Immorality In African Music Videos on Youtube: A Cultural Concern

[Jacaylbaro]

I'll kick start this discussion by ranting about something which I find totally unacceptable. Have you seen the African dance videos on Youtube? OK, I'm no moral police, but I believe most of these new videos are made with a view to satisfying the sexual fantasies of men. The girls are made to look like tavern tarts in tribal skirts or red-light flossies in high boots, wearing two teabags and a cobweb.

 

The artists themselves are no better; they look like pimps. Some are gabbed in full bling, in hideous costumes complete in platform heels. They prowl about contentedly gyrating with the dancers instead of singing. Their faces plastered with an idiotic and complacent smirk as they admire their "wares”. .

 

I wonder whether content, craft and culture are now sacrificed at the alter of titillation, by a handful of mediocre artists fronting this debasement. Sometimes the girls don't even need to dance to the "real music". All they do in their see-through thongs, miniskirts and flimsy bras is fling themselves about, gyrating suggestively and shaking their tail feathers erotically in front of drooling men, who sometimes run their paws all over their bodies, or worse simulate "the act" with them.

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Amongst the worst however is the cacophonic din and raw sex emanating from the Ivory Coast, which is a cause for particular concern. These are commercial and hobby-artists who have commodified the seductiveness of the African dance, repackaging it to the nadir of impropriety. .

 

It draws me reluctantly to conclude that our young African women are being showcased as soft-porn whores disguised as dancers in music videos. How else does one explain why such obviously talented ladies are made to fling their bits and boobs about, provocatively; posing seductively? They expose ungainly flesh-lines which should have been kept firmly out of sight? How indelicate! What is behind this craze?

 

.Everything is commoditized these days, and increasingly, it seems the package is more important than the content. Africa is no exception and the first casualty of this hardcore commercialization is the music industry, which is largely unregulated and oftentimes, left in the hands of very unscrupulous people.

 

I've included the videos of the kind of thing I’m talking about. While I admit each to their own taste, I feel there is need for someone to speak up for these ladies who seem to be “enjoying themselves” in these videos, without a care in the world. I am not being self-righteous here, and can understand why some people might not find anything wrong with it, how about putting oneself in the place of a sister or a mother or a father of these ladies? There is something tawdry seen from the perspective of a relation. But we don’t have to be related to speak up or raise concerns about their welfare.

 

They are playing in a dangerous world where they might not only be greatly exploited, but their lives put in danger. It is like watching a sex industry without seeing the real sex. The producers of this musical eroticism repackaged and disguised as African music and dance videos do not treat these ladies fairly. Otherwise they would have been superstars, earning decent wages. Is this not a dangerous trend which corrupts our youth, exploits and disgraces our women? What will happen to these ladies when they grow old and lose their looks and dance talents?

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I find it scandalous that the real musical talents of Africa; Manu Dibango, Yondo Sister, Salif Keita, Alfa Blondy, Prince Nicho Mbarga, Tchalla Mwana, Youssouