Ok, in nearly all endeavours, Nigerians have made their mark. In the educational field, Nigerians are recognized for 'breeding' geniuses, in the movie industry, we have more than a fair number of actors/actresses with a respectable clout representing us in Hollywood. In Music, Sade Adu has crossed over into international stardom, with her hits played on at least one radio station in the USA.

Apart from Sade, I am now aware of any musician of Nigerian heritage, whose crossover appeal has received as much applause or adulation in the media, compared to their African counterparts. Several days ago, I was watching some of our musicians sing, and some of them, I noticed were imbibing American moves in their rhythm. Cant we all be original? I wasnt the only one who noticed it, for one of the ladies at the party also pointed that Nigerians are very good in emulating the western world (we tend to overdo, by the way, sometimes) and abandon our traditional moves, etc.

Look at their Senegalese counterpart, likewise the Malian , the Congolese and perhaps the Guineans. They are quite popular in the western world, despite retaining their own cultural rhythm in their music. Cant we do the same too? Attend a Nigerian party as one lady told me, Makossa is played, with much excitement, while our own hits, that are played are usually oldies, like "Sweet Mother (by the way, the musician was from Cameroon). We have talented musicians like Okosun, Essien-Igbokwe, Sunny Ade, and the rest, but what of the newer generation? Tuface and BankyW are quite popular in the Nigerian community in the USA, but really, how popular is the Nigerian music in the Western Nation?

Point of correction: Nico Mbaga who sang "sweet mother" is a Nigerian of Nigerian descent. He is not Camerounian!

Its simply b cos Guys Like MODE NINE is not being there
Now that he is around , just watch men

Fela Anikulapo Kuti was and is still a very popular musician with his music being remixed by current world class artists.

Ndipe, how bothered d'u tend to be?

@ Ndipe, Basically, some Naija Songs and Musicians are popular. Are you aware Universal is behind FELA's music here they are the one branding it, marketing it and distributing. Trruly, we are not really as popular as 'em Makossa Guys. Basically in my college, its all bout FELA most pple knoe. White, Blacks etc.

Ndipe i feel u man but i think its because the level of competition in the industry is too much so musicians just believe in sales rather than marketing.

To hit the nail on the head, it is because we as a pple in the diaspora don't appreciate such music. If we did, and promoted it accordingly, the music would get the recoginition/popularity it deserves.

How many times have you (I know I have ) talked to a fellow naija about a naija movie or even news from naija and they reply to the effect that, "Who cares?" or "Nna, lv me o! I no dey too follow naija news sef"? How many of us do you know (again, I know a few ) who cdnt tell you Genevieve's latest movie yet will tell you how many women, say, Busta Rhymes was bedding while filming his latest music video?

If we don't promote them, who will? Oyibo (LMAO if you think they will)?? It is not only music, from my observations. Take the US for example, Atlanta specifically. There is not a "true" Nigerian association. Yet there is an association for each tribe. Take the Akwa Ibomites. We alone have at least 5 or so sub-associations. We are too splintered, too divided. Hence when say, OBJ comes here, only a certain tribe will hear about it. Others may be either too busy to attend or too tribalistic to even entertain the thought. Take another instance when CNN et al did the 419 documentary. What Nigerian association came out to make them retract the show? Now let's say for instance, you dared to use the word "illegal alien" to describe the mexican. Their association will be all over you like a fly sticks to s**t. How many Nigerians would have dared to even dream of organizing the kind of rally the mexicans organized on May 1st? Last but not least, there is Air Afrique, even common (sorry to use the term but hopefully you will get to where I am headed) Ethiopia has a national Carrier. Why don't we? If we did, most of us wouldn't use it claiming it is full of problems. Yet we wonder why it isn't popular.

To summarize, we are the problem, plain and simple. If we don't take it upon ourselves to make it popular, it won't be popular. Case closed, and as my secondary school math teacher used to say, QED

NDIPE,sooooooory to say this,evrything you wrote is all LIES AND MISCONCEPTION,TUFACE, just won MTVaward,FELA KUTI did it.
and beside, they are just coming up.
SO, BE PATIENT, OK.BUT BE PROUD OF WHERE YOU COMES FROM. HAPPY NEW YEAR.

