I grew up listening to different kinds of Nigerian music: Fuji, Gospel, Nigerian hip-hop (now widely known as Afrobeats), Blues and RnB. I sang along to most songs easily and the ones I didn’t know the lyrics to, I would borrow something called a lyric book to learn and memorize them (we weren’t fortunate enough to have had YouTube at the time). Even at a young age, music took me places I had never been and entrusted me with feelings I had never felt.
At 7am, I could be listening to Atorise, a gospel artist that my mum really liked and he would sing praises of God in ways I had no prior recognition of. By noon, my dad would put on the “reality and questionnaire” album by Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and I would listen to him talk about the story of his birth in the most lyrically possible way. By evening, my older cousins who had one of those blue light Nokia phones at the time would gather us in the verandah and ask us to sing along with them to “turn me on” by Kevin Lyttle. I didn’t even know what the lyrics meant but I remember singing passionately about getting my body caressed.
When I had my first “heartbreak” at 15, I would listen to F U right back by Frankee nonstop and whenever the song got to the part where it said “well guess what yo, your sex was wack”, I’d imagine it to be true. Damiduro by Davido was my favourite ringtone before I grew older and swore off ringing phones. The number of Tope Alabi songs that I know from start to finish is likely more than twenty. I still recite that verse from Fly by Nicki Minaj featuring Rihanna whenever I’m feeling deflated.
I think music is powerful in an almost immeasurable way. It is capable of shaping your thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams and ambitions. Raymond Kelly’s “the world’s greatest” will have you believing you can fly beyond the earth to reach your goals and Tiwa Savage’s “Olorun mi” will wrap you in a comforting hug if you’ve ever lost someone you hold dear. It’s nothing short of magical, the depths of our souls that music can reach. It’s especially why it can be used as a tool to wield all sorts of emotions. I barely listen to anything anymore these days but I am incapable of forgetting the many lives I’ve lived as a songbird.
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