“Talent Shows Are Lazy”: Music Experts Share Why Street Acts Like Portable Don’t Win Project Fame, Others
- Like it or not, street music and Afro-street pop have come to stay with artists like Asake, Portable, Seyi Vibes, and Mohbad duly representing and doing well for the genre
- However, a constant question is why up-and-coming street talents don't succeed or get picked for music talent shows like Nigerian Idols, Project Fame and more
- In this piece, Legit.ng has sought out why young street pop talents don't succeed on music talents shows
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Afrobeat, at the moment, is doing wonders globally. The Nigerian music industry hasn't been this well globally celebrated before. It is currently at the forefront of the push to displace once-popular Reggae, dancehall and hip-hop music.
However, the Nigerian music industry offers much more than Afrobeat. Some have said other genres of Nigerian sounds aren't getting as many accolades as Afrobeat because the other tunes don't get enough attention and publicity like Afrobeat.
Source: Instagram
While others have noted that music reality TV shows and talent spotters like Project Fame, Nigerian Idols, The Voice and many others are major factors why other Nigerian sounds aren't getting recognition like Afrobeats.
It is believed that the shows are some of the biggest platforms for raw music talents to be spotted, nurtured, reformed and sold to the world.
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But most shows often concentrate more on vocal strength, trying to sound Western and less Nigerian. They are accused of trying to sound acceptable to the Western world instead of selling other Nigerian indigenous sounds.
And this begs the question, why aren't artists like Portable, Seyi Vibez, Konga, and Naira Marley ever seen on such platforms, yet they run the streets?
Their slangs, fashion sense and beats of street artists have gradually become the norm, yet, music talent shows don't consider these musicians as the type of singers they want to grace their platforms.
1. Street artists are misrepresented and miscategorised:
The artists are miscategorised, "Nigerian singer bred and brought up in the country can't be more American than a Luther Vandross, and can't sing pop music better," these were the words of ace music producer Asha Gangali during a conversation with Legit.ng's Nosa Oke-Hortons.
Asha noted that if someone from Germany had come to Nigeria in the 1960/the 70s and listened to Ayinla Omowura, he probably won't have been able to relate to such great music the Apala maestro made.
But with constant exposure to Apala music, he would have come to love it. Asha described why Afro-street music doesn't get enough backing and reality talent shows aren't big on it.
Asha said:
"It is a pity to have seen Project Fame over the years constantly churn out a certain type of singers and musicians which in the long run led to their peril. Yet they didn't learn, and they started another one and still went back to the same old formula."
During the conversation, Asha also noted that what many other talent shows see as weaknesses are merely misrepresentations of local flavour that they don't understand nor know how to infuse into the mainstream of the Nigerian music industry.
2. To much focus on trying to sound foreign/western
It is no lie that great voices give music a sweet and different dimension, and trying to sound Western might be an easy sell in this respect.
However, what this does is that boxes the range and array of pop singers abound on the streets of Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja and Benin, who all have diverse sounds.
An average talented singer from the streets of Oyo is forced to have to sound like another Wizkid why losing the Ewi vocals he grew up listening to and enjoying on the streets of Oluyole.
During a conversation, veteran music producer ID Cabasa said that all the most distinctive musical sounds worldwide emanated from Africa.
"What is rap? It is Rhymes and poetry. What is Ewi?... We must embrace more of our local sounds and give these local artists platforms to thrive. Not everybody can do Afrobeat, nor can everybody do Afropop. See what Asake is doing, shutting down venues across the world. He is an Afro-Fuji singer; only when you listen closely to his sounds would you be able to synthesise his unique sound."
He continued saying:
"These platforms need to understand why their fanbase is dwindling because they're detached from the street and several other factors. Still, there is a need to get people to showcase other genres of our music beyond Afrobeat and Western sounds."
3. Too much attention on Afrobeat:
As much as Afrobeat is doing quite well, some have said other Nigerian music genres are not doing well because the attention on Afrobeat is at the highest it could be.
Legit.ng spoke with Dalai, an actress, singer and artist, about the attention Afrobeat has garnered over the last few years.
Dalai said she loves that Afrobeat is currently the in-sound, and its global recognition is unprecedented.
However, it is beginning to feel diluted, and top international Nigerian singers are lacing their songs in a particular manner to suit the foreign markets more.
Dalai noted that this had happened before, and it failed, but this time it succeeded but shouldn't be pushed beyond its limit so it doesn't crash as fast as it rose.
Dalai also called for other forms of Nigerian music to get the same push as Afrobeat.
She said:
"Many might not, but King Sunny Ade was signed to the same music label as Micheal Jackson, and during that time, he produced 'Syncro system', he tried to change his sounds to suit the Western market, but he failed. Davido also went through the same ordeal with Sony, the need to stay rooted and original with our sounds can't be overstated."
Dalai continued, saying:
"Meanwhile, reality music talent shows in Nigeria are supposed to help discover raw local talents, which they do, but are rather selective and certain types of music are not usually considered, which I feel is lazy."
4. Music beyond vocal excellence
The need to make music reality TV shows more accommodating for artists not particularly vocally endowed but are the total package.
It is funny to watch D'Banj judge the Nigerian idol, knowing fully well that he isn't a vocalist, nor was he a great singer, but he was a great performer.
Music talent shows need to be more accommodating to such persons.
Source: Legit.ng
