ARE STYL PLUS THAT BAD ?
A few years ago frontline galala/ragga artiste and member of the defunct pop group Plantashun Boyz,Blackface, was so pissed off with a negative review of his debut album by a hip hop magazine that he couldn't resist baring his mind in his own unique way:He tore the magazine to shreds right before the cameras in his video.I couldn't blame him at all.
It's usually very easy and tempting to sit cossy and write damning reviews of creative/artistic works,but we must always be mindful of the economic effects of such comments on the artist vis a vis the effort,time and resources that he/she must have expended in creating the work.It is even more pertinent to always bare in mind that one's own view may not necessarily represent others',therefore being privileged to have access of a mass medium should always be utilised with caution.I find very little justification in the extremely negative reviews of Styl Plus' latest album,Back and Better,by some writers,which tends to portray the work as sub-standard.
Out of curiousity I went out to search for and buy the CD.I was stunned.What I heard was by far better than most of the other CDs released into the market recently.From their first work,Olufunmi,Styl Plus chose a different and more difficult path to tread.They tried to blend the r&b vocal style with vintage techno (something only the Plantashun Boyz had dared to try) and they did it perfectly.Olufunmi was a runaway smash,but like all other first time hits,was always going to pose a problem for the group:How will they produce a bigger hit without sounding like olufunmi?
And that probably explains why the follow-up album did not create as much buzz,eventhough Iya Basira would have been a big big hit for any other group.Back and Better is a fine album ,and for me Four Years has already caught on.I would be surprised if any Naija teeny boppy fan does not go crazy over I Don Tire.I even think a massive US/European tour is overdue for the group,given the high-tech dance flavour in their music.
Someone also suggested that the group should leave Abuja for Lagos.Why ?I think the lagos scene is already over-saturated with hip hop/pop acts,even when there is an enormous market begging to be tapped in Abuja,Kaduna,Port Harcourt,Jos,Onitsha,etc.I discoverred recently that Faze is larger than life in the east,while the sengemenge duo are so massive in Uyo.I think it's in the interest of the industry for the market to expand into the other parts of the country.
To my friends in the entertainment press,I'm not saying you shouldn't criticise;just balance what you write,and don't entirely write off any work - no matter what your personal opinion.I remember many years ago in the 80s,there was a massive blockbusting hit in the country, Atomic Bomb by William Onyeabor(not too sure of the name really).To me then,just a cheap repetition of 1 or 2 lines of verse and bass for over 5 odd minutes;but it sold massively and was the street anthem all the same.Ditto for Anita Ward's Ring My Bell;we never heard from her again,but only few songs sold more copies!
TU FACE DEBUTS ON HYPERTEK
The much awaited new CD from Nigeria's top pop star,Tu Face Idibia has landed ! Only that this is just a mini,not the full album.It's just 4 tracks and remixes/instrumentals.No Kennis Music,no OJB as producer,the work is releasd on Tu's own Hypertek Entertainment label.
And that's the big factor in Tu Baba's success:Always ahead of his peers.When his colleaques in the plantation were still brooding over contractual issues with their label,Tu had moved on with Kennis.While Faze is still dilli-dallying with Akon,Tu has launched his own label.It is noteworthy that the sleave of the CD confirms that the much speculated collabo with R Kelly will be included in the full album - and that is the big deal.Tu Face's advance singles never truly represent the strenth of his album,so there's still some expectations and anxiety to come.Brace up 9ice!
ADIEU OLIVER,PA STEVE RHODES,SAMMY
These are indeed testy times for the music industry,and we can only continue to pray to God.Steve Rhodes,a doyen of Nigerian artistes passed on after living a very fulfilling life.Sammy Needle was a very young man,but he made his mark on the Nigerian music scene,even without releasing so many albums.
Oliver De Coque was a trail-blazer.He emerged at a time when the igbo highlife scene was dominated by the likes of the Oriental Brothers and Chief Osita Osadebe.Oliver introduced a cross-over flavour, and quickly won converts from the other ethnic groups in the country when he sang Identity.It remains the most popular igbo highlife song after Nico Mbarga's Sweet Mother.
