By Anote Ajeluorou
A line up of choice
musical activities will light up MUSON Music Festival 2015 that starts from
October 14 through 25th at MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos. It will be a feast of
diverse musical traditions ranging from classical music to jazz, African
traditional music, chorale music, drama and dance. It is the 19th edition of the
music festival dedicated to the highest ideal of music composition and
performance. Various professionals in the diverse fields of music, drama and dance
will bring their input to bear on the festival to make it MUSON standard of
excellence.
Individuals performers expected to bring
their professional excellence to the festival include Mr. Uche Nwokedi of The
Playhouse Initiative who will direct the musical drama Jesus Christ Superstar, Mrs. Sarah Boulous of Society of Performing
Arts of Nigeria (SPAN), a dance group of immense motivation and Sir Emeka
Nwokedi of Lagos City Chorale group whose recent musical exploits in Germany at
the Olympic Chorale competition earned Nigeria gold medals. Others are MUSON’s
Artistic Director, Mr. Tunde Jegede, MUSON’s Resident Pianist, Mr. Tunde Sosan,
MUSON Jazz Band, Girls Rule Band, School Big Band and classical guitarist, Mr. Philip
Uzor. Others are Ranti, Mr. Ayo Ajayi, who was music director for acclaimed
musical theatre, Saro the Musical, Imole
Ayo, Bez (Idukale) and current student and trumpeter, Mr. Etuk Ubong of Ubong
Quartet. Many of the performers are mostly
graduates of The MUSON School of Music.
It certainly is an awesome array of
performance activities any lover of quality music would regret to miss. But
sadly, efforts to deepen the kind of wholesome music MUSON delivers continue to
attract little result by way of needed assistance in terms of corporate sponsorship
and patronage. It is the harsh reality managers of MUSON Centre and others of
like minds are faced with ahead of festival opening.
However, corporate social responsibility from
corporate bodies for cultural productions continues to thin out just as robust
support pours in for music on the other side of the divide - hiphop or Afro-pop,
as it were. This is the new direction of music craze in the country, with
companies queuing up to pick up huge bills for musicians whose artistry is less
sterling and appealing and lyrics that are outright ‘unmusical’, but which
appeals to the a large section of the youthful population. And that seems the
key for companies looking to support the arts and culture production.
Demographic bottom line has become the defining impetus! It does not matter the
type of value the music is delivering with such lyrics and performance.
Orezi (Osegine Allen) recently admitted that
he does not know the meaning of his hit track Shoki, saying it’s a dance step he stumbled upon. This just about
sums up the lyrical content of much of the music on offer in Nigeria.
Former Performing Musicians Association of
Nigeria (PMAN) and philanthropist Mr. Bolaji Rosoji calls it the ‘age of noise,’
and that multinational firms’ patronage tends towards the ‘outrageous’. He said
the situation calls for concern, noting, “Music on air now is certainly not as
edifying as when Sunny Okosuns, Ebenezer Obey, Osita Osadebey, etc, were
playing; there was a compliance with what they said. It made you want to do
what they were saying. Now, music is a projection of ignorance, violence and
degradation of womanhood. This is a dangerous thing to our children”.
Rosiji said ‘Clean up your Lyrics’ campaign
was part of efforts he made as PMAN president to make music “more edifying,
conscious and god-fearing,” but which has since been lost for lack of
continuity. He argued that the music videos being made now were even more
dangerous in the erosion of wholesome values, adding, “What you’re absorbing
into your senses through videos is more permeating and influencing”.
He called on song and copywriters to think
outside the box for a healthy music industry. Also, Rosiji asked companies to
reduce the amount of noise they generate in the name of promoting their
products and services.
ALTHOUGH Vice
Chairman of MUSON Centre Mr. Louis Mbanefo put it down to “donor fatigue and
the arts seeming to be fairly low down the list; too many people are asking for
sponsorship,” it was culture impresario Chief (Mrs.) Francesca Emanuel, a MUSON
patron, who had a handle to the issue at stake when she observed with a hint of
sadness.
“The music featured on our TV is painful. The
lyrics are no lyrics from the music being made and played. The female dancers
are half naked and the males are wearing trousers almost falling down. At MUSON
here, we’re turning up graduates who are disciplined and trained to do music
that influences society in glorious and spiritual manner. The purpose of MUSON
in impacting the public is bringing up a breed of Nigerians that understand
classical music and who will then diversify into other kinds of music”.
