Popular Music

• Popular music • -music that appeals to many people

– belongs to any of a number of musical genres– having wide appeal– and stands in contrast to

• Art• Music• And traditional music which was disseminated orally.

– Although popular music sometimes is known as "pop music", the "two terms are not interchangeable.

– Popular music is a generic term for music of all ages that appeals to popular tastes" 

– On the other hand, pop music usually refers to a specific music genre.

Popular Music Genres• Rhythm & Blues • Pop • Rock • Hip Hop & Rap • Latin • Afropop • Easy listening • Electronic • Avant-Garde • Country • Jazz • Electronic

History of Popular Untied States• 70’s

–  Disco: The Bee Gees' soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever became the best selling album of all time until 1983.

– Funk and Rhythm and Blues: • James Brown, The Meters, Parliament- Funkadelic and Sly And The

Family Stone pionered the genre The Jackson 5 : I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", Lionel Richie : Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You.“The Commodores

– Art rock– Hard rock– Glam rock – Punk music – Towards the end of the decade, Jamaican reggae music, already

popular in the Caribbean and Africa since the early 1970s, became very popular in the U.S. and in Europe, mostly because of reggae superstar and legend Bob Marley. 

History of Popular Untied States• 80’s

• Pop:  Michael Jackson; – releases Thriller in 1982, – the best selling album of all time.– Madonna

• Pop metal  : Duran Duran, Bon Jovi Twisted Sister, The Beach Boys 

• Teen pop: –  New Kids on the Block, –  New Edition, – Stacey Q, 

• .Urban pop acts – Tina Turner,– Lionel Richie– Whitney Houston –  Prince–  The Pet Shop Boys  

• Rock band: Guns N' Roses Aerosmith, The Kinks, • Electronic music (e.g., synthpop) the use of the synthesizer

History of Popular Untied States• 1980’s

– Hip hop genre started embracing the creation of rhythm by using the human body, via the vocal percussion technique of beatboxing.

– Artists made beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using their mouth, lips, tongue, voice, and other body parts.

– In 1981, MTv was birthed,and this helped artistes find a place for expression.

– Micheal jackson’s thriller

– Hip hop as a medium for socially conscious expressions.• Melle Mel and Duke Bootee recorded "The Message" • Run-DMC's "It's like That" • Public Enemy's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”

– Popular Hip hop artists • Run D.M.C.• Beastie Boys• Big Daddy Kane• Ice T

History of Popular• 90’s• Contemporary R&B and  urban pop:

– Backstreet Boys, Salt-n-Pepa, Groove Theory– Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Paula Abdul, Usher – SWV, Aaliyah, Keith Sweat, R. Kelly– TLC, Brandy, Shaggy, Toni Braxton.

• Teen pop: – NSYNC, 98 Degrees, Hanson, Christina Aguilera, – Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and Destiny's

• Ballads:– Michael Bolton, Kenny G, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey,– Whitney Houston, Bryan Adams, Gloria Estefan, – Vanessa L. Williams, Shania Twain, 

• Hip hop began to rival rock music with commercial sales and success by the mid nineties:– Lauryn Hill , Fugees, 2Pac, and Notorious B.I.G

History of Nigerian Popular• The first stars of palm-wine had emerged by the 1920s, the most famous of

whom was Baba Tunde King.

• King probably coined the word jùjú — a style of music he helped to create – in reference to the sound of a Brazilian tambourine– alternatively, the term may have developed as an expression of disdain by the

colonial leaders (any native tradition was apt to be dismissed as 'mere joujou, French for "nonsense").

• By the early 1930s, British record labels such as His Master's Voice had started to record palm-wine, and more celebrities emerged, including – Ojoge Daniel, – Tunde Nightingale – Araba

• These artists, along with Tunde King, established the core of the style[11] which was called jùjú,

History of Nigerian Popular• Apala, a style of vocal and percussive Muslim Yoruba

music.

• It emerged in the late 1930s as a means of rousing worshippers after the fasting of Ramadan.

• Under the influence of popular Afro-Cuban percussion, apala developed into a more polished style and attracted a large audience.

• Haruna Ishola was the most famous apala performer, and he later played an integral role in bringing apala to larger audiences as a part of fuji music.

History of Nigerian Popular• Tunde Nightingale's s'o wa mbe style made him one of the first jùjú stars

• Following World War II, Nigerian music started to take on new instruments and techniques, including electric instruments imported from the United States and Europe.

