naptu2: This is a popular Lagos Island folk song that Fela transformed into an amazing highlife song.
The original folk song is one of my favourite childhood songs. I could picture the scene in my head and I often imagined how it would be. The song is from the red and white part of Lagos Island, that is, the famous Lafiaji.
It's about kids that have been sent to sell dodo and moinmoin, but they didn't make much sales. Therefore, they did something crazy, mischievous to attract people .
Fela added some words to the end of the song and they made it funnier. He sang about the things that were thrown on his body when the fight started.
I have become seriously addicted to this song in the past few days.
[quote author=naptu2 post=97196493]Now let's go waaaay back to the afro-jazz era. Back before the politics. These are the Lagos songs.
Fela Ransome-Kuti and his Koola Lobitos - Oni Dodo (1968).
naptu2: The opening sequence was actually in two parts. Everybody will remember the second part, but most might not remember the first part.
1st part.
We see him walk out of a building and get into a white S Class Mercedes Benz (W116). We follow him as he drives to NTA Kaduna, gets out of the car and goes into the building (the opening credits were rolling all through the journey and the band is playing a dramatic jazz tune).
2nd part.
He is on stage in the studio. The spotlight is on him and his band is behind him, in the darkness.
He talks about that day's show, the guests that will be on the show, the theme of the show and some of the songs that they are going to play. He sings or drags out the last word of every sentence and the band punctuates his sentences.
It's slowly building up to the moment that everybody is waiting for. Then it starts:
"Wel-come ev-er-y body (Band: dadada dadadumdum Dadadada dadadumdum)
For you and you and you and you Ati iwo na!
(Band: dadada dadadumdum Dadadada dadadumdum)
For you and you and you and you Handekenya!
The Bala Miller Show.
I wish I could find a video of the episode in which he interviewed Kris Okotie (c1982)
naptu2: Aha! Remember what I said about smoking being normal back in the day. Notice that he lit up as soon as he began driving.
This is the intro to the Bala Miller Show (from 1983). It shows him coming out of his house and getting into a Mercedes Benz SL (R107). He liights up as soon as he drives out of the garage. Then he drives to NTA Kaduna and we see him go into the building. We also see that the guest for that week is Yvonne Maha.
Then it switches to the studio where he does his usual intro to the show.
Wel-come Ev-er-y Body!
naptu2: This is the origin of the Bala Miller Show signature tune.
This song was a huge hit for Bala Miller and the Musical Pirameeds of Africa in the 1970s. He decided to use it as the signature tune of his TV show in the 1980s.
"Wait a minute", you might say. "That's not Bala Miller!"
Well, Bala Miller isn't the one singing. That's a member of the band called Abdullahi. Bala Miller is at the back (to the left), conducting the band.
Bala Miller and the Musical Pirameeds of Africa - Ikon Allah (performed on the Bala Miller Show in 1984).
splashbaby: The song on number 104 of the list is absolute beauty for me. I so much love this song growing up. I learnt he used to play back up for Micheal Jackson then.
naptu2: That song is hypnotic. The bass is incredible.
naptu2: Tell me, if you know the city called Sodom.
The people suffer power starvation. The people. . . . corruption. The students suffer mass detention.
Tell me, if you know the city called Sodom.
By now, you should know the city called Sodom.
Terra Kota (Gboyega Femi) - Lamentations For Sodom (1984).
naptu2: I can't find the single, so this is the whole album.
naptu2: I remember when we had a reunion (in 2008 or 2009). This song came on and there was a 70 year old man who couldn't control himself anymore. He just had to dance.
CHECK OUT THE RHYTHM ON THIS SONG! I haven't even gotten to the excellent guitar playing, just check out the rhythm!
Now, for those of you that don't know, (1) these were secondary school kids. They were students at St Gregory's College when they released this track (2) This song was done in 1974. (3) They played the instruments themselves.
splashbaby: The song on number 104 of the list is absolute beauty for me. I so much love this song growing up. I learnt he used to play back up for Micheal Jackson then.
naptu2: You won't believe what I just found! These are two of the three pioneer Nigerian rap/reggae (toasting) songs that I've been looking for for ages (one of them was even uploaded by someone I know).
