31st March, 2019
A popular musician and recording artiste, Akintunde Brown says Nigerian musicians cannot win Grammy award because “we sing in our local dialect and the sounds are poor.”
Brown disclosed this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday.
“We have sounds from different parts of Africa, the mixture will make it a world class sound but we are not complying with that,” he said.
Brown said Nigeria’s hip hop and other genre does not conform to world music standards.
“We also do not use the right nomenclatures which consists of dynamic and partly subjective set of songs, which can be identified by having been performed or recorded by variety of musical acts, often with different arrangements.
“At the Grammys, you have a best R&B album category, but someone who calls his music Afro-Soul, or fuji Blues and some other names in Nigeria, cannot win in that category,’’ he said.
He said Sikiru Adepoju who in 2009 won the “Best World Contemporary World Music Album’’ was because he was part of Mickey Harts group Planet Drum US-1991.
“Ayodeji Balogun, popularly known as “Wizkid’’ got a nomination for his contribution in one dance by drake in the album of the year category.
“That song has been streamed over a billion times, that is what data, brings to the table.
“They create category, when they feel like honouring an artiste and their people must be involved,’’ he said.
Brown noted that the genre of music we create in Nigeria can not blend with what obtains in the international music.