WHAT I EXPECT
Staging local Music Concerts is big business as far as Nigeria is concerned; you only need ask the likes of Flytime Promotions, Thisday and other music promoters here in Naija but then again, how many music promoters can we con?dently say are worth their salt in Nigeria? Maybe a handful? Which brings us to further raise questions on who is supposed to be in charge of ensuring that optimum performance is gotten from the artistes on the bill? Who's in charge of the rehearsals? Who makes sure they all show up and not stand the audience up? Because if all these are not taken care of, you can be sure soon enough when shows are organised, the artistes will have a jolly time entertaining the cute seats at the Expo hall, Eko hotels or wherever the venue is. There is no way we can attempt a discuss on local music events and the expectations of the paying audience without comparing what operates here in Nigeria to what exists on the international music scene. In the early 90s; during the glory days of Golden Tones shows and Lekki Sun Splash (feel free to add to the list in your nostalgia) those days when only 'true' artistes dared to mount the stage and I'm not talking about the days of: “DJ track 2” which obviously is the predominant music performance phrase. Don't get me wrong- I love DJs and what they do but when you're talking about music concerts, the organisers should attempt to switch roles with the audience and ?nd out how disappointing it is after spending a fraction of their hard earned money to purchase cds and then go to music events still with their hard earned money (the least of which is N5000 per ticket) - and all they get is miming to these songs they probably played in their cars all the way to the show. I mean; even my 10year nephew does a better job miming some of these songs. So when we begin to consider the contributions of Local music events to musicianship and value derived by the paying audience, what these artistes feed us is ABSOLUTE CRAP! (DO NOT pardon the expression). What is prevalent at local music events in Nigeria is dodgy, uncreative and doesn't help us stand shoulder to shoulder with other countries. I was watching a live performance by Eric Clapton the other day and he was doing 'wonderful tonight'- just when I thought the song was winding up, all of a sudden one of the back-up ladies took over with some very lovely ad-libs which of course wasn't
MUSIC
@trinitysegzy
AT LOCAL
EVENTS
Segun Sofodu has trained in the ?eld of Mass Communication, Public Relations, Advertising, Multimedia and Web Designing. Segun loves to meet people, travel, watch movies and enjoy all kinds of good music. He lives in Lagos, Nigeria.