Drawing on a mainstream musician and musician, Akintunde Brown, says that Nigerian musicians can’t win a Grammy Award because “we sing in our native dialect and the sounds are bad.”
Mr Brown revealed this while speaking to the Nigerian Information Company in Lagos on Sunday.
“We have sounds from completely different elements of Africa, the combination will make it a world-class sound, but we don’t limit ourselves to that,” he mentioned.
Brown mentioned that Nigerian hip hop and the different style are not in line with the demands of world music.
“In addition, we do not use appropriate nomenclatures that include a set of dynamic and partly subjective songs, which will be recognized by the fact that they were performed or recorded by the number of musical points, as a rule with completely different preparations.
“You can have the best class for R&B albums at the Grammys, but someone who calls their music Afro-Soul, or Fuji Blues and other names in Nigeria can’t win that class,” he said.
He mentioned Sikiru Adepoju, who won “World’s Finest Updated World Music Album” in 2009, obtained as a result of being part of Mickey Harts group, Planet Drum US-1991.
“Ayodeji Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid, earned a nomination for his contribution to Drake’s 1 dance on the album 12 Months of Class. That tune has been played in over a billion copies, and that’s what knowledge brings to the table.
“They create class when they really want to honor an artist and their people should be concerned,” he said.
Brown is known for the fact that the style of music that artists in Nigeria create cannot be confused with what exists in music around the world.
“David Adeleke, aka Davido; and Olamide Adedeji and his ilk have no chance of winning anything as the beats and sounds are nothing like, say, Drake or Jay Z.
“Kellerman is a Grammy Award-winning South African flutist, producer and composer who has won seven South African Music Awards, SAMA.
“His Love Language (2015) received a Grammy nomination for Best New Instrumental Album and won a SAMA for Best Instrumental and/or Classical Album. It debuted at number 1 on the World Music Billboard chart in July 2015,” he mentioned.
Added Brown: “The album also topped the ZMR Prime 100 Worldwide Radio Airplay chart in August 2015 and spent 11 weeks on the CMJ New World Prime 40 chart, peaking at number 12.
“He used his classical training as a foundation and focused on world roots music, exploring the flexibility of the instrument and blending classical and contemporary sounds.
He received a Grammy Award at the 57th Grammy Awards for his 2014 album Winds of Samsara, a collaboration with Indian songwriter and producer Ricky Keja.
“Winds of Samsara reached No. 1 on the US Billboard New Age Albums Chart and additionally reached No. 1 on the Zone Music Reporter Prime 100 Radio Airplay Chart for the month of July 2014.”
The musician mentioned that the financial value of many musicians abroad is not equal to that of Nigerian musicians, giving examples of Bruno Mars’ usual overnight earnings, which increased from $130,000 to $202,000.
“Esperanza Spalding went from $20,000 to $32,000; and Taylor Swift jumped from $125,000 to $600,000.
“Everyone is taxed within the United States, the home of the Academy. Their economic system has nothing to achieve if an African wins,” he noted.
Lack of knowledge and good music is known to have been a problem in Nigeria; asking, “Besides, Fela, who else took the bowing form that he had?”
He mentioned that Asa could have done it if he was particularly intentional with his sound; pointing out that women’s music threatens authenticity along with its main followers, which are the French and Europeans.
“They benefit from the flavor of their sound without having to step out of their comfort zone, which is classical music,” he said.
He argued that even with national awards like Headies, Soundcity, and MtV Base, the main problem stems from the changing nature of the genres here.
“Maybe you can think of Olamide taking offense that Nasty C got the best rap song of the 12 months. They must be regular in what they do,” she noted.
He noted that the organizers do not make that point.
“I know we will get there, our store is still in its infancy, but now we have to infuse our personal sounds in Nigeria to different African nations.
“We have to have that special sound, compose it beautifully, infuse it beautifully to create something that can make us stand out.
“However, it must be rather the charm of our musical construction, an established style and never limited to one measure as previously said, and above all because of the background of the record label”, he mentioned.
Categories: Biography
Source: newstars.edu.vn