May their souls rest in peace.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
SUPER EAGLES:HERE WE GO AGAIN !
I thought the events of the last couple of years would have changed us - Nigerian soccer critics that is ,but how wrong I was.The local media in the last one week has been so full of severe criticicsm for the National Team that you would think the whole bunch (coaches and players) know next to nothing about the game or have so much embarassed the country by their performance.
The trend started in a subtle form after the team's first game ,a friendly against Austria,became temporarily muted after an emphatic win against South Africa,only to rise to a crescendo after the games in Sierra Leone and Equitorial Guinea.What are the all-knowing critics saying?
First, that Nigeria is in the weakest group,and so should stroll through in majestic manner whether playing home or away.The defenders,and not the attackers are scoring all the goals.There is no wing-play,no cohession,no pattern,no 'sexy' football.And Nigeria was only lucky against Sierra Leone,they should have lost by a basket!And how on earth we could only score one goal against Equitorial Guinea,when we should have whipped them silly?If we are playing so badly against these 'underdogs',how are we going to win the Word Cup in 2010?And so on,and so on (it seems we have even forgotten that we could not even qualify for the World Cup the last time around!).
And I can't help asking myself if these guys are living in this same planet.With what we have all seen with our 'korokoro' eyes in the last few years,even right up to the current World/Nations Cup qualifiers,we still believe there are minnows or whipping boys in soccer,particularly in Africa?Do we forget so soon that it's barely 3 months' ago that this same team crashed to their lowest rating ever at the last Nations Cup - even with a 'world class coach' in tow?.The new coach who was appointed only about a month ago is expected to have transformed the team into world champions overnight.
Of course it's only in Nigeria that these warped expectations exist,and mostly when an indegenous coach is in charge.That was why the team was disbanded and Adegboye Onigbinde mandated to build a new National Team barely four months to the World Cup finals in 2002 - the consequenses of which we are yet to fully recover from till date.I do not recall anytime during Berti Vogt's run up to the last Nations Cup when the outpour was this bad.People only criticised the guy for choosing to do his job from outside the country.
Any team that wins a football game deserves some praise at the very least.A team that wins three World Cup qualifying matches in a row definitely deserves to be respected.And when a team wins two matches away from home at a stretch,there's no way it could be as bad and rotten as our super critics will want us to beleive.In any case I do think that we are grossly over-estimating our current football strengths.This is 2008, not 1994 when Nigeria had by far the largest contingent of TOP-CLASS African players in Europe.With all due respect I think what we have now is quantity with very little quality.
Having decided to dispense with the services of Berti Vogts,the NFA did absolutely the right thing in hiring coach Amodu Shaibu.The timing of the World/Nations cup qualifiers presented no opportunities for taking blind risks.So the NFA wisely opted for a coach who understands African soccer inside out (exam or no exam).The coach in turn did the smart thing by retaining the core team,try to help the players regain their self-confidence,and thereby build a platform for short term success (which is what the team needs at this time).
Of course I wont pretend not to know where all these venomous criticisms are heading:Sooner or later,the current Super Eagles will experience their first loss (which team ever won for ever?), then the knives will be sharpened.Their will be a massive outcry for a 'world class' foreign coach,and the whole circus will start all over.
My advice is for the NFA to learn from the past,and not rush into any irrational decisions.The current team (coaches and players) is good enough,and should be fully supported,even when they lose a game.I saw character in the team that rallied from the first half onslaught from the Sierra Leonians to seize the innitiative and go on to win (football is played over 90 minutes,not 45).Sexy football will come naturally over time - look how many years it took Van Basten to mould the Dutch team.
The trend started in a subtle form after the team's first game ,a friendly against Austria,became temporarily muted after an emphatic win against South Africa,only to rise to a crescendo after the games in Sierra Leone and Equitorial Guinea.What are the all-knowing critics saying?
First, that Nigeria is in the weakest group,and so should stroll through in majestic manner whether playing home or away.The defenders,and not the attackers are scoring all the goals.There is no wing-play,no cohession,no pattern,no 'sexy' football.And Nigeria was only lucky against Sierra Leone,they should have lost by a basket!And how on earth we could only score one goal against Equitorial Guinea,when we should have whipped them silly?If we are playing so badly against these 'underdogs',how are we going to win the Word Cup in 2010?And so on,and so on (it seems we have even forgotten that we could not even qualify for the World Cup the last time around!).
