PROLIFERATION OF EMERGENT GOSPEL MUSIC ARTISTES IN NIGERIA: EFFECTS AND DEFECTS IN A DISTRESSED ECONOMY

Abstract

Announcements in most Nigerian churches during Sunday worships are usually cadenced with promotion and launching of a member’s album CD video – visual or audio. In this period of economic recession, music making has become one of the ways of keeping the youths busy and providing them a means of livelihood. Some churches have even gone into the production of their own music basically for fund raising without consultation or involvement of music professionals. The effect and qualities of such CDs and DVDs in most cases fall below minimum musical standards; they in most cases, keep recycling and duplicating rhythmic contents of existing popular songs. The problem is that people with little or no musical knowledge and training dabble into the so-called gospel music as emergent solo gospel artistes. The rate at which these artistes are coming up is alarming and the quality of their products is of a big concern spiritually and professionally.
This paper attempts to address the issue of the emerging proliferation of solo Gospel musical artistes in Nigeria and the effects and defects in Nigeria’s distressed economy. In other words, the advantages and the disadvantages of this proliferation is the main focus of this paper. It is a common knowledge that in Nigerian society, the number of gospel musicians is on the increase. This fact can be attested to by the evidence of the numbers of CD/DVD video and audio in circulation for commercial purposes in our urban and rural areas, particularly in Christian dominated cities and states in Nigeria.