Nigerian music and its influence is growing tremendously, and Asa’s experience is just a result of it.
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 listenership 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.
KUDOS TO OUR NIGERIAN ARTISTE