And I can't help asking myself if these guys are living in this same planet.With what we have all seen with our 'korokoro' eyes in the last few years,even right up to the current World/Nations Cup qualifiers,we still believe there are minnows or whipping boys in soccer,particularly in Africa?Do we forget so soon that it's barely 3 months' ago that this same team crashed to their lowest rating ever at the last Nations Cup - even with a 'world class coach' in tow?.The new coach who was appointed only about a month ago is expected to have transformed the team into world champions overnight.
Of course it's only in Nigeria that these warped expectations exist,and mostly when an indegenous coach is in charge.That was why the team was disbanded and Adegboye Onigbinde mandated to build a new National Team barely four months to the World Cup finals in 2002 - the consequenses of which we are yet to fully recover from till date.I do not recall anytime during Berti Vogt's run up to the last Nations Cup when the outpour was this bad.People only criticised the guy for choosing to do his job from outside the country.
Any team that wins a football game deserves some praise at the very least.A team that wins three World Cup qualifying matches in a row definitely deserves to be respected.And when a team wins two matches away from home at a stretch,there's no way it could be as bad and rotten as our super critics will want us to beleive.In any case I do think that we are grossly over-estimating our current football strengths.This is 2008, not 1994 when Nigeria had by far the largest contingent of TOP-CLASS African players in Europe.With all due respect I think what we have now is quantity with very little quality.
Having decided to dispense with the services of Berti Vogts,the NFA did absolutely the right thing in hiring coach Amodu Shaibu.The timing of the World/Nations cup qualifiers presented no opportunities for taking blind risks.So the NFA wisely opted for a coach who understands African soccer inside out (exam or no exam).The coach in turn did the smart thing by retaining the core team,try to help the players regain their self-confidence,and thereby build a platform for short term success (which is what the team needs at this time).
Of course I wont pretend not to know where all these venomous criticisms are heading:Sooner or later,the current Super Eagles will experience their first loss (which team ever won for ever?), then the knives will be sharpened.Their will be a massive outcry for a 'world class' foreign coach,and the whole circus will start all over.
My advice is for the NFA to learn from the past,and not rush into any irrational decisions.The current team (coaches and players) is good enough,and should be fully supported,even when they lose a game.I saw character in the team that rallied from the first half onslaught from the Sierra Leonians to seize the innitiative and go on to win (football is played over 90 minutes,not 45).Sexy football will come naturally over time - look how many years it took Van Basten to mould the Dutch team.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
DELE SOSIMI,COME BACK HOME !
Shortly after I blogged on the fading profile of afrobeat music in Nigeria earlier this year,I found myself discussing the same issue with some friends at high profile celebrity joint,The Coliseum in Ikeja.It was there that someone drew my attention to the dogged efforts that a mutual childhood collleaque, Dele Sosimi has been making over the years in popularising the genre far away in the United Kingdom.I found myself unconsciously gasping aloud,momentarily attracting everybody's attention to myself:How on earth could I have forgotten Dele?
My first thought was to go edit that post and add a line or two on Dele,but on further reflection I decided that the guy deserves much more than that.I'll explain why.
When Fela's son and now the torchbearer of afrobeat music,Femi Anikulapo -Kuti relocated from the great Baptist Academy to (the greater ?) Igbobi College in the late 1970s,he met a very vibrant social scene largely propelled by the lively and immensely popular college band (ask the old students of Methodist Girls High School for instance!).The band at that time was fronted by Dele Sosimi who already had a reputation of a genius on the keyboards, Femi Elias (who has probably taken after his father as a law guru) who displayed similar dexterity on the bass guitar,and a few others I cannot immediately remember.
