Falz, Flavour, Omawunmi are amongst the Nigerian Top storytelling songs of all time.
Musical storytelling, which often goes by the name “program music” or “tone painting,” is simply an attempt at depiction through music, without the assistance of words.
In this installment of Milestones of the Millennium, we examine the different ways composers have told stories with music
Top 5 storytelling songs of Nigerian Afropop musicians
Falz – Child of the world
Child of the world is a single off the 27 albums by Falz, where he narrates the perilous life of a young girl who is molested by her uncle, and eventually grows up to be some sort of a nymphomaniac.
She gets mixed up with a group of girls who do anything for money and they introduce her into the life of getting paid for getting laid.
After she is diagnosed with H.I.V she finds herself and redirects her steps, going forward to help others and sensitize the youth on abstinence and responsibility.
Omawumi took this song as an opportunity to speak on some of the hidden perversion existing in modern society.
A typical example is a story she tells of a family consisting of a father, mother, and daughter who sees the mother travel, and Omawumi noticing questionable activities between the father and daughter.
of course, the presentation of the subject matter is a bit amusing, but she calls attention to the disturbing habit of some fathers molesting and also impregnating their own daughters.
Mode 9’s Monalisa of Song is one of the most powerful Nigerian hip-hop songs of all time which tells two different stories with each first.
Verse 1: the story of university sweethearts who got married, but the husband went on to become a drunk and the wife was home and miserable. She got pregnant and on her delivery date, the drunken husband drove in a rush to meet her and got into an accident, leaving his wife a widow and the newborn baby boy fatherless.
Verse 2: Tells the story of two childhood friends ending up in the same university but joining two different rival cults. The gang rivalry flung them against each other and when there was an eventual showdown, they both died by each other’s trigger fingers. This verse will literally give you chills when you listen.
Timaya- Dem Mama
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The Odi Massacre was a mass killing in Odi, Bayelsa state where civilians were killed by the military in response to a high tension conflict involving oil resources.
As Timaya tells it, civilians were raped and killed, children were victims as well as parents of children who were orphaned.
Dem Mama had vibrant beats and a heavy tempo, making it sound like a club banger (which it actually was), but the message was a tragic report of the violence that tore families apart and claimed lives.
PSquare- Oga Police
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PSquare came through on this one to speak the minds of the average Nigerian who has experienced Police harassment either as a motorist or as a local beer and Nkwobi joint customer.
Verse 1: Crusing down the road with a chic in the passenger seat and police tries to cramp your style and harrass you for paper.
Verse 2: Chilling at the joint with homies from abroad while chics are ordering Isi Ewu and Turkey and the cops come through on buzzkill patrol.
Following the death of eastern Nigerian artist MC Loph, Flavour who was a friend and affiliate released the tribute single where he expresses his personal grief and that of MC Loph’s family.
He narrates the story of Loph traveling to the east with his brother as they took a new car home to their mother.
The heartbreaking vocals and the deep lyrics that state the consolation Flavour offered to Loph’s mother, make this one of the deepest Nigerian songs of all time