@ndipe
It would be such a cliche to say that Nigerian music is not popular in the west!I mean the industry is growing fast and we will get there(wherever it is the westerns are),"tu face" and "danfo drivers" songs were used as sondtracks in the hollywood flick "phat girls"that featured monique,Nigerian culture was even showcased in the movie!P-SQUARE were nominated at the last mtv ema's which tu face won last year in the best african act category!untop of that 2 of their recent videos were shot in london!PAUL PLAY has a smashing new album with international recognition and Nigerian genre,MODE 9 is going places and I don't just mean portharcourt,abuja and lagos?to top it all off have u ever heard any of D-BANJ's songs?so "file!don't touch it"because its obvious you don't know?u are afterall miles n'miles away from Nigeria and don't know how we enjoy rocking to our own songs at home!I prescibe the drug "mtv base" to you,it will knock off the western idea and replace with our proudly Nigerian heritage of songs that is gaining pre'eminence on the global scale! 

@Ndipe,

I was surprised you mentioned Shade Adu without saying anything about the Grammy Award Winner, SEAL. You have also left out Tunde of the Lighthouse Family.

Femi Kuti and Lagbaja are unique Nigerian Brands that are doing very well internationally.

The answer is rather simple, the names aren't known enough.
you can't find them in the music stores anywhere nor can you find them
on known piracy websites.

The last one is rather controversial but who doesn't love controversy

@ Ndibe,

akon is trying is possible best to let everyone know tat he is a senegalise, and funny enough the guy is a well know artist, does tat mean tat akon being an international artist as overwrite the so called nigerian superstars and senegal is more recognise internationally compare to nigeria musicwise?

Tuface and BankyW are quite popular in the Nigerian community in the USA, but really, how popular is the Nigerian music in the African nation?

Actually nigerian artist are doing well in other african countries
Nigerian artist are also very popular amongst nigerians/africans in the diaspora and thats where it ends.

People are mentioning sade adu,fela  apart from these 2 who else

Why don't nigerian artist get the music played on mainstream radio/television?
Sean paul,Beanie Man, Elephant man and the likes get their music played on Mainstream television and radio they get nominated for best artists/songs not JUST AFRICAN ARTIST/african songs and niche areas like that
they are invited for shows not by caribbeans alone but by mainstream events organisers

To summarize, we are the problem, plain and simple.  If we don't take it upon ourselves to make it popular, it won't be popular.  Case closed, and as my secondary school math teacher used to say, QED 

my2cent seems you are talking about american alone, Nigerian artists are promoted even over promoted in the UK by nigerian promoters/organisers, most of their show sells out regualrly. Most of them are not just good enough, they focus on the nigerian aspect too much even some nigerians don't understand their noise music

Bwa ha ha ha , you clowns crack me up yo! It's like ya'll just so gassed-up in your self-denial to comprehend the question to actually say sumpin' sensible? Do you really think a foreign soul beyond the shores of Africa have a clue who the hell Tuface or take them other lame acts is? Fact is they are ONLY known by Nigerians at home and aliens like myself in a foreign country.

Get real people, Sade Adu ain't Nigerian. The woman is as Nigerian as Senator Barack Obama is Kenyan! SMH. Fela, is quite rightly the only Nigerian artist that had a credible international pedigree, and perhaps them other old heads like KSA and them to a certain degree

The answer is staring at us in the face. All these gimmicks nowadays is phoney. Everyone is busy trying to make hip-hop and r'n'b, wtf? I mean would you take a bunch Australians or Belgians trying to clone Fela serious?

Nigeria is an African country and the foreign audience would only take interest in us if our music largely exhibited that rather than the current trend of confused people who think they are American hip-hop/r'n'b acts.

Why do you think Akon's a success? The first time I heard that guy's first single (Locked Up) with my friends on the radio I was 100% sure the guy had to either be Senegalese or Malian because you could hear that from his voice and singing style. Fela was able to attain his international status because his style was 100% pure African not a want to-be jacked style! You cannot perform hip-hop and r'n'b better than the Americans. Them clowns need to quit all these fake ass bulls**t!

Till Nigerian artists quit their folly attempts to be American while neglecting their continent's rich music style no one will be paying attention to them apart from themselves and "locally" restricted audience. Every internationally reputed African artist did so by being African: Baaba Maal, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Salif Keita, Papa Wemba, Miriam Makeba, Youssou Ndour,

@ Ndipe,

In tha part of the world where you are, Naija music isnt recognized, maybe you wouldn't say the same if you were in Brixton or Peckham.

