STAR QUEST, THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AND MUSICIANSHIP CULTURE.

STAR QUEST, THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AND MUSICIANSHIP CULTURE.

Star Quest and musicianship
The 2009 edition of Star Quest music reality TV show ended on a high note with “The Pulse” band emerging as the winner. It was a night with much pomp and glitz complete with the presence of star celebrities and dignitaries. Star Quest in its five years of existence have gotten better with each year, there has been a consistent improvement in the quality of organization, contestants, performances and crew.

With the recent proliferation and craze for talent hunts and reality TV shows in the country, it’s become a common site to see thousands of Nigerian youth thronging to the audition venues of the numerous talent hunts with the hope and aspiration of being discovered and of becoming the next music star.
Most times, these audition centers can be likened to a “theater of the absurd” with representations of the good, the bad and the ugly- those who have no business venturing into music. All of these, while sharing a common dream and aspiration of becoming successful artiste/musician often fall victims of scams and conmen.

The Star Quest music reality TV show however stands out among the numerous major music-based reality TV shows in the country because of its focus on discovering talented musicians, and not just singers, and in creating bands. It showcases and fosters the development of musicianship skills among Nigerian youths, and has the potential to stimulate the growth of a new culture of musicianship.

For the contestants, Star Quest provides a platform of opportunity to learn the dynamics of bonding musically in a band; it promotes the spirit of musicianship, the development of inter-personal skills in a band, it builds the attitude of teamwork (a fundamental requirement in a band), and the formation of creative alliances in a band.

Musicianship and the music industry
The practice of music as a profession, career or hobby; and the art of successful music creation and music performance universally demand the knowledge and understanding of the basics of the rudiments and theory of music either with a formal or informal approach. According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a musician is “someone who plays a musical instrument, especially very well or as a job”.
It defined musicianship as “skill in playing music”.

The foundation of every thriving music industry all over the world is built on the existence of a rich, vibrant and progressive musicianship culture.
All serious musicians/artistes both educated and uneducated always possess a basic, fundamental knowledge of the art and science of music; and of the conventional practices and performance traditions associated with their musical art.

The success of the Nigerian popular music scenes in the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties was founded on a strong culture of musicianship. Musical forms such as highlife, juju, African pop, afrobeat and fuji etc, produced some of Nigeria’s and world-renowned musical stars such as Fela Anikulapo Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Oliver the Coque, Ebenezer Obey, Onyeka Onwenu, Majek Fashek, Bongos Ikwe, Bobby Benson, Ayinde Barrister, Victor Olaiya, Zeal Onyia, to mention a few.

A dying musicianship culture
It is rather unfortunate that the same cannot be said of the present crop of Nigeria popular musicians/artistes especially those of the hip-hop genre; who, no thanks to modern advancement in science, affordable and cheap recording technology and magic wonder-working music production software such as “autotune”, “pitch-correction”, “vocoder” etc coupled with the help of “cut and paste” manipulations on the computer can come out sounding artificially good to say the least.

Successful musicians and artistes from all genres of music make a fortune from the live performance of their music during tours, in concerts, in the clubs and at occasions and events etc. Music consumers and concert goer’s world-over are always delighted to pay a premium to watch their favorite musicians/artistes perform live on stage, knowing that it would deliver an authentic value added experience that CDs and cassettes cannot give to them. So it amounts to a moral and artistic rape of the music fan that pays a premium only to be given a ‘miming or lip-synching performance’ over a soundtrack; an experience that the fan creates at will within the comfortable ambience of his living room with the aid of modern and sophisticated home theater sound system.

This practice of miming and lip-synching is so prevalent among our hip-hop acts today, an act that lacks real musical expression, true aesthetic value, and completely devoid of the ultimate magical creation of a wow and memorable experience for the music fan which is the essence of attending a live concert performance.
In as much as modern recording technology has made music production easy, accessible and affordable; it is not in any way a substitute for musicianship skills, however, it only serves to compliment musicianship.

Economic importance of a vibrant musicianship culture
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), statistics reveal that one out of every five Americans plays a musical instrument; these musicians spend more than $5.6 billion a year on musical instruments and accessories.
A thriving music industry with a vibrant culture of musicianship can help to stimulate economic growth thereby contributing to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Any economy with a strong musicianship culture will generate a growth cycle that can boost the creation of employment for the musically skilled and practitioners in the entertainment industry.
This growth cycle for instance creates revenue generation and employment opportunities for the musical equipment dealers who are patronized by musicians/artistes who need the services of an artiste/band manager, publicists, music promoters, booking agents, personal managers, make-up artists, concert producers/directors, sound engineers/technicians, tour managers, security personnel, Emcees etc.

The economic importance of a vibrant musicianship culture can further be established by taking a look at the global chart of the top ten grossing tours of 2008.

ARTISTES REVENUE
• Bon Jovi $210.6M
• Bruce Springsteen $204.5M
• Madonna $162M
• The Police $150M
• Celine Dion $91M
• Kenney Chesney $86M
• Neil Diamond $81.2M
• Spice Girls $70M
• Eagles $56.6M
• Rascal Flatts $55.8M

The overall touring industry grossed just under $4B worldwide in 2008 highlighting just how critical the musicianship culture remains to acts with large fan-bases. It is very important to note that all the artistes and musicians profiled on the chart perform live music; they have over the years cultivated unique and original sound designed to thrill and to create memorable experiences for their teeming and loyal fan-bases.
These are acts who do not take their music business and their audience-their reason for being, for granted by attempting to do miming and lip-synching performances.

It is noteworthy and interesting to know that this list contains some artistes, musicians and bands that have existed for more than three decades and are still waxing strong with a strong, committed and loyal fan base. Their collective success is built and founded on a strong culture of musicianship, filled with real musical expression that deliver an uncompromised added value and memorable experiences for their fan base.

It therefore becomes a matter of necessity for Nigerian artistes/musicians if their goal is to become relevant in the international music markets, to imbibe and cultivate a true culture of musicianship. No artiste, musician or band becomes internationally relevant or makes multi-million dollars revenue from their music career by doing a ‘miming or lip-synching’ performance tour. The onus is on the artistes/musicians especially those of the hip-hop genre who dominates the airwaves currently to take their game to the next level or risk been swept away into musical oblivion.

The Nigeria music industry needs true acts who can recreate on a bigger scale the musical ingenuity and international relevance of musicians like Fela Anikulapo Kuti, King Sunny Ade among others. It is hoped that the Star Quest can kick start a new musicianship culture revolution for the next generation of Nigerian musicians/artistes.