For all our excitement about the growth of Nigerian music, we are still stuck to social media shout outs and more.
And
sometimes, it all seems unreal and distant that our music, and the
sounds that we produce within Nigeria is exported, shared and enjoyed
organically by locals in other places.
The
music as we create it, has great quality that can be enjoyed regardless
of culture and tradition, and every day, new stories from ‘regular’
people show that the music is enjoying a healthy listeners outside
traditional Nigerian and African fans.
Asa’s
story is a great example of this. The singer lives in Paris, France,
where she is signed to Naïve Records. And a story she shared during her
performance at her ‘Asa Live In Lagos Encore’ concert is a great example
of how much penetration and distribution our music has achieved.
According
to Asa, she got into a taxi on a regular day which had an Chinese
driver. In Paris, it is fairly normal for French speakers to confuse
Nigeria with Niger Republic. And all the time they are corrected.
“So I get in the taxi and we begin to talk, and he asked me where I’m from. I told him and he said ‘Do you know Davido?’
“I told him yes.”
The
driver began to talk about how he listens to the music and if Davido is
from Niger. Asa cracked jokes about the DMW boss and how he is too rich
to come from Niger. (She actually does have a point).
What
this shows is that the music have travelled to a point where it is
crossing boundaries finding new markets, and organically generating fans
in France. France has historically shown Nigeria love. Earlier in April
2017, singer Yemi Alade kicked off “Mama Africa” tour in Paris, where
she sold out the Le Trianon venue.
“Things have changed.” Asa said at her concert. “We’ve
always been rich, we’ve always been grown. But now doors are opening.
People come and eat here. They need us. They need our sound.”
What
Asa says is true. In the past two years, we have seen Nigeria become
invaded by major labels seeking to sign up our artists and do business
with the talents in the country. Sony Music Entertainment has Wizkid and
Davido on their books. They are also distributing Ycee’s debut EP,
“First Wave”. Universal Music is also in Nigeria, although their
strategy is to sign unproven talents.
Nigerian music and its influence is growing tremendously, and Asa’s experience is just a result of it.