Meanwhile naija music is already popular thruought africa, be it gospel, afrobeat or hip hop. You may think we can't do hip hop better than the americans, but i seriously doubt that statement, cos i've seen africans do it better than them. I can cite lemar Obika, Seal, The lighthouse Family, Sade Adu and even multi talented Lagbaja and Weird MC. In fact, there was a Methodman track that was extremely similar to trybesmen's (i've forgotten the name of the track but it goes like beremole (common) oya baraje (common). . .) and no doubt, his was released like a couple of months after theirs.

Nollywood may be backward in concept but our music industry has grown in leaps and bounds. Have you seen the video clips of Olufunmi, Get squared, Ijoya, No be God, Cry, Chinwe Ike, and most recently Why me among others? in fact we hardly see wach music videos on screen anymore and all the music channels aint' complete without nigerians, from MTV base to Channel O. Even on Sound city and Nigezie, you hardly see foreign music anymore. At the last awards/nominations in S/A, Nigerian sweeped almost all the titles. From Modenine grabbing 3 to Weird MC and co.

Man, Naija has grown in the Music industry, I'm really surprised @ our hip hop. Even Francis Dike (F-Six) made it to the last 6 of the BBC Next big thing award with a stunning rap track (eyes of the needle) and I mean it, this guy was better than 85% of the so-called commercial rappers you have over there.

@ Rof-Lmao

Akon narrowly played in the NBA but chose his musical career (just like Simon Webbe turned down west ham for Blue) and has been in the US since God knows when? His intonation shouldn't be a deterrent. Peeps like Sean Paul and Wyclef do represent their countries well. Do you know that Big Pun and Fat Joe are not Americans at all yet they do it like the Americans. Wyclef has made more money than most artistes out there in Yankee, yet not a yankee himself, so I don't think Nigerians embracing the western culture of hip hop is a plus. Blacks are good at mimicing. We have done it in sports, education and what have you and blacks are the brains behind R n B and where did they come from? Africa!

I remember Rock with Rasheeda feat Akon as far back as the mid 90's or thereabout (can u imagine?) How can you say Akon was 100% African sef, can you even boast of 10% african for him. Okay he wore the senegalese band in his video clips

I like the nice list of great africans you have up there, but even Lagbaja has embraced the western culture, but with an african blend anyway. It's innovative, if you want to catch the attention of today's youths, you are definitely on your own if you sing Apala. We all dress like the westerners, even Nollywood copies the westerners and it's stars try to speak the phoney American Ascent. Why not the music itself? Almost all the homies on the street of lag have one ear pierced - what about that? and parents are still begging their daughters to stop wearing skimpy skimps. . . where dat come from man?

Just as makossa spilled heads here, Tetuila's My car did much damage across west africa and Tuface's African Queen was the killer. Now it's P-Square and D'banj (you wan try choreography?)

Ndipe, please come home for xmas/new year so you can save me 1000 lines of boring posts

lChristino seems like you missed the question altogether 

Good analysis of the music scene in nigeria though 

Gbengaijot, Nico was from Cameroon.

Here is the link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Nico_Mbarga

Ndipe:

Gbengaijot, Nico was from Cameroon.

Here is the link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Nico_Mbarga

The Guy is just 0.0000001 camerounian, just because he was from a camerounian semen doesn't mean, he was totally camerounian. Wikipedia even said he was born in Abakaliki. Thruout his career, he was mostly in naija, built 2 hotels in the East . What more would make him a Full blooded Nigerian?, though am not diminishing his camerounian heritage!

What more would make him a Full blooded Nigerian

_{a nigerian semen}

So, what if he was born in Nigeria? The fact remains, his dad was from Cameroon, so that makes him a Cameroonian. Abi, are we going to abandon our African tradition of tracing a child's heritage from his dad's genealogy, rather than his place of birth? My parents were Nigerians, so irrespective of where I was born, I regard myself as a Nigerian.

Alright, lets not deviate from this subject. I see the point that one of the writers is making, which almost corroborates my own assessment, that some of our Nigerian musicians always attempt to incorporate American musical rhythm, while abandoning our own native rhythm. Once, my cousin was telling me that he knows of some guys in Calabar, who can rap better than American rappers. He may or may not be right, but why can't we just be original? Look at their Senegalese counterpart, the Congolese musician and some of them, listen to Makoso, do you see any influence of the western culture in their music? Most likely not.

