In recent times, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the world is gravitating towards African Music, especially Afrobeats with Nigerians leading the pack. Right from making back-to-back global hits, Nigerians gradually are taking turns in filling up auditorium around the world with eclectic group of people who have found a special fondness for Afrobeats.
With the new crop of Nigerians being instrumental in this change, it was such an interesting moment for one of the young forerunners of the genre, Joeboy, to give some secrets on what makes the Afrobeats special. On the One Show with Tilly Akua Nipaa hosted on Oneplay Africa’s video on demand platform, Oneplayplus, Joeboy iterated that:
“It’s the gbedu, it’s the lamba, it’s the drums, it’s the sound, it’s the melodies, it’s the lyrics, everything. It’s just like a creation of beautiful fusion, it’s like life, it’s colorful, it’s vibrant, so anybody and everybody will actually relate to it one way or the other.”
Like Ghana, Nigeria also has music majorly centered in their capital city, Lagos. Joeboy takes time to explain that, in Nigeria, once an artist decides to do music fully, majority of them migrate to Lagos mostly because Lagos like Accra has various people from different parts of the country in there so once there is a breakthrough in Lagos, it’s a high possibility it would travel to the rest of the country creating a national hit.
He speaks on how fierce the competition in Nigeria is, how the OGs are putting in the same works as the young new talents. However, he mentions how the population of Nigeria has been instrumental in churning out more talents each year.
“I will say like our population we have like over 200 Million people so no matter how many artists dey, there is always a large number of people that are going to enjoy that music.”
As part of the insightful 16 minutes conversation with Tilly Akua Nipaa, Joeboy also speaks on how the immense the supports from Nigerian gatekeepers like Don Jazzy is crucial to their work. Like Don Jazzy, there are other incredible music leaders in Nigeria who have formed a wall to support these young talents with the main focus of projecting them to the world.
“It’s really important to have someone to look up to, somebody that can show you the way, it helps, it helps avoid lots of mistakes basically. So, it’s very very important.”
Finally, Joeboy says unlike the Ghanaian music space where the numbers are intangible and driving away investors, Nigerian numbers are tangible and palpable making it easy for investors and the government to put in money and benefit from the industry
Elorm Beenie is an experienced Public Relations Officer and Author with a demonstrated history of working in the music industry.
He holds an enviable record of working directly and running PR jobs for both international and local artistes; notable among his huge repertoire of artistes worked with are Morgan Heritage (Grammy Winners), Rocky Dawuni (Grammy Nominee, 2015), Samini (MOBO Winner - 2006, MTV Awards Africa Winner - 2009) and Stonebwoy (BET Best African Act Winner - 2015). Other mainstream artistes of great repute he has worked with are Kaakie, Kofi Kinaata, Teephlow, (just to name a few), who have all won multiple awards under Vodafone GHANA Music Awards (VGMAs).
Elorm Beenie has done PR & road jobs for Sizzla, Jah Mason, Busy Signal, Kiprich, Anthony B, Demarco, Turbulence, Popcaan, Jah Vinci & Morgan Heritage who came to Ghana for concerts and other activities.
Elorm Beenie has done countless activations for artistes and has coordinated dozens of events both locally and internationally. He deeply understands the rudiments of the industry.
His passion for the profession is enormous. Aside his PR duties, he also stands tall as one of the few bloggers who breakout first hand credible and also dig out substantial information relating to the arts & industry. He is quite visible in the industry and very influential on social media, which to his advantage, has gunned a massive following for him on social media as well as in real life.
He is a strong media and communication professional skilled in Coaching, Strategic Planning, and Event Management.
He's very transparent on issues around the art industry.