Mbanefo further restated the mission of MUSON
and its place in countering the offensive and corrupt music that now dominates
the airwaves, and which companies in Nigeria are so eager to promote since its
star performers attract a large youthful audience to it, which, ironically, has
become the standard to measure the direction the country’s value orientation is
headed.
According to Mbanefo, “Culture is talking
about civilization of the human psyche and spirit. We need to urge companies that
MUSON has big impact on society in enriching its soul through good music. We
can’t do much about current music on the airwaves, but we try to elevate the
music we play. The MUSON Music Festival is pointing the way for MUSON as the centre
of the arts in Nigeria”.
He traced the origin of MUSON and blames the
new crop of chief executive officers managing corporate companies, as being
culturally and artistically illiterate and not enlightened enough. Director of
The MUSON School of Music Mrs. Marion Apata said it was poorly designed school
curriculum in recent years that has relegated the arts to the background, saying
it was reason for lack of music appreciation among many adults today, a
situation that has impacted negatively on music tastes for the current fad to
thrive.
Apata said, “If we as parents ask that music
should be taught in schools, children will learn new kinds of music. Schools
that used to have choir don’t do so any more, including music festivals where
prizes were awarded. Not everyone is going to be a lawyer, doctors and so on.
Many parents discourage children from doing music because of the kinds of
things they see on TV. At MUSON we do a lot of music not just classical, but
different kinds, as the music evolution leads”.
Mbanefo noted, “In the early days, most of
the CEOs were foreigners who were enlightened people and older generation of
Nigerians educated in Europe. When we asked for funding to build MUSON response
was huge. But if it were now, I’m sure we won’t get response and MUSON would
never come into being. Back then CEOs saw the importance of classical music,
but now it’s about bottom line”.
WITHOUT intending to
dilute MUSON’s music tradition and direction, Mbanefo thinks dynamism is the
way to go, as with all cultures. Young people hold all the aces and it won’t
hurt if MUSON bends over backwards to also cater this powerful demographic
group.
“So perhaps, we need to redirect our focus to
young people,” he stated. “We’re going through a process of broadening the
programme to include several other kinds of music. We’re not foreclosed on
that, but widening the scope.”
Advertising chief and patron of MUSON Chief
Adeniyi Williams brought the demographic angle companies look out for to
determine what project to sponsor or not, when he said, “MUSON’s kind of music
is slightly different from the kind of music D’Banj and the other young ones
are doing, which is for large crowd of youth”.
Emanuel also took on the question of bottom
line companies often ask for in project sponsorship. She noted, “The
sponsorship question, what is in it of companies; if MUSON tries to answer that
question by saying it’s not in financial terms, but the wholesome edification
of society. Money is not everything; values should also count”.
Mbanefo also cleared the misconception
regarding the kind of music MUSON does and said it was not just classical or
European music and certainly not elitist.
Sir Emeka Nwokedi restated what MUSON does
with classical music that is lacking in the current music fad that doesn’t seem
to have a foundation.
“Classical music is music that has been
properly organised, written down and properly scored before being performed.
It’s not just European music,” he said.
Beside donor fatigue, General Manager of
MUSON Mr. Gboyega Banjo blamed lack of sponsorship on poor economy, with
companies cutting back on corporate social responsibility alongside demographic
spread that determines sponsorship. He, however, sued for support for MUSON’s
music activities, as he noted, “The MUSON School of Music is a gift to society.
The school does a lot to lift society. We provide a platform for all activities
in the arts and culture sector”.
A former student of the music school Ranti
said MUSON was trending in the right direction even though the music is not
super popular as the fad on the airwaves. She, however, blamed the high brain
drain among graduates of the school who would have influenced Nigeria’s music
direction on poor appreciation of good music in the country. “There’s brain
drain of our scholars going abroad to excel,” she noted.
RUB-A-DUB master
Orits Williki blames Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) for the rot in the
airwaves, saying they should wake up from slumber. “It’s for NBC to wake up,”
he said. “It’s NBC’s responsibility not to allow bad lyrics to air on radio or
TV. The law also requires grading so you don’t kill creativity. In our
airwaves, NBC has failed our nation. In our time there was what we called
‘Not-to-be-broadcast’ (NTBB) adopted by the quality control section of radio
stations. I don’t know if they still have it these days. So, everything is
doing down. Until quality control is brought back things will remain bad.
“Those in corporate firms massively
supporting these bad lyrics with money don’t know better. They don’t even know
what the lyrics are saying. Most of the time they are watching cable TV and
don’t know what is happening on terrestrial TV or radio. So, if you try to
control TV, cable TV is still on”.
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