• Rock N' roll, soul, and later funk, became very popular in Nigeria, and elements of these genres were added to jùjú by artists such as IK Dairo.

•  IK Dairo & the Morning Star Orchestra and like performers brought jùjú from the rural poor to the urban cities of Nigeria and beyond.

• Dairo became perhaps the biggest star of African music by the '60s, recording numerous hit songs that spread his fame to as far away as Japan.

• In 1963, he became the only African musician ever honoured by receiving membership of theOrder of the British Empire, an order of chivalry in the United Kingdom.

History of Nigerian Popular• Among the Igbo people, Ghanaian highlife became popular in the early 1950s, and

other guitar-band styles from Cameroon and Zaire soon followed.

• The Ghanaian E. T. Mensah, easily the most popular highlife performer of the 1950s, toured Igbo-land frequently, drawing huge crowds of devoted fans.

• Bobby Benson & His Combo was the first Nigerian highlife band to find audiences across the country.

• Benson was followed by Jim Lawson & the Mayor's Dance Band, who achieved national fame in the mid-'70s, ending with Lawson's death in 1976.

• During the same period, – Prince Nico Mbarga and his band Rocafil Jazz - "Sweet Mother" was a pan-African hit that

sold more than 13 million copies, more than any other African single of any kind. – Mbarga used English lyrics in a style that he dubbed panko, which incorporated

"sophisticated rumba guitar-phrasing into the highlife idiom".

• After the civil war in the 1960s, Igbo musicians were forced out of Lagos and returned to their homeland.

• The result was that highlife ceased to be a major part of mainstream Nigerian music

• However, a few performers kept the style alive, such as – Victor Olaiya (the only Nigerian to ever earn a platinum record)– Stephen Osita Osadebe– Sonny Okosun, Victor Uwaifo– Orlando "Dr. Ganja" Owoh, whose distinctive toye style fused

jùjú and highlife.

• Although popular styles such as highlife and jùjú were at the top of the Nigerian charts in the '60s, traditional music remained widespread.

• Traditional stars included the Hausa Dan Maraya, – who was so well known that he was brought to the battlefield during the

1967 Nigerian Civil War to lift the morale of the federal troops.

• Highlife had been slowly gaining in popularity among the Igbo people, and their unique style soon found a national audience.

• In the early to mid 1970s, three of the biggest names in Nigerian music history were at their peak:– Fela Kuti– Ebenezer Obey – King Sunny Ade

• Fela Kuti began performing in 1961, but did not start playing in his distinctive Afrobeat style until his exposure to Sierra Leonean Afro-soul singer Geraldo Pino in 1963.

• Although Kuti is often credited as the only pioneer of Afrobeat, other musicians such as Orlando Julius Ekemode were also prominent in the early Afrobeat scene, where they combined highlife, jazz and funk.

• A brief period in the United States saw him exposed to the Black Power movement and the Black Panthers, an influence that he would come to express in his lyrics.

• After living in London, he moved back to Lagos and opened a club, The Shrine, which was one of the most popular music spots in the city.

• He started recording with Africa '70, a huge band featuring drummer Tony Allen• In 1985, Kuti was jailed for five years, but was released after only two years after international

outcry and massive domestic protests. • Upon release, Kuti continued to criticise the government in his songs, and became known for

eccentric behaviour, such as suddenly divorcing all twenty-eight wives because "no man has the right to own a woman's vagina".

• By the end of the '80s and early '90s, Afrobeat had diversified by taking in new influences from jazz and rock and roll.

– Lágbájá– Femi Kuti

• In the early 1980s, both Obey and Ade found larger audiences outside of Nigeria.

• In 1982, Ade was signed to Island Records, who hoped to replicate Bob Marley's success, and released Juju Music, which sold far beyond expectations in Europe and the United States.

• Obey releasedCurrent Affairs in 1980 on Virgin Records and became a brief star in the UK.

• Ade led a brief period of international fame for jùjú, which ended in 1985 when he lost his record contract after the commercial failure of Aura(recorded with Stevie Wonder) and his band walked out in the middle of a huge Japanese tour.

• Ade's brush with international renown brought a lot of attention from mainstream record companies, and helped to inspire the burgeoning world music industry.

• By the end of the 1980s, jùjú had lost out to other styles, like Yo-pop, gospel and reggae.

• Two of the biggest stars of the '80s were Segun Adewale and Shina Peters, who started their careers performing in the mid-'70s with Prince Adekunle.

