Djembe Music Blog

First of all, welcome back to Djembe and this is officially our first post of the year.

Within the past 24 hours, the internet has been buzzing with “congratulations” “disappointment because their faves did not win” “opinions in general” Hence, we can call this a 24 hours of Opinions. Our post is going to focus on most listeners thoughts and what we at Djembe think about their comments.

It’s undeniable that the artists extend themselves to create melodious hits for us, the listeners and it is undeniable that while others have their favorites, we cannot discredit the works of other artists’s craft.

Here in Nigeria, Afrobeats has taken a new shape and this step has taken us to an international scene where our mastery of music is being showcased to the world. The Grammy awards which is a yearly award that compiled list of artists whose songs has made an impact in the lives of listeners, the music industry and is capable of paving a way for new generation music.

With Nigeria being on the nomination list again this year with Tems nominated for “Best Melodic Rap Performance” for her contribution to Future and Drake’s- Wait For You and Burna Boy being nominated for “Best Global Music Album – Love,Damini” and “Best Global Music Performance – Last Last” once again put Nigeria on an international scene.

Temilade Openiyi popularly known as Tems with a great control of her voice, won the award and for a young lady who believed in her dreams and never gave up, it is indeed an inspiration for others who dream to be in a greater position.

While the country is mostly excited about her win, some have argued;reason being that, Wizkid featuring her in his 2020 Grammy Nominated album, “Made in Lagos” paved a way for her success. With opinions all clouded in the air, here at Djembe, we believe Tems has put in an extraordinary amount of efforts into shaping her brand to become a force which people reckon with. However, we believe that Wizkid featuring her in his single “Essence” gave her more access to the limelight and being a focused lady, she took what we would rather refer to as an opportunity, to continue her race to achieve her dreams.

Moving on to Burna Boy not winning any award in his two categories which he was nominated for has created more uproar on social media and this has sprung up different opinions such as, “He deserves not winning an award” “he was robbed off awards that he deserved” has been a major issue. Again, Djembe has 1/2 cents concerning these various opinions.

What started as a joke to Burna, made him create a song which was mostly referred to as, “2022’s official Summer Song” was played at different times of the day and in different countries of the world. “Last Last” had an impact that made non-Africans and even Africans curious to learn about the meanings behind the song.

And those who were of the opinion that the Grammy Academy made a right choice of not announcing him as a winner was mostly due to his approach during his “Love,Damini” tour as lots of his fans who were earnestly looking forward to seeing him perform in ways that would excite them (it is believed by some that he is the best performer in Nigeria), unfortunately performed at odd hours thereby leaving them to wait for hours and his unapologetic response towards his lateness was a solid reason why a good number of Nigerians are “pleased” with his loss but here at Djembe, we try our best to look at things critically and give our unbiased insights.

Burna Boy is a sensation whose energy has been felt in over 20 countries of the world and undoubtedly has his style as regards communicating with his fan popularly known as “Outsiders” this is a “pattern” that can be easily worked on. However in our opinion, he deserved an award at the Grammy awards. Going by the criteria of the Grammy Academy, he succeeded in bringing different regions and cultures of the world to jam to a song which is mostly relatable due to the fact that “Last Last” was a giddy heartbreak single.

Going forward, Djembe would like to see the The Recording Academy, give concrete reasons as to why songs we as listeners might refer as award worthy end up not chosen. Although, we know streams of a single, Ep or an album does not guarantee you a spot at winning the award. Most importantly, it’s high time we as Nigerians look into our music industry in relation to Awards ceremonies; we will have the capabilities to own an Award Ceremony that will be internationally recognized and a safe space for other artists of the world to be given a chance to be recognized for their craft. This progress will not only yield income and boost the tourism but will be a remarkable step forward in stamping our feet in the international scene not for external validation but for more acknowledgement of what a Nigerian artist and Nigeria as a whole has to offer the music industry. We can only get here with transparency, efforts and consistency.

While there are other debates going on the international scene as well as other other parts of Africa, we are choosing to talk about Nigeria due to the uproar mostly made by Nigerians about the concluded 65th Grammy Awards.

Djembe is back and we’re looking forward to having more uprising artists to come forward to share their stories.

Did you enjoy what you read? Tell us your thoughts about the issue and if you have more to input about the announced winners in other parts of the world including Africa, kindly drop a comment.