About Fela, he was old school, but that does not mean, that I am trying to diminish his influence in the African music. He was regarded as one of the best in the music genre from Africa. He eschewed the western values, while sticking to his roots. Today, our youths want to emulate the moves of 50 cent, Kanye West, and the rest of them.

@ 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?

@ Ndipe
Exactly, emulate the westerners, like we emulated Ragga, Makossa, Jazz and what have you. The Puerto Ricans, Jamaicans, Latinos, West Indies, Britons and Asians also emulate them till date and they are making it big time, so why not us? Nothing wrong.

Everyone can't sing trad. We still have people like Lagbaja, Sunny, and a host of Fuji and Juju guys raking in millions on their tours and are widely accepted, ain't no wrong in this

Majek Fashek and Ras Kimono made names for themselves singing Ragga (or is Raggae African?). Alex O was obviously copying the westerners. Funmi Adams, Mike Okri and those early artistes were very original and they reaped the dividends, so we can't expect all our artistes to embrace the local culture when already, in words and in deeds we are acting like the Americans left, right and centre. "Even the voting machines have George bush as the winner by default regardless of the vote ratio "

Meanwhile have you seen "Proud to be African" by Wyclef, Tuface, Faze, Sound Sultan very nice one. And have you seen Sound SUltan's Motherland? Ol boy. . . you are missing many many o.

1. We need more nigerian controlled international radios
2. More of the big-players coming down to Nigeria to establish record labels with influences in the big radios/tvs. We need BMG, Universal, Columbia like South Africa have 'em.
3. Jus more, more money and promotion

Okay, @ndipe, if you say that Nico Mbaga is from cameroun, then in such note, i can claim that lemar obika is a Nigeria, naz is a nigeria, and even jay-z is african. This days, you only classify someones nationality by where they were born and grew up rather than their descent.


Concerning Nigerian music, i think the problem are many:
* Not enough publicity. Can u imagine that De-indespensables single titled "i love u" is the only Nigerian single i can find on HMV?. check http://www.juno.co.uk/products/244770-01.htm

* Some of the songs are wack as well. While the likes of Dbanj, ruggedy baba, mode9, Tuface and others are good, some of the songs are rubbish. I recently watched a song by Dewaves, an upcoming Nigerian artiste, as well as a track titled "gba be" by mordy feat AY and i wondered why DJ-abass was promoting them on INTRO WITH DJ ABASS, lol.

* The point is that we are getting better day by day. Have you watch Psquare's "Temptation" and the second video(can't remember the title) that they did in Lodnon.trust me, thse two songs are really tight, they are up to international standard, infact no doubt about it. Did anyone watch paul plays "forever" Video?, http://www.naijabrains.com/2006/11/21/the-forever-video/

I guess its still one of the best video.

What about Lagbaja's "Never far away", "skentele" and "Rock me gentle". His song are great concept that cannot be rigged from somewher else, except from Africa.  So the issue still remains that there isnt much marketing and promotion of Nigerian artiste.

Also, i want you to know that the western world controls the media. So we tend to believe( by the nature of the brain) that whatsoever they pose and flash to us on screen is the best, even if something better comes out of Africa.

You want examples?, , remember the recent ABC news detail on 419ers, will anyone be really concern if it was just channell O or AIt, LTV8  or even iraq TV that shows such documentary?

Gbengaijot, Nas and Jayz are Nigerians, only if their fathers hailed from Nigeria. Akon regards himself as a Senegalese even though Missouri is his birth place. His parents are from Senegal, and perhaps, following the African tradition, he choosed his father's roots over his birthplace. The credibility of Nas's lineage to Nigeria, via his dad remains in dispute (not that I care really). Your discourse that our birthplace should determine our Nationality is quite reflective of the apathy that some Nigerians have towards their ancestral home. Is it any wonder that a kid, who was born abroad, but lived in Nigeria, would suddenly claim to be from America, "while my parents are from Nigeria"? If we are to abide by that ideology, then such kids may as well discard their father's last name to affirm their independence.


About the Nigerian music, what I was trying to emphasize, and RofImao got my views, was that some Nigerian musicians have strayed past our roots and adopted the Western rhythm in their music. Aint nothing wrong with that, but lets be original, in that case, be the best in your field, instead of trying to act all foreign in your way of life, and end up being confused. Those who are imbibing American music like rap and the rest of the genre are good, but they are some who may be completely off base, but would, rather stick with failure than to be associated with our regular tempo. While the world is constantly evolving, not everybody can rap, though some upstart Nigerian musician would like to be a rap musician to 'fit in' than to stick with the Nigerian genre. Now, I don't think it is that common with other African musicians. They stay close to their roots, and have achieved phenomenal success even though they are sticking to their own trado music. Would we do so? Some would, but others would gladly shed our genre in favor of rap.

