Reggae: my favorite

I love music. Especially the ones that sound philosophical or talk about contemporary issues. I am convinced that music plays an important role in shaping society. People tend to practice the message being sent by their favorite musicians. This is the reason I am of the opinion that musicians should always take morality and the well-being of humanity into consideration when writing songs.

In recent years, many songs were projecting fraud and other quick and illegal ways of making money. It contributes to a large extent to the glorification of internet fraud by some youths today.

My conviction about the role of music in Nigeria shapes my preference for the kind of songs that I listen to. Preaching morality, holding leaders accountable, and fighting for the rights of the oppressed are some of the things I love to see musicians do. It was as a result of this that I fell in love with reggae music very early in my life. I grew up to embrace songs from two popular reggae musicians, Lucky Dube and Bob Marley, both of blessed memories.

Bob Marley reigned and died before I was born, but listening to his songs, it makes me feel as if he was singing in the present. His lyrics are philosophical. Whatever is happening in the world today has most probably been foreseen by Bob Marley. He sang about many things. Till tomorrow, I adore his songs.

Another reggae musician whose songs I cherish his songs is Dube. He stood and defended his people not just in South Africa but in Africa at large. The day he was killed remains one of the saddest days that I have ever experienced. Dube was like a freedom fighter. An activist that stood for the betterment of the people. Among many of his songs that I do listen to, there is one titled "Children in the Street." Whenever I listen to this song, it brings the predicament of the children suffering in the street to my mind. Many of them have irresponsible parents. They are brought into the world and abandoned by their parents. I live in northern Nigeria, and this is part of the major problems being faced by the region. It contributes to the high level of insecurity in the region. While the children are roaming the street in search of what to eat, their parents are in the inner room preparing for the coming of another baby.

Lucky Dube captured the situation well in the said song with the following questions:

"If you really don't want no children
Why do you have them?
If you really don't want no children, man
Why, why?"
Lyrics

This same question by Dube is what I ask no one in particular whenever I see a child trying to survive the harsh weather of harmattan. A child not shown love in childhood is prone to being recruited into any criminal gang with a reward of peanuts or food to eat. With the current happenings, it is as if Lucky Dube sang the song with the current situation in Nigeria in his mind.

Musicians of our present day are not as fearless as Dube and Marley. The society is deteriorating in moral standards, and it seems we are helpless. This is the reason I missed these two legends beyond what words can express. With their songs on my playlist, they always remind me of my role in building the kind of country or society that I desire.