Local music industry needs substantial investment to grow

Editor, RE: “Ideas from an eclectic mind; Artistes starved by economics” (The New Times, February 24) Great article. I do disagree slightly about economics being the only obstacle to Rwandan artists’ financial success. The key, in my opinion, is originality. At the moment, from what I have observed, Rwandan artists are merely copycatting U.S. artists. This is a phase Nigerian artists also went through, and a fact that is often unknown or forgotten by many who today hail Nigerian artists as the most popular on the continent. The continental popularity of Nigerian artists did not happen overnight. Today, there is a distinctly Nigerian sound to most Nigerian pop music, regardless of who the artist happens to be. That is the secret sauce, right there. We didn’t have that distinct original Nigerian sound about 10 years ago. Back then, everyone in the Nigerian music scene was either a cheap and unconvincing copy of Jay-Z, Ja Rule, DMX or Boyz II Men. And it was boring; artists struggled. The only originally creative artiste at that time was Lord of Ajasa, who rapped in his native Yoruba. Regardless, production quality across the board was terrible for all artistes. Poor recording infrastructure was to blame for this, and it also affected the quality of music videos. There are two, maybe three artists I credit with putting Nigerian pop music where it is today: 2Face Idibia, and 9ice. Maybe P-Square, but personally I feel P-Square arrived on the scene after Nigerian pop music was already on its way to the top. What set Tuface and 9ice apart? 2Face rapped and sang in mostly Pidgin English, while 9ice sung in mostly Yoruba and Pidgin English. This made them accessible to the Nigerian masses. Coupled with the fact that the subject matters of their songs dealt largely with the day to day struggles and hustles of ordinary people, there was no holding back the tide. 2Face and 9ice were massively popular among those working in offices, university students, bus conductors and street vendors. It goes without saying, when your appeal cuts across that many different social strata, it’s on. Further, 2Face benefited from being signed to Kennis Music, at the time the best record label in the country. Kennis was being run by Kenny “Keke” Ogungbe and my namesake Dayo “D1” Adeneye. These two gentlemen, ex-radio DJs from my secondary school days, given their business ties to other financially successful ventures, and their ties/exposure to the American/UK music industry had the resources and the know-how to bring the missing quality to the Nigerian music industry. The rest is history. These things take time, they take serious financial investment. Without serious investment from people genuinely interested in the Rwandan music industry, nothing will grow. However, to attract such investments, as an artist you need to be more than a Kanye-wannabe or a Beyonce-wannabe. This thing also takes a bit of luck. But most importantly, it requires creativity from which would hopefully come uniqueness. A unique, easily distinguishable Rwandan sound to our pop music. The same way back in the day popular Congolese music was easily identifiable across the continent by its unique sound. We don’t have that yet in Rwanda, we’re still revving in Neutral. But I have faith that soon, there will be a Rwandan equivalent to 2Face and 9ice who, together with a Rwandan equivalent to Kennis Music, will take Rwandan pop music to the top. And then it will be Rwanda’s turn to lead the continent’s pop music industry. Dayo Ntwari

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Local music industry needs substantial investment to grow