February 13, 2025

It’s no gainsaying – the brutal fact that music is God’s raised embre. Prayer and fasting in the religious corridors is commendable; but when it comes to music and musicry, the Father of Light, responds with an undulated benevolence. From time immemorial, music has been used as an elixirtic wand to ward off evil spirits. People have been exorcised of familial spirits by music. Man by nature is musical and tuneful. The angel of light—Lucifer, is a music personae. The harmonious cordial stringing of instruments of tuneful tylenol – with unparalleled dexterity by humans, has yielded undeniable results amongst human circles.

For there to be an unbreakable unity and bond for good and bad purposes, music has a role to play amongst living souls. Olympic Games ceremonies are opened up with music renditions. Anniversaries of high octavian decor are accompanied by music. Funerals are blessed with direful l solecisms. Kings patronize good songs.  Presidents are no rookies when it comes to music. The market women, footballers, artistes, children, teenagers, and you, who is reading this piece, is a fan of music and musicians. Do Clergymen and pastors have aversion for music?  NO! I don’t think so. Internecine rivalries of disagreeing wives could be settled with music.

As there are humans bestriding the earth, so there are music and singers. The world has produced the best of all vocalists and incurable instrumentalists of different colourations. Some dead, and others very much alive. Nigeria is part of the world that has paraded, and is still parading a plethora of musicians (?) and music artistes.

Musicians are philosophers, cultural mongrels, religious purveyors, and social critics.  Today, what we have are music artistes and music performers who donne the landscape with all manner of beats in the convivial nomenclature of music and hit tracts. The airwaves are pierced through with rhythms and vibes which some sane persons have christened to be injurious and intoxicating—without a message. You will agree with me that music has a therapeutic soul lifting and mind soothing effect. Well composed and rendered songs uplifts the soul of man and purges the heart off heaviness. The rhapsodic enthralling  fervour of good music, can relieve a man of stress, boredom; heal the sick, chase away fiends of uncanny pedigree from the listener. When in the early hours of the morning, or late at night, you listen to blessed sonorous angelic Ballard’s sip through the air to your life: am sure you can testify to this, you will never be the same. Why?  You will be transported to a realm beyond your reach, and every encumbrances let off your whole being. You are transformed and transfigured, as you gain strength and soundness——because of good song/music.

Be it Pop, Jazz, R&B, Blues, Regae,  Hip-hop, Rock, High life, Rap, bed-time thrills  or some heavenly inspired tunes,  music has a place in our lives.

Nigerians have danced to all manner of songs. From the days of Pa Rolling Dollas , Damaraya Jos,  Ebenezer Obe,  Chief Stephen Osadebe, Oliver de Coque, King Sunny Ade, Ayinde Barrister, to the new generations of Wizkid, Olamide, 2face, Phyno, Kiss Daniel, Tiwa Savage, Oritshe Femi, Runtown, Dbanj, Yemi Alade, Ruggedman, MI,  Don Jazzy,  9ice, Psquare, and a panoply of others, music is real. Injurious, immoral and unhealthy songs have pervaded the Nigerian society, in so much that music is now being used as a tool for domesticating, fostering and disseminating hate, increasing moral corruption, advancing crime, and as a license for nudity – especially amongst female elements. Today, for any music video to gain currency and sell like a drug for everlasting life, the woman’s erogenous anatomical physiognomy will have to be on display.  The television screen, electronic and offline billboards, posters and our phone statuses are laden with nude photos of our young vibrant ladies—whose bodies are being commodified and objectified for sexual immoral dale.

FRIENDS, A NEW SONG IS IN TOWN. It’s driving men crazy. Everyone is going gaga and doing the gidy-garroting move. It’s called One Corner Dance. Children are practicing its dance steps. Adults are not left out of this Satan inspired conumbial of a song. One Patapaa, a young up-rising Ghannian artiste, is driving Nigerians mad. He’s the guiding hand for the tendon jerking and spinner fidget dance style.  The craze for his new song is like an anthem for the preteen souls. The high tempo “hi-life-azonto” song which has no meaningful lyrics has gained immense and unrequited recognition in all corners of Nigeria.