• Adewale was the first of the two to gain solo success, when he became the most famous performer of Yo-pop.

• The Yo-pop craze was replaced by Shina Peters' Afro-juju style, which broke into the mainstream after the release of Afro-Juju Series 1 (1989).

• Afro-juju was a combination of Afrobeat and fuji, and it ignited such fervor among Shina's fans that the phenomenon was dubbed "Shinamania".

• His success opened up the field to newcomers, however, leading to the success of Fabulous Olu Fajemirokun and Adewale Ayuba.

• The same period saw the rise of new styles like the funky juju pioneered by Dele Taiwo.

• Mainstream reggae music in Nigerian, was started by a musician called "terakota".

• By the 80s, there were Nigerian reggae stars like – The Mandators– Ras Kimono– Majek Fashek whose 1988 cover of Bob Marley's

"Redemption Song", became an unprecedented success for reggae in Nigeria.

– Later prominent reggae musicians included Jerri Jheto and Daddy Showkey

• In the 1990s, however, fuji and jùjú remained popular, as did waka music and Nigerian reggae.

• At the very end of the decade, hip hop music spread to the country after being a major part of music in neighboring regions like Senegal.

• Artists Junor

• History of Pop Music in the 90s• The early 90s had Junior and pretty with

their hit track Monica, thereby birthing rap in nigeria.then olu &tolu maintain.

• Kenny and d1 helped in the revolution, with programs like AIT jams, etc, then a record label kennis music.

• The late 90s and the early years of the new millennium saw an outburst of artists and groups like Eldee da Don of Trybesmen, Naeto C of W.F.A, JJC and the 419 squad and P-Square (the duo of Peter & Paul Okoye) became a part of mainstream Nigerian music after the collapse of pop trends like Yo-pop.

• Hip hop music was brought to Nigeria in the late 1980s, and grew steadily popular throughout the first part of the 1990s. The first acts included Sound on Sound, Emphasis, Ruff Rugged & Raw, SWAT ROOT, De Weez and Black Masquradaz. Moreover, mainstream success grew later in the decade, with attention brought by early hits like The Trybesmen's "Trybal Marks" (1999) and the trio The Remedies' "Judile" and "Sakoma". One of The Remedies, Tony Tetuila, went on to work with the Plantashun Boiz to great commercial acclaim. The 1999 founding of Paybacktyme Records by Solomon Dare, popularly known as Solodee, helped redefined and establish a Nigerian hip hop scene. Also, the general rapid growth of the entertainment scene with support from the media helped popularise Hiphop music in Nigeria. Television Programmes like the MTN Y'ello show, Music Africa, and Soundcity played a major role especially with Presenters like Deji Falope whose fascination for diamond and platinum chains and earrings seem to more than subtly express the culture. Other prominent Nigerian hip-hop musicians include Ruggedman, former member of The RemediesEedris Abdulkareem (who had a well-publicised spat with the American star 50 Cent), ANGEL k9 fulcanelly,FROM festac's finest, Deshola Idowu, JJC and the 419 Squad, Zdon Paporrella, Bolade Bentley, Shawl-x Ak., Twin-X, Illbliss, Thorobreds, Modenine, Terry tha Rapman, A2 BrothazZ, TySu, Chris Akinyemi, B-One and Timi Korus .

South African Music• Pop music in south africa cannot be separated from the politicalhistory of the country. • Influenced by the Black Nationalist sentiment of groups like Public Enemy, hip-hop

began in the late 1980's as an expression of rebellion against the practices of the Apartheid regime.

• Politically motivated hip-hop was pioneered in the Western Cape by the groups Prophets of the City (POC), Black Noise, and later Brasse Vannie Kaap (BVK, or "Brothers of the Cape"). To this day crew members continue to promote the ideals of socio-economic and racial parity through community development programs. In contrast to this overtly "conscious" message, a contemporary genre known as "kwaito" has arisen in the Johannesburg area. This style is more dance-oriented, incorporating elements of house music, indigenous Black languages and vernacular dialects. Arthur Mafokate, the self-proclaimed "King of Kwaito" is widely regarded as the progenitor of this style. The late Brenda Fassie, and cross-over artists such as TKZee have contributed to the mainstream success of kwaito in South African culture.

South african music timeline

• 1890: The Virginia Jubilee Singers tour South Africa. • 1897: Enoch Mankayi Sontonga composes the hymn Nkosi Sikelel ‘iAfrika ("God Bless Africa").

