‘Self-indulgent and not effective. The perfect combination.’
Kate Lawton is a retired Mathematics Scholar.
Without knowing anything:
This just isn’t my kind of music. I wish it was, but I am the epitome of someone who enjoys chart music without any kind of message behind it. I want to enjoy my music, not to think about what it means. Don’t get me wrong, I can get behind the message of the song and I do truly believe in it, but I would prefer to hear someone speak about it rather than put it in a song. It’s why I don’t like Bob Dylan or Bob Marley – it’s just not what I want to listen to with my time. But saying that, I also just didn’t think that this was a good piece… It seemed self-indulgent to me. Self-indulgent and not effective. The perfect combination. I couldn’t actually understand what they were saying a lot of the time, though I knew it was in English, their thick I’m assuming Jamaican accents meant that a lot of the words were difficult for me to hear. Alongside that, I thought the way in which they were trying to assert their message was ineffective and basic. Yes, it may have been effective when it was first released in the 1960’s, but now it seems outdated and too simplistic. When comparing it with anti-war music of the here and now, such as grime artists and Bob Dylan (as much as I dislike both), the lyrics seem distant and the singers don’t seem emotionally invested in the music.
After being informed:
Nigeria in the 1970s? I’m assuming the song must be a reaction to the Nigerian Civil War that happened in the 1960s… I still don’t understand the appeal to the song and it seems like a lot of others feel the same way, but I can understand why simplicity was effective. Its hypnotic nature makes complete sense to contrast the message of war that it’s trying to undermine… The oddest thing to me is Onyeabor was a seemingly influential businessman and musician, why he would be so secluded? It means that us English and the Americans can never learn more about his music whether we want to or not… Which makes me ask: why bother?
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