The dance, although, a maddening crazy orgy of exercise, is accompanied with extra energy that requires one seclude oneself in a corner maintaining a set position to perform a sexually stimulating, energy sapping dance. The One Corner Dance comes with a paralytic dash and dance moves which sends dancers wayward and berserk on the go—with some of them seeking to hide under cars, motor bikes,  gutters, on top of a tree,  table, the bed, or facing a standing pillar, upon hearing the evil rhythm played, just to partake in it muscle retching macabre.

Nonetheless, both young and old have been mesmerized by the One Corner fever as they take turns to show off their skills. The media is awash with the news of the Nigerian populace doing the One Corner thing.  No one seems to be spared yet.  It has caught up with even the military lords, as some randy army and police officers were captured in the news doing it with their waist. Watching a video of some secondary school students, covered with hijab, jerking from their waist down, tweaking as if there is a spring attached to that waist of theirs, left me benumbed, and my bewilderment was a combination of borborigmus and colic, which could not be cured for hours. Right in their classroom after school, they engaged themselves in the giddy-spine-breaking dance. One Corner dance has become a specimen used like a litmus paper to testing the presence of children in an environment. Let the beat come up the airwave, you will see little kids wanking out of their hiding places to give the song a befitting answer.  In a society where moral decadence and sanity for what is pure has been thrown to the dogs in the name of westernization, we cannot afford not to bemoan our lost virtues, values and glories, as a people.  It was reported that a lady in her twenties died in Ghana while performing the One Corner ritual. A dance that causes a syphilistic olympian frenzy on the dancers should not be taken lightly. Eyes have not seen yet, neither has it entered into the hearts of men, the havoc that is going to be wrecked in families and schools, by this One Corner dance. Very soon, as it’s usually the case with the Nigerian social and religious space, churches will start adopting the One Corner demonic rhythm, and some happy-going, officio sisters in the choir will fine-tune it to sound Jesusic and holyghostic, and everybody goes on sha na wole sha na wole! Only God knows what will happen in that church. The furore this song generates is a tepidity that rises to a high crescendo, and you are bound to forget your name, maintain a particular position, and then, start quaking your waist like a doggy copulation process just to partake in the trending devil engineered daffy.

First,  it was Azonto, Shakiti Bobo, Shoki, Galala, and Gbam gbam gbam ooo,  na who dey enter for mummy houseoooo by Zule Zu, now,  it’s One Corner dance,  and Nigerians are at it again! I have not told you the social, political, religious and health implications of this song.  You can start guessing what they are. Some myopic critics may not agree with me.  Their argument will be that it’s all about entertainment. Yes, I know that like the back of my hand. But you know the irony in the whole bizarre adventure of a song? The Ghanaian artiste – Patapaa, who gave birth go this song has cried out by saying that “he has not made any money from the said vibe since it was released” but here are Nigerians and their children rocking it hard without recourse to decency; soaking their entire being into the song and desecrating that which should be kept sacred in the name of fun. Well, let’s leave it there for now, as the events of One Corner Dance unfolds!

Amaechi

Amaechi Emmanuel, is a graduate of English, University of Lagos. A United Nations Award Winner; a Fellow, St Gallen Wing of Excellence (Switzerland), Carnegie International (USA) and member of Commonwealth Short Story Writers; he writes essays, short stories, poems, and most importantly, he is interested in political, social, Civil Leadership, youths and girl-child discourses.

You can reach him on: E-mail: emmanuelamaechi9@gmail.com. Tele: (+234) – 08164977959

Instagram: @amaechisays. Twitter: @amaechi_s, and Facebook//Amaechi emmanuel.com

About The Author