Music

I looked at the All About Africa website this week.  This website has so much to offer! I was only looking at the material related to music and there was so much information under that topic alone! I honestly didn't know there were so many artists and different types of music produced in Africa.  I think music is an important part of every culture.  I think it serves similar purposes to different types of people all over the world.  Music can serve as entertainment, a way of communication, a hobby, a profession, an outlet, and most importantly it brings people together.

A lot of this weeks discussion was about how many people, (the DC in the book Things Fall Apart) view their culture as superior and is the only correct way of life.  Music is something that I think is similar in all cultures and while it sounds different, is in a different language, it serves the same purpose and content often.  I think cultures are not as different as they often appear at first glance.  The love of music is a perfect example of similarities between different types of cultures. 

The article that caught my attention was titled Nigeria: Why I Sing About Love-Jafextra.  The article was an interview with a man named Fatokun Olugbenga Oyediji.  He goes by the name Jafextra.  I found the article interesting because it sounded so similar to an interview one would read about a famous artist in the United States today.  He is an entertainer but he wants his music to be unique.  He spends lots time on his music before releasing it as he wants it to be different from anyone else.  I think the desire to be unique and produce something never heard of before is a common goal of many artists here.  He chooses to sing about love as "life is love".  I think love is the most universal theme in music.  He enjoys singing with professionals and learns from them like any other artist.  I also think his music video resembles those on tv here today.
Here is a link to the webiste
Check out the music video on you tube!