Have you ever bought a can of sardine and all you get inside the can is crayfish, or something else lesser than the sardine itself? It is annoying, right? Have you ever wondered why people gather at tickets joints trying to get theirs for a show? The answer I believe is simply this: they want to see their favorite artistes perform on stage, and not mime.
Nigerian artistes are used to climbing the stage and then mime their previous songs.
A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer. Permit me to call most musicians in Nigerian mummers.
Just pick up your telephone and call one of the managers of these musicians, tell him you are having a show and you want them to come perform, the amount they will tell you will rattle you. They collect as much as two to four million naira for a show and when they get on stage, they mime for just five to ten minutes. For crying out loud, if really it is the song we want to hear one can as well sit down in his sitting room and get an mp3 player for such. It falls back to the fans that pay much for the tickets.
Another annoying factor is when the song involves a duet, or collaboration. The lead musician comes on stage, sings both his part and that of the featured artistes. The question now, is he giving us the impression that he had done the recording alone?
I believe our musicians are taking us for granted. When 9ice went to London to perform on Nelson Mandela’s birthday, he had to do a live thing. But here in Nigeria, he would mime. They don’t do such shows outside Nigeria and even outside Africa, because they will get sued. Beyonce tried it once and she sure got what was coming for her. Do the promoters and organisers know that these musicians are coming to mime for the fans, and negotiate such deal? Well, that is another food for thought.
Indeed, they have taken us for granted, for when D’banj performed with Kelly Rowland on MAMA awards 2008, he had to sing. We all know if he was alone on that stage he would mime.
Thumbs up will definitely go to those that dance on stage, for that is one good thing you can’t get from your living room. Aside this, Nigerian artistes, grow up so you can compete with the outside world.