Femi Kuti and Dele Sosimi took to each other like siamese twins instantly,and they complemented each other perfectly.Femi the tall,quiet,genteel,aje-butterish looking fellow,and Dele the very typical tough-looking,street smart type.Both shared a common deep-rooted passion for afrobeat,and Dele was soon jamming with Fela's Egypt 80 band-even as a teenager.Yes,both Dele Sosimi and femi Kuti were nurtured together directly by the legend himself,Fela Anikulapo-kuti!They went on to perform on several of Fela's albums and tours.
It was little surprise then that Dele Sosimi would play a major role in the evolution of Femi's own band,the Positive Force.His influence on Femi could easily be felt on the hyper-charged,energy sapping pace of the group's earlier albums.Perhaps it was this free spirit and youthful zest that attracted so much European interest in the group.While Femi preferred to shuttle between Europe,America and Nigeria,Dele Sosimi settled permanently in the UK and has been there for so so many years - which explains why those of us in Nigeria may easily forget him occassionally.
While in London sometime ago,I got gist of Dele's growing popularity,but I never got the opportunity of watching him.My friend at the Coliseum (himself also a london self-exiled) however intimated us that Dele Sosimi is in massive demand in queen's land.I had mixed feelings though.I'm happy that Dele is keeping the flag flying abroad,and in the process obviously doing well for himself,but on the other hand I feel bad that we have someone like that yet afrobeat is losing its soul locally.
Dele Sosimi should come back home and bring life back to afrobeat.His presence is exactly what Femi himself needs to jolt him back to action.Both are still under 50,and still have several active years ahead of them.I also wonder why kennis Music and others have not looked their way,because in afrobeat is hidden the real big money that can galvanise the entire music industry in Nigeria,in fact Africa.Replicating American hip hop and other foreign genres in whatever guise can only go as far as the tide,believe me!
My first thought was to go edit that post and add a line or two on Dele,but on further reflection I decided that the guy deserves much more than that.I'll explain why.
When Fela's son and now the torchbearer of afrobeat music,Femi Anikulapo -Kuti relocated from the great Baptist Academy to (the greater ?) Igbobi College in the late 1970s,he met a very vibrant social scene largely propelled by the lively and immensely popular college band (ask the old students of Methodist Girls High School for instance!).The band at that time was fronted by Dele Sosimi who already had a reputation of a genius on the keyboards, Femi Elias (who has probably taken after his father as a law guru) who displayed similar dexterity on the bass guitar,and a few others I cannot immediately remember.
Femi Kuti and Dele Sosimi took to each other like siamese twins instantly,and they complemented each other perfectly.Femi the tall,quiet,genteel,aje-butterish looking fellow,and Dele the very typical tough-looking,street smart type.Both shared a common deep-rooted passion for afrobeat,and Dele was soon jamming with Fela's Egypt 80 band-even as a teenager.Yes,both Dele Sosimi and femi Kuti were nurtured together directly by the legend himself,Fela Anikulapo-kuti!They went on to perform on several of Fela's albums and tours.
It was little surprise then that Dele Sosimi would play a major role in the evolution of Femi's own band,the Positive Force.His influence on Femi could easily be felt on the hyper-charged,energy sapping pace of the group's earlier albums.Perhaps it was this free spirit and youthful zest that attracted so much European interest in the group.While Femi preferred to shuttle between Europe,America and Nigeria,Dele Sosimi settled permanently in the UK and has been there for so so many years - which explains why those of us in Nigeria may easily forget him occassionally.
While in London sometime ago,I got gist of Dele's growing popularity,but I never got the opportunity of watching him.My friend at the Coliseum (himself also a london self-exiled) however intimated us that Dele Sosimi is in massive demand in queen's land.I had mixed feelings though.I'm happy that Dele is keeping the flag flying abroad,and in the process obviously doing well for himself,but on the other hand I feel bad that we have someone like that yet afrobeat is losing its soul locally.
Dele Sosimi should come back home and bring life back to afrobeat.His presence is exactly what Femi himself needs to jolt him back to action.Both are still under 50,and still have several active years ahead of them.I also wonder why kennis Music and others have not looked their way,because in afrobeat is hidden the real big money that can galvanise the entire music industry in Nigeria,in fact Africa.Replicating American hip hop and other foreign genres in whatever guise can only go as far as the tide,believe me!
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