Fela, KSA and other people of that era where making a name, we had international recording companies in Nigeria, promoting our musicians to the so-called international audience. How can you love music you don't know, have never heard. It's impossible. Of course most of them took off in the 80's after the military coup and our economy nose-dived. Once they left, the music industry simply crashed.

The interesting thing is that they will come back, because the buzz around Nigerian music is getting stronger, and the environment is becoming better for them to operate in.

Show business is just business (like food business, or auto business).

Well Osuofia's song "I go chop your dollar" Was featured on ABC's 20/20. I think that's popular.

Then again, i'd like to say it's soo not true that Nigerian songs are not popular internationaly. That's not true and you know it. Of course not everyone knows Nigerian songs, but i think the popularity of Nigerian songs Internationally is something to write home about.

Wasnt that song on ABc for all the wrng reason

@Josboy4life, there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Apart from 'em Kuti's Music. Nigerian Music is relatively known in Int'l circles. I was watching a Romantic Afro American Comedy,titled something New, and i was surprised when I heard Femi Kuti's bang Bang Bang in a Party Scene! Besides, Fela's CD's are the Only Indigenous Nigerian CD's have seen in stores, malls here in yankie! not talking of 'em runaway Seal and Sade Adu

WELL, THIS IS SIMPLY BECAUSE OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

HTTP://WWW.NIGERIANSINGLESONLINE.NET

Psquare and Tony Tetuila were nominees at the last MOBO (Music of Black origin) awards in London in 2006.http://rap.about.com/od/awards/a/2006MOBOAwards.htm
and 2 face won that MTV africa award didn't he?
that's a step in the right direction for international recognition for others as well.

@Topic
Nigerian music is not popular because what is being marketed as Nigerian music is a blend of other genres.
In most Nigerian music you can hear the reggae sound, hip-hop, and R&B. Nothing that can be said unique to Nigeria.
An example is 2face "African Queen". That song gave the artist lots of accolades, but on a true examination of the arrangement, it was just a ripoff of lyrical style of other genres,
Why go for a fraud product when the original material can be had easily had?. ie Reggae, R&B, hip-hop etc.

Ndipe:

@Josboy4life, there is no such thing as bad publicity.

True you have a point, but NONE

It is because we don't appreciate what have, and if we don't appreciate what we have, nobody else is gonna appreciate it.

@ Soliq

Can you compare the craze we used to have for foreign wears (clothing and shoes) to that of music? But for the turnouts when foreign artistes come visiting, local music are all over the place, from radio to TV and stuffs, but for the billboard chart program, its been long since i saw a non nigerian chart show.

@ ROF-LMAO
There are so many ignorant people around who don't wanna learn and i see the b**tch in U "Rof-Lmao".U got nothin to offer and U still won't accept true yanz,i wish i cud send some slaps to U and u download the shizzle urself. Christino is 90% right and that's coz no one gets 100% from me coz those lecturers neva gave me that. So for now,remain silent and learn,OLODO like those kids in Sound Sultan's skit.

Christino:

@ Soliq

Can you compare the craze we used to have for foreign wears (clothing and shoes) to that of music? But for the turnouts when foreign artistes come visiting, local music are all over the place, from radio to TV and stuffs, but for the billboard chart program, its been long since i saw a non nigerian chart show.

Yeah you're right bro. I was impressed when I was in Lagos this summer, it was Naija jamz all over the airwaves and every Dick and Harry listens to Naija Jams on CD, Radio, Channel0 and MTV Base.

which MTV Base?

MTV Base Africa on Multichoice! 

I see.

Radiant, I haven't seen you in awhile, rose from the dead?

Idiot. I travelled. Did you miss me?