MUSICAL BIAS

The upbringing of my siblings and me was quite strict, so strict that we were almost not allowed to mingle with other kids. But as smart kids, there was always a way out. As a matter of fact, we did things that my parents would swear on our behalf that we would never do. We were just like every other kid in the neighbourhood, but my parents never knew, even up till date 😀. Though we have told them stories that have helped open their eyes to the fact that they never really knew who we were, there are many more stories than what we have told them.

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Amongst the many things my parents paid attention to while bringing us up was music. To them, there were some music genres that were considered worldly, while others were not. Now, it was not just about whether a song was gospel or not; it was about the genre. Funny enough, I only got to realise that when I grew to maturity. While my mother complained about how devilish music had become, my father told stories of how rich old music were. In the long run, maturity caused me to realise that they were just merely biased.

As a child, I got to meet the likes of Ras Kimono, Fela, Oliver De Coque, Oriental Brothers and many others through my father. They were my father's favourites, and my mom enjoyed their music too, even though afro was not her best genre. None of these musicians were gospel, but my parents somehow found a way to consider those who are not of their generation worldly. For obvious reasons, they were just biased elders who believed that music of the old would always convey a better message than that of the new.

I was young, and my parents were absolutely right. So, I completely agreed with them. Now I have grown, and I have a different opinion. A song should never be judged with respect to when it was produced. Funny enough, my parents would never agree that they were biased in their judgement; they are always able and capable of giving you a thousand and one reasons why the old is always better than the new. Anyways, I guess my mom is now gradually changing her ideology, but my father might never 😀.

It is all about the music for me, with no consideration of when it came into being. It is about the message, lyrics, instrumentation and every other thing that makes up a song. Most importantly, it is about whether the music interests an audience or not. It is never about the time or generation of the music. If this is taken into consideration, then a good song is good regardless. There might not even be such a thing as bad music after all.

I am a great lover of music, and just like every other person, I have my favourite genres. Nevertheless, I do everything possible to ensure that I do not condemn music genres that are not my favourites. In fact, my only criterion for considering a song bad is when the music is disliked by all. If that is the case, then a song is good inasmuch as it satisfies a particular audience. Once again, there might not even be such a thing as bad music after all.

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