A seemingly simple question this one might look considering
the genesis of what is now known as urban music. Not that it provides us with
the opportunity to define what it is or is not, but it is all clear that Lucius
Banda will be considered as the traditional archetype of our local music.
That it is on one hand, but on the other hand, Tay
Grin exemplifies what ought to be known as the urban type of music.
Now what is bringing me into this talk this week is
observation made over a period of two subsequent weekends.
There
is a new joint in town – Blantyre – called Dusk to Dawn where one Friday, Tay Grin
decided to organise what he called Afrima nomination party.
He simply used
the social media without going to the traditional advertising platforms to
announce about the event. What followed is the jam parked dance floor where
patrons parted with K2000 to gain entrance.
It
should also be mentioned that performances started from midnight to morning and
patrons kept trouping in all this while. There was lack of parking space
outside the club and it clearly shows what this means when we compare it to
this.
Come
the following Friday, Lucius Banda and Zembani Band also performed at venue and
the story was different as it failed to park to its capacity.
There
are different schools of thought that are emerging in order to explain away
this disparity. But I should say from the onset that this does not mean Tay
Grin is better off as others are arguing.
I think it all goes down to the niche audience
that these two artists separately appeals to. It is becoming an extremely
painful reality that the urban audience is taking over the space.
Because the urban is more appealing to
the youthful population which is becoming a dominant force it is clear as they
say in marketing that 'consumers of niche products become product advocates
more often because they feel more connected to the product and realize it was
made for them'.
A good example is the free Ndirande
show by Fredokiss. He parked a venue in a way that no meeting, be it political
or religious could achieve. With politics and religion you know their
manipulative power where they will try to profess popularity by parking
vehicles with people that they ferry to such spots for obvious reasons. For
Fredokiss it was just consumers of his niche products walking by foot to the
venue.
What
it means for traditional musicians is that this is the market to explore.
Lucius has tried to feature hot musicians every time they are taking the music
industry head on.
Recently,
Fredokiss who is also known as Ghetto King Kong released latest hit song
“Njira Zawo” which features Lucius Banda. This is the rendition of Lucius’
“Ali ndi njira Zawo” and if anything one would think that it should have been
the other way round.
What
is happening right now on the market shows that a very big boundary is
developing, on one side there is the urban niche audience and on the other
there is the traditional one. Again the venues also matter because it looks
like the way Dusk to Dawn is designed it makes urban music lovers identify with
it more than the traditional music followers.
If
it were at Motel Paradise for example, would the Lucius Banda, Tay Grin
comparison remain the same? At the risk of being wrong I would want to believe
otherwise. It does not at all compare the two on the strength of their musical
talent but it rather speaks of the shifting in fortunes for various reasons.
Unfortunately
the urban niche audience has internet while the traditional remains there in
the past where newspapers and radio announcements mattered.
The
industry players perhaps need to rethink.
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