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Friday, November 10, 2017 Lifestyle | Features Nigerian artists , taking Afrobeats to next level

op star Davido gets the same reaction wher- “They created a sound for all of Africa. They Africa is one of the most popular channels in ever he goes in Africa, whether it’s in Guinea created the first pan-African music,” Claveau said. French-speaking Africa and about a third of its pro- Por Mozambique, Botswana, or Sierra Banning Eyre, an African music specialist, added: gramming is exclusively Nigerian. Omorogbe said Leone: teeming crowds and adoring fans. The 24- “It’s very interesting for me, because it’s totally dif- the channels “broke the boundaries. Now Africa year-old icon is one of the favorites for best artist ferent from what we’ve seen in the African scene for makes one boundary, not 53”. The increase in festi- at this year’s All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), the past 30 years.” vals and events such as AFRIMA has equally al- which take place in this weekend. AFRIMA- lowed artists to meet, exchange ideas and sponsored by the -are the continent’s Breaking boundaries collaborate. Wizkid, for example, sings on “My equivalent of the American Grammy Awards, with Afrobeats (with an ‘s’) — a name given in hom- Soweto Baby” with the South African DJ Buckz. interest reflecting the continent’s rich seam of age to the Afrobeat (without an ‘s’) of the 1970s- ’s DJ Arafat and Nigerian Iyanya use emerging talent. was born about 10 years ago with pioneers such as their song “Fever” to call on “Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Davido and his Nigerian compatriot Wizkid, 2Face, D’Banj and P-Square. The internet and satel- ” to dance together. The internet has again ’s , of lite television channels did the rest. “Music channels been a game-changer. Kenyan afro-pop star “Sauti and Ivory Coast’s DJ Arafat are leading a musical like MTV or Channel O made a big impact on ex- Sol sent me a beat and I liked it, I thought it was revolution: Afrobeats. The genre was born in Nige- porting Nigerian music,” said Efe Omorogbe, cool,” said Kritzbeatz, a 22-year-old Nigerian music ria but has spread across Africa as fast as the 2Face’s manager and the head of the Now Muzik producer. “So I did a mix with my sound and now rhythm of the bass in a nightclub. “Nigerians knew Limited label. “For the first time you could sit at how to mix all the influences of Afropop: Congolese home in and you see the best of Niger- soukous, Ivorian coupe-decale, Ghanaian Highlife, ian artists.” In its wake came the French channel Jamaican dancehall,” said video journalist Hugo TRACE, which in turn led to TRACE Naija (slang Claveau, who wrote and directed the documentary, for Nigeria) two years ago, where Nigerian music “Afrobeats, From Nigeria to the World”. accounts for about 60 percent of its output. TRACE

Nigerian singer Wizkid proud of their music and very resistant to what’s coming from the outside.” In Nigeria, music is business, where sponsors US-Nigerian rapper Davido and patrons can invest hundreds of thousands of we have ‘Whine for me’. He came to Lagos for an dollars to finance a concert. By signing Wizkid, event, so we took this opportunity to shoot the Davido or D’Banj, record labels Sony and Universal video clip.” are finally turning towards African pop music in- stead of the “world music” of Salif Keita or Youssou Huge market N’Dour to conquer the African market. The finan- African pop stars are fighting among themselves cial rewards are considerable. to work with Nigerians in hope of breaking into a “There are all falling over themselves to sign con- huge market of nearly 190 million people, where tracts with Nigerian artists,” said Claveau. “But the pop music is ever-present. “Smaller markets natu- guys developed their business by themselves. They rally look towards Nigeria,” said Oris Aig- conquered the continent and don’t need them to fill bokhaevbolo, a journalist with the Music in Africa stadiums in Africa. “What they want now is export This file photo shows a large poster with the portraits of African music icons, displayed during the All magazine. “Tanzanians can’t afford to do music for themselves to the United States or Europe but for Africa Music Awards in Lagos. — AFP photos the Tanzanian market only. But Nigerians are very that the main players are still timid.” — AFP

loathed figure. Country traditionally has been the favorite music of conservative white Americans Politics free? Even country and the Country Music Association had especially urged journalists not to ask about gun control in the wake of the latest mass shootings. music awards poke Trump The awards gala switched to a reverential tone to pay tribute to the 58 people killed on October 1 when a local man opened fire on a Las Vegas country music festival from his hotel in the dead- wo top country music stars jabbed US Tweets” with an eye on the social media-loving liest mass shooting in modern US history. Under- President Donald Trump for his itchy Twit- president. Paisley joked that Trump was sitting on wood, surrounded by candles and her eyes Tter finger at an awards show Wednesday a “gold-plated White House toilet seat” tweeting moistening, sang the American gospel hymn after organizers unsuccessfully tried to keep poli- about football players, political rivals and “cov- “Softly and Tenderly” as a screen flashed por- tics out. The Country Music Association had ear- fefe,” Trump’s infamous typo that became a neol- traits of victims of the massacre, as well as coun- lier warned journalists covering its annual gala in ogism of sorts for his rhetorical style. try music stars who died in the past year. Nashville not to focus on politics, although it “It’s fun to watch it / That’s for sure / Until ‘Lit- The Country Music Association Awards, one quickly revised its guidelines after a backlash. tle Rocket Man’ starts a nuclear war / And then of two major prizes in the industry, for the second Opening the nationally televised show, co-host maybe next time he’ll think before he tweets,” straight year gave its top prize of Entertainer of Carrie Underwood teasingly said that the 2017 Paisley sang, using Trump’s insult for North Ko- the Year to 55-year-old mega-star Garth Brooks. awards were a “politics-free zone.” rean strongman Kim Jong-Un. Yet the barbs on Taylor Swift, a country prodigy turned pop sen- Co-hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood She and co-host Brad Paisley promptly went Trump were more light-hearted than biting, a con- sation whose latest album comes out Friday, won speak onstage at the 51st annual CMA Awards into a rendition of Underwood’s song of jealousy trast to major events in the pop music and film Song of the Year for “Better Man,” which she at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, “Because He Cheats,” turning it into “Because He worlds in which the president has become a wrote for the group Little Big Town. — AFP Tennessee. — AFP