Nigeria’s entertainment industry, before, after 1960

Last Thursday Nigeria celebrated its 60th independence anniversary. Weekend Magazine looks at the entertainment industry before and after the historical event. Before Nigeria’s independence  from British colonial rule on October 1, 1960, the world had no idea a robust film industry like Nollywood would emerge around 1992, making it one of the largest film industries […]

Last Thursday Nigeria celebrated its 60th independence anniversary. Weekend Magazine looks at the entertainment industry before and after the historical event.

Before Nigeria’s independence  from British colonial rule on October 1, 1960, the world had no idea a robust film industry like Nollywood would emerge around 1992, making it one of the largest film industries on the globe.

Also, there was no apparent sign that the 21st century would come with a rebirth in the music scene, with fresh voices like Wizkid, Olamide, Tiwa Savage, Burna Boy and many more.

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• Film

In a work titled ‘The Development of Video Film in Nigeria: A Retrospective Account’ published in Research Gate, the author, Armstrong Idachaba traced the history of Nigeria’s film industry to the pre-independence era where the first film was exhibited in August 1903 at the Clover Memorial hall, Lagos.

But there is no reference to whether it  was shot in the country.

However, a 1926 movie, ‘Palaver’, a story about a jealous tin miner who arouses a tribe against his rival, according to multiple sources, including IMDb, is the first film to have been shot entirely in Nigeria.

Produced by Geoffrey Barkas, an English filmmaker, it is on record as the debut film to feature Nigerian actors in a speaking role.

Then ‘Fincho’, released in 1957 and produced by Sam Zebba, was the first film entirely copyrighted to the Nigerian Film unit.

It was also the first to be shot in colour.

Some Nigerians may think Wale Adenuga’s ‘Papa Ajasco’ sitcom originally came to TV in 1996, but it is a spin-off of a feature film of the same title produced by Adenuga in 1984.

It became the first blockbuster, grossing what may amount to about N40m today in three days.

This was after the oil boom of between 1973 to 1978 which boosted the cinema culture (spurred by Yakubu Gowon’s Indigenisation Decree which demanded the transfer of ownership of about a total of 300 film theatres from their foreign owners to Nigerians) in Nigeria and many citizens could afford to visit the cinema and also purchase television sets.

A second major boom in film is said to have started around the time ‘Living in Bondage’, a 1992 two-part thriller directed by Chris Obi Rapu was released as a direct-to-video film.

From the beginning of the 21st century, the industry (which came to be called Nollywood) grew to become the second largest in the world after India’s Bollywood as regards the number of productions.

Today, Netflix, arguably the world’s film streaming giant has its sights set on Nigeria (which has been restructuring the industry, with primary focus on quality productions) with partnerships that have and are birthing four Netflix originals, including ‘Citation’, ‘King of Boys II’, and an untitled young adult drama series which follows the story of Ishaya, “a charismatic teenager and talented artist from a poor family.” Then there is ‘Òlòturé’ (released October 2, 2020), the story of a young female journalist who goes undercover as a prostitute to expose a human trafficking syndicate, directed by Kenneth Gyang.

Actors and actresses from across the country have become household names as the industry’s Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa films (popularly known as Kannywood) continue to partner in making works that cut across cultures.

Kannywood’s Ali Nuhu and Rahama Sadau are typical examples of those who have transcended to the mainstream despite their strong presence in Hausa films.

The Yoruba actress, Funke Akindele, known for her TV show ‘Jenifa’s Diary’ is another example from western Nigeria.

• Music

Away from the film industry, one of Nigeria’s early genres of popular music from 1900 was palm wine music, named so because it was frequently played in local bars with sound composed from stringed instruments.

It had pioneers like Babatunde King and Irowolede Denge.

A YouTube documentary published on April 10, 2019, explored Nigerian music history from early 1900’s to 2014, where filmmaker Tunde Kelani said as far as he could remember music has been “part of our lives, culturally” and everything revolves around it, be it in the area of religion, during a procession, after a death, and so on.

Other shining stars of the palm wine genre, according to the documentary, include Tunde Nightingale and several others.

In the late 1930s and early 40s, originally linked to the month of Ramadan, Akpala music, a rousing song for Yoruba Muslims, evolved into a song for general entertainment and became popular in the 50s.

Another brand of music that became popular is Juju music and those who became most known for it are artistes like King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obe, Sir Shina Peters, among many others.

Other types include Highlife music with stars like Victor Uwaifo, Onyeka Onwenu and many more who later created a distinct form of it.

There were also Alhaji Danmaraya Jos, Maman Shatta and more recently artistes such as Flavour, J Martins, and so on.

The evolution of music in Nigeria has led to more genres such as Fuji music with modern artists like Davido infusing it into Afro-pop.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti is one name synonymous to Afrobeat music which emerged as a tool for activism.

In more recent times artistes like his son Femi Kuti and Lagbaja have followed the same train.

Presently, Nigeria’s music industry is one of the most vibrant in the area of entertainment and arguably measures up to what is obtained anywhere in the world, including the United States of America.

Stars like Burna Boy have won the BET Best International Act award in 2019 and Wizkid became the first Nigerian to bag an international award from The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)in recognition of his role in the writing of Drake’s chart-topping hit single ‘One Chance’.

The list of Nigerian entertainers who have become world sensations is unending.

Gradually, the music scene in the country is seeing the presence of rappers who use or infuse local Nigerian languages.

A typical example is Olamide who is popular for rapping in Yoruba, and also hiphop stars like Classiq, Morell, Lyrical Doctor Smith and several more who use the Hausa language.

The entertainment industry has had an upward journey so far (with film contributing about 2.3% (N239b to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016), a clear sign there is much more to look forward to as the nation gets older.