This group was the first Nigerian rap group that made sense to me. They weren't pretending to be Americans, their lyrics actually rhymed and the song was very funky. It'd be a hit if it was released today.
If I remember correctly, they released this song a few months before Junior And Pretty released Monica (which is viewed by many as the first major Nigerian hip hop song). I think that this group was better than Junior And Pretty, but J&P went on to become much more popular.
I'm getting almost the same results that I got in 2016. The only disappointing thing is that only one person has attempted to answer the question, "What is that Hausa song".
However, on the issue of "greatest songs" the result is exactly the same as in 2016.
Before 2016 a lot of people had created lists and proclaimed the songs, "The greatest Nigerian songs of all time" or something like that. I argued that you could not create such a list because there are different genres, different eras and different tastes. For example, a lot of the lists that were compiled before 2016 only had songs from the year 2000 downwards. So there's nothing like "the greatest Nigerian song ever".
Go through this thread and you'll see what I mean. Some people are arguing that there should be more songs by Davido, Olamide, Burna Boy and Wizkid, while some want all the songs by those people to be removed from the list.
This was what I posted after I created the 2016 thread.
naptu2: Many people didn't quite understand the title of that thread. I initially wrote,
"Naptu2's list of 150 of the greatest Nigerian songs".
The mod changed the title, but even with the new title, there's clearly a difference between:
1) List of 150 of the greatest Nigerian songs, by Naptu2.
And
2) List of the 150 greatest Nigerian songs, by Naptu2.
The first title shows that there are other great Nigerian songs and that there are some other songs that might even be greater, but the songs on the list are among the greatest.
The second title shows that the songs on the list are the top 150 greatest Nigerian songs.
My thread had the first title. I've repeatedly stated that it's impossible to compile a list of the top 150 greatest songs (how do you compare musical styles? How do you compare a rap song and a funk song? How do you compare a song from the 1960s with a song from 2010? ).
But many people assumed that the thread had the second title.
(The man looked pensive, worried, like there was a weight on him)
He went to the farm (hence the title of the song). He saw the farmer. The farmer offered him yam, but he replied that yam wasn't the issue bugging him.
He went to the sea-side. He saw the mermaid. She offered him fish, but he replied that fish wasn't the issue bugging him.
He went to the palm plantation. He saw the palmwine tapper. The palmwine tapper offered him palmwine, but he said that palmwine wasn't the issue bugging him.
He was walking past the buka and he saw his friends wining and dining. They asked him to join them, but he said that hunger wasn't the issue bugging him.
He went home and spoke to his wife. She offered him a hug, but the hug didn't solve the issue that was bugging him.
They then asked him, "So what is the issue bugging you?" and he replied that it was the problems of the world that were bugging him.
That's when the lamentation about the character of man began. Envy, hatred, betrayal, etc.
naptu2: To be honest with you, I thoroughly enjoyed the journey but, thinking about the meaning of this song can make you weep.
It's the human condition. The problems of the world (problem no dey finish) and it almost seems like he predicted the problems of Nigeria. The problem is the people and the traits in the people.
naptu2: I don't care what the original title of this song is, I'm going to call it by the name that I knew back then.
This song was a massive hit.
This is why you need to question what people tell you and not just believe anything you hear. You see, I knew that he was a Nigerian back then, but there was a time that I was trying to remember the song (late 1990s) and the person that I was with at the time said that he was Ghanaian and I just accepted it. Of course he is a Nigerian!
This was such a huge hit.
Dan I - Monkey Come Chop Banana (1979).
I gave my nephew a lift and I was listening to Classic FM in the car and this song came on and my nephew asked how they can say that they play the best songs when they are playing "Monkey come chop banana"?
Now I'm truly confused. I thought that this guy was a Nigerian (back in the early 1980s), then someone convinced me that he was a Ghanaian (in the late 1980s), then a Nairalander convinced me that he was a Nigerian (in 2016) and now the Internet is telling me that he was British.
I am truly officially confused. (He shouldn't be on this list if he's not Nigerian).
Music/Radio › Re: List Of 250 Of The Greatest Nigerian Songs By Naptu2. by naptu2(op): 11:01pm On Jan 03, 2022
