Academic Excellence, Entertainment and Misplaced Priority: A Case Study of Nigeria

Over the recent time Nigeria has found itself amidst issues that generate serious concern, and one of them- perhaps the most depressing and migraine-giving- is the remote position our society has debased education to behind frivolity called entertainment. The face which the mis-positioning shows, if care is not taken, education may end up being a mere channel towards having exposure to western ideas; there wouldn't be that morale-boosting impulse that makes it a standard apparatus of societal relevance. We will just wake up one day and be told that education is an imperialist agenda, and that's all.

The Song Review of Kayefi Osha’s Iya Mi O Si Nile Yi

Kayefi

Over the time, the evolution of Nigerian common syndrome, as reflected in the music industry of Nigeria, has given birth to absolutely weird output and incessant outpouring of music that is sometimes full of balderdash, lacking clues of common sense and bereft of intellectual coherency and moral justification.

This quite unfortunate metamorphosis and general downhill, which have seen sanity, morality, and the pivotal need for common national consciousness-- what the musical spirit of the foremost Nigerian maestros like of I.K Dairo, Sunny Ade, Majek Fashek, Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi, promotes -- completely abused and gradually dusted away from the loin of Nigeria’s musical scenes, are perhaps traceable to the lofty rate of moral degeneration and western virus that have dabbled into the industry through the colouration of the contemporary hip-hop music.

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The fact is clear that hip-hop is the king; it carries the diadem and holds the heart of global music due to its lingering influences especially among the youths and the encapsulating tuning of musical beat. These influences, without any scintilla of doubt, have caused a serious setback for other genres of local music, which are now trying to blend with it to meet the present taste and demand of relevance.

This fact may be disputed, but the reality of it has led Fuji stars like Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, Sule Alao Malaika ‘collaborate’ with those in the hip-hop music, though they have their fans and often claim they are not intimidated by the strong competitive challenges posed by the incredible emergence of hip-hop music.

However, despite the lamentable situation of craziness which drives the engine-room of local hip-hop music, there seems to be a tiny nucleus of sanity, saving the industry from being completely lost into the wilderness of nonsense engagement and intellectual zero-liness, which the hip-hop symphony of ‘madness’ and orchestration of immoralities might have relegated Nigerian music into.

This nucleus is what gives voice to the likes of Asha whose music has soared beyond the close door border of aesthetic function and entertainment, to real-life message and moral instructions. Undisputedly, this is what I find interesting and exclusively unique in Kayefi’s musical doctrine and exposure.

Kayefi Osha Alapomeji, born Lawal Deborah Olufunmilayo is an emerging voice in the musical entertainment industry, who may have not got many fans and recognition nation-wide, but trying to make good music by going back to the root. The renaissance in her music is clear. I came to know her not too long when a friend of mine sent me her track, Iya mi o si nile yi, (my mother is not in this land).

After first listening, I couldn’t help but listen again and again with rapt attention, ruminating on how the singer whose mezzo-soprano is seemingly appealing, questions the philosophy of common need for survival in unknown land. I didn’t know what makes me love that track, perhaps because I was an undergraduate at the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University, located ‘in a land that is not mine’ by that time. Or because I see my academic pursuance as a necessitating and incumbent factor of survival in that ‘distant land’, considering the fact that I was writing my final year project work- a significant benchmark of my academic qualification and scholarliness.

But one thing is certain: Kayefi has a perfect mastering of crescendo management in a way that shows her maturity and skillfulness of her craft. She is cool and she knows her words. I browsed about her but couldn’t get much information, except one of her stage performances at Laffmattazs.

Holding Kayefi through the track iya mi o si nile yi , it can be said that she is a trademark of every commoner who leaves his or her land to find a greener pasture somewhere else, in an attempt to return back home with success garnered, and re-learn love and harmony again with forsaken family members.

This shows Kayefi as someone who really understands the plight and problems faced during the course of survival, and the need to come back home, irrespective of what destiny holds in a journey. At the beginning, she seeks for litanies. Hear her:

Intro: hun hun hun Ile labo isinmi oko oo (home is the return of a journey)/ In a journey over the seas/ And I crossed the ocean/ Trying to rectify my daily bread/ In the land that is not mine/ Ebe ni mo be’ri mo o (I beg my head)/ Ma a sin mi lo (see me through)/ Jen kere oko ndele (let the garner the bounty of journey)/ Let all my efforts be crowned with success/ Bi’rin ajo yi (in this journey) Baba is waiting, mama is waiting/ Waiting my return. I need to be focused/ This is not the seconds,/ and I think I am losing my mind/ Iya mi o si nile yio ooo (my mother is not in this land)/ Baba mi o si nile yi ooo (my father is not in this land)/ Ise aje o, lo somo nu bi oko 2x (it’s a need for survival that throws a child like stone)/ Maa dele (I will get back home)

Unarguably, the road of survival is usually rough; a peregrination of survival is usually accustomed with pants and up-and-down, with unanticipated stumbling blocks posed on the way always. Kayefi, already aware of these challenges, expresses the optimism that is usually webbed with difficulty on the trajectory of survival. No wonder, she sings ahead:

Stranger I am, in this land far away from home/ With the cultures and doctrines different from me/ Still I try to cope/ Ebe ni mo be’ri mi o, ori mi sin mi lo (I beg my head, see me through)/ Je n kore oko dele (let me garner the bounty of journey)/ All of the works that I lay my hands on Take me to the top/ Baba is waiting, mama is waiting/ Waiting my return. . .

The optimism expressed by Kayefi can be described as the one that is deep, perhaps Kayefi, before coming to limelight has crossed many seas and valleys in a long-enduring course of survival. Preaching optimism in the face of challenges, she easily projects the message of determination as a key to success, while also maintaining that sometimes, a traveller becomes weary-sore-footed and crestfallen- but remembering home sheds the vista of hope. She sings again:

When I remember bi mo se file si (how I left home)/ Baba running sick, mama running sick * * * Ma dele, ma dele, ma dele ma dele wi o (I will get back home to tell)/ Maa royin fun baba mi oo (I will tell my daddy)/ Ohun oju mi ri lajo (what I saw in my journey)/ Odidere ki ma I ku sajo (an odidere bird doesn’t die in journey)

On personal appraisal Kayefi can be said to be a refection of culture within. The manifestations of tradition and culture, proverb and bi-lingual identity are reflected in her song. If you haven’t seen her, listening to her songs should have revealed that she is someone deeply rooted in (Yoruba) culture. She is a typical African woman who has tried to steer the middle cause between the drying rivulet of African heritage and oozing ocean of western influence.

No wonder, she bears the stage name Osha Kayefi, a name that is still a conundrum to me till today, though Kayefi is a Yoruba nominal marker for 'wonder'. This makes her so peculiar and distinct- someone who can hit big if she maintains the consistency in her musical style.

From the perspective of language and voice, Kayefi Alapomeji, as early mentioned has a subtle but perfect management of voice. One is really impressed by the way she code-switches two languages- English and Yoruba- in a way that reaches a reasonable level of perfection and a certain degree of professional standard. This makes her messages clearer and bolder.

Kayefi simply deserves it for this song, except that we want to lie. However, the way she puts emotion in the song is so extreme that one thinks survival is a common bane. Similarly, she sounds old and crude towards the end of the song, maybe she wants to be who she is- a modern singer with African ideas.