Talk of people trying to be more American than the citizens.

@ndipe, how many times have u seen lemar say that he is Nigerian, infact, i am not in a mood to argue about Nico Mbaga been a camerounian or not so as not to change the subject matter.

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.

So lets start marketing by appreciating our own.

gbengaijot:


So lets start marketing by appreciating our own.

That is it

Christino:

@ Loverb

Exactly, emulate the westerners, like we emulated Ragga, Makossa, Jazz and what have you. The Puerto Ricans, Jamaicans, Latinos, West Indies, Britons and Asians also emulate them till date and they are making it big time, so why not us? Nothing wrong.

Ol boy. . . you are missing many many o.

They have said it all with their statements. I agree with them their is nothing wrong with emulating Americans almost everyone does it. They are the rolemodels of Hip-hop like some people will say that Sean Paul is with dancehall and Jamaicans with reggea. So, stop fussing about this there are many Nigerian artists that are doing great and still maintain their style, probably you are focussing too much on the artistes choregraphy. The reason that they are not promoted is because we that are abroad are not promoting them, and it is a money and sales thing rather than marketing.  Stop complaining and do something about it! Many of our artists are worth the international recognition. You can simply promote these artists with playing their music in your car or at parties where other people will hear it. I do it all the time and have people ask me also white : they are good who are these artists? where can I get the music blablabla. Tell people about the Nigerian artists you like if you have any favorites. I wonder if your even aware of the music scene in Nigeria and how far it goes abroad based on your topic

I see some of you just can't help being funny .

"Do you know that Big Pun and Fat Joe are not Americans at all, ": See I ain't even gonna comment on that. Nas AIN'T Nigerian! As at time of writing Lemar Obika was British. I can't understand why some of you just can't do a little research before posting false claims. I consider someone whatever they say they are but at the same time they gotta prove it. People like Akon, Shakira, and Wyclef ARE Americans. Yes they were born in their respective countries but they all spent the largest part of their lives in land of opportunities. Or do you think they've got Senegalese, Colombian, or Haitian passports? Them mentioning their roots is largely an attempt to widen their fan base both within and outside the shores of America so they can be considered "REAL" and credit to them for that.

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 cos they ARE Nigerians (i.e. It's hard for western audience to understand the humor or the subject Nigerian artist).

@roflamoa, na true talk oooo.

Imagine a White man lisstening to "iya Basira", , or 2shot "pirated copy", lol will it appeal to him like other english songs?,

Lemar, said it himself that he is british of Nigerian descent. He categorically lamented during the liveaid concert that despite been an african descent, he weasnt allowed to perform. That is where i knew that he is from a Nigerian father, but he is british born!

@poster, because it sux!

Nigeria Music has got so much problem ranging from lyrics to production finishing which makes them not selling internationally.

Mean while I hope 2 give a Hi 5 to Our true Repz,

Lagbaja
Sound Sultan
Rymzo

These above guys have got an outstanding Continuity in their music.

lmao@naija4life  

@ Ndipe
Exactly, emulate the westerners, like we emulated Ragga, Makossa, Jazz and what have you. The Puerto Ricans, Jamaicans, Latinos, West Indies, Britons and Asians also emulate them till date and they are making it big time, so why not us? Nothing wrong.

@Topic
someone mentioned Nigerian music emulate jazz, ragga etc and did you also call it western? just asking because all those genres are african music, its all just gone full circle and coming back to africa .Anyway thats not so important. I think if they get commercial backings from businesses the artiste will go very far. Rigght now i think the talent is plenty but not enough backing. So i would say the reason it is not so popular internationally is because we have not carved a unique sound for ourselves, don't think we can though unless some real genius comes along and is able to fuse all the beautiful sounds tapping into the very essence in many of the cultures and tribes in Nigeria to create a sound that can be called Nigerian and then may be and thats a big maybe we can have our music like the jamicans have ragga etc now influencing popular culture.  It takes alot of experiementing and the only person i see so far with that kind of mind to create is Lagbaja.