1925: Nkosi Sikelel ‘iAfrika is adopted by the African National Congress (ANC • 1966: Makeba receives the Grammy Award )

1975: Gil Scott-Heron releases the song Johannesburg on the album "From South Africa to South Carolina."1979: The resort "Sun City" is developed in the Bantustan/homeland of Bophuthatswana

• 1980: Peter Gabriel releases the single "Biko• 1983: The Specials record the song "Nelson Mandela." • 1987: The movie "Shaka Zulu" directed by William Faure is released. It tells the true story of the life and rise to

power of Shaka, the greatest Zulu leader in history.• 1993: Biko is referenced in Steve Biko (Stir it Up) by A Tribe Called Quest on the album Midnight Marauders.• 2000: Wyclef Jean compares Biko's death to that of Amadou Diallo (a 23-year-old Guinean immigrant murdered

by New York City police) in his tribute song: Diallo on the album "The Ecleftic: Two Sides of a Book.“• 2001: Kwaito group Bongo Maffin is awarded Best African Group at the Kora All-Africa Music Awards.• 2003: The first of a series of "46664 concerts" is hosted by Nelson Mandela at Green Point Stadium in Cape

Town. 46663 was Mandela' prison number; he was incarcerated in 1964, and was the 466th prisoner to arrive at Robben Island.

• 2009: Thandiswa Mazwai's second album, Ibokwe passes the 20,000 unit sales mark, attaining Gold status for South Africa.

Points to note

• Violence in South Africa can be traced to Youth culture which may be as a result of influence of Pop music

• Still pics of popular artistes or musicians in Nigeria and South Africa would help buttress this point

Globalization and Communication Technology

• Digital Technology: Reduced cost of production and distribution

• Satellite TV: – MTV– Channel O– Sound City– Nigezie

• Interent • CD’s• MP3, i-pods, computers• Phones• Live concerts• The effect of these on young people’s social skills

Youth Culture• “Youth,” has been defined

– alternatively as post-adolescent and pre-adult groups, – by the United Nations as the over 1.1 billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24– And are perceived as a primary engine for the growth of global media culture.

• Generally comprise the most media and technologically literate sector of their societies • Youth are a natural target in the globalization of• media because they are at the cutting edge of innovation• in technology and ideas. They have less• experience with the old way of doing things — that• is, less to unlearn — and change is easier for them.• They are quicker than their parents in learning to• use new products such as cell phones with text• messaging.

• Multinational corporations that trade in global media commodities actively target young people as a consumer class now believed to be worth more than $2 trillion in potential sales.

• This potential for global media to enlist youth as agents for the cultural logic of advanced capitalist states has led some theorists to criticize global youth culture as dangerously ethnocentric and imperialist.

• Others see global popular culture as promoting a progressive postmodern diversity, hybridized cosmopolitanism, and the proliferation of voices, cultural forms, and styles.

Youth Culture• A youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles,

behaviors, and interests. According to subculture theorists such as Dick Hebdige, members of a places can also be an important factor. Youth subcultures offer participants an identity outside of that ascribed by social institutions such as family, work, home and school.

• Social class, gender and ethnicity can be important in relation to youth subcultures. Youth subcultures can be defined as meaning systems, modes of expression or lifestyles developed by groups insubordinate structural positions in response to dominant systems — and which reflect their attempt to solve structural contradictions rising from the wider societal context.[1] The study of subcultures often consists of the study of the symbolism attached to clothing, music, other visible affections by members of the subculture and also the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture.

• Youth subcultures are often defined or distinguishable by elements such as fashion, beliefs, slang, dialects, behaviours or interests. 

• Early studies in youth culture were mainly produced by functionalist sociologists, and focus on youth as a single form of culture. In explaining the development of the culture, they utilized the concept ofanomie. Talcott Parsons argued that as we move from the family and corresponding values to another sphere with differing values, (e.g. the workplace) we would experience an "anomie situation."[citation needed] The generalizations involved in this theory ignore the existence of subcultures.

• Marxist theories account for some diversity, because they focus on classes and class-fractions rather than youth as a whole. Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson described youth subcultures as symbolic or ritualistic attempts to resist the power of bourgeois hegemony by consciously adopting behavior that appears threatening to the establishment.[3] Conversely, Marxists of the Frankfurt School of social studies argue that youth culture is inherently consumerist and integral to the divide-and-rule strategy of capitalism.[citation needed] They argue that it creates generation gaps and pits groups of youths against each other (e.g. mods and rockers), especially as youth culture is the dominant culture in the west.

• Interactionist theorist Stan Cohen argues youth subcultures are not coherent social groupings that arise spontaneously as a reaction to social forces, but that mass media labeling results in the creation of youth subcultures by imposing an ideological framework in which people can locate their behavior.[4] Post-structuralist theories of subculture utilize many of the ideas from these other theories, including hegemony and the role of the media. Dick Hebdige describes subcultures as a reaction of subordinated groups that challenge the hegemony of the dominant culture.[5] This theory accounts for factors such as gender, ethnicity and age. Youth can be seen as a subordinate group in relation to the dominant, adult society.

• Historical theorist Steven Mintz claims that until about 1950, youth subculture as such did not exist. Children aspired to (or were pulled into) adulthood as fast as their physical development allowed.[6]Marcel Danesi argues that since then, the media, advertisers and others have made youth the dominant culture of Western societies, to the point that many people retain what others consider to be immature attitudes far into adulthood.[7] This is further supported by P. Lewis, who claims that youth culture did not originate until the 1950s, with the development of rock and roll.[8] However, other historians have claimed that youth culture may have developed earlier, particularly in the inter-war period.[9] There were examples of new youth subcultures emerging throughout that period, such as theflapper.

Effect on Youth culture in Nigeria

• Class– Upper & middle class– Lower class

Factors that Influence Youth Culture

• Peer groups• Family• Social factors• Political• Corporate Nigeria • Economic factors• School

Aspects of Youth Culture

• Source of Livelihood• No one represents this rags-to-riches success

better than entertainer D’Banj. The 29-year-old pop star confesses on his single Mogbona Feli Feli, “Before I been dey hustle to chop; now I get 10 million [naira] in a week.” He is not making it up. Only a few years ago D’Banj was a struggling Nigerian living in London, squatting with friends and working hard to pay his bills.

• Other examples include 9ice, P-Square etc

Aspects of Youth Culture• Language• Nigeria, with many ethnicities and several languages, has no lingua

franca. But hip hop is the language of the cities. If there were contemporary Nigerian dictionaries, words like “kokolette” (lady) would make bona fide entries.

• Ginger swager the ginger • Fife• No long thing• Nothing dey happen• The p• Yes boss• Don jayzee• Kini big deal• Gbono feli feli

Aspects of Youth Culture

• Role Models Aspiration• Many young people have begun to look to

music and movie stars for hope and inspiration.

• From Fela, to Shina Peters, KAWAM1, Obesre, Pasuma, Ayuba, Dbanj, 9ice,

Aspects of Youth Culture

• Attitude:– 90’s gangsterism, bouncing, sagging,

• Tupac- thug life• Notorious BIG and Junior Marfa• Westside – Eastside wars• Bone-thugs and Harmony• Wu-tang• DMX• Marijuana – Snoop dog

Aspects of Youth Culture

• Dance:• Butterly • flex

Aspects of Youth Culture

• Youth Empowerment• Corporate participation in popular music has

also had a great influence on the youth, by organising and sponsoring musical reality shows. The emphasis is always on training and acquisition of relevant skills for empowerment along specific lines of interest and capabilities. They also provide monetary rewards for winners of such shows.

• Eg. Star Quest, Maltina Dance Hall, Project Fame, Naija Sings, Idols West Africa

Aspects of Youth Culture• Lifestyle• The lifestyles of pop artistes in the West have also affected the lifestyle of Nigerian

Pop stars and also the common Nigerian youth. They are now sagging their trousers, piercing strange parts of their bodies and singing about fast life, fast cars, fast money and a fab life, but they are also on the best-dressed lists, stunning fashion editors with well-tailored Savile Row collections and some of the most expensive accessories money can buy. They sing about love, life and living, and like eLDee, Timaya and Africa China, many are using their art to remind the government and people about the state of the nation and why urgent improvements must be sought.

• Product placement• Dressing: 70’s • 80’s • Bandana, Monostrap, • Bling: belly button, males with earrings• Shoes: platforms, trainers airforce ones, clogs, • Hairstyles – afro 70’s , jerry curls 80’s, punk in the 90. Rihana, Caira, Alicia Keys.

Anita Barker• Dance • Clubbing

Case Study

• Foreign music on local music.• Local music on youth culture