“There’s no music industry in Nigeria” – Peter King

LAGOS (NAN) ─ One of the nation’s foremost Jazz musicians and teacher, Peter King, on Friday said that Nigeria does not have a music industry.

King told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Badagry in Lagos State that the entertainment industry in the country lacked the required raw materials to succeed.

“I wonder why people keep on saying that Nigeria has a music industry when the truth of the matter is that we don’t.

“You turn on the radio and all you hear is noise which they call music. It makes me sad because we have not gotten to the level that we ought to be.

“The music industry is a vast and big industry in America, the government generates a lot of revenue from it but we can’t say same in Nigeria because we lack the necessary raw materials.

“What I mean by raw materials is having serious-minded musicians who make meaningful songs, not just songs that lack content and people only get to listen to them because of the beats.

“Nigerian musicians are into commercial music and Jazz music is fading away quickly, ” he said.

He lamented that there was little or no Jazz music in the country.

“Jazz music in the country is really going down and it must be revived. The best way of going about that is to have serious-minded musicians.

“Jazz music is the peak of black music in Africa and it can be used to revive our music industry but the problem is lack of interest.

“Countries like Japan, China, amongst others, are very much into jazz and classical music, so the importance of it should not be underestimated,” King said.

King noted that anyone who wants to be trained in the rudiments of jazz music must have the passion for it.

“Jazz music requires passion and determination for anyone to get into it because it is music for the soul.

“Once that passion is there, then you go for training and that is one of the reasons I established my school of music because I have the passion.

King, who had trained renowned musicians like Asa, Dotun Bankole, Peter Sadibo, amongst others, urged the government to introduce music in schools across the country.

“The government should make music compulsory in all schools as this would help to improve the standard of music in the country.

“It would also tackle the employment problem in the country, because people would learn how to play one instrument or the other, and this will serve as an empowerment tool,” he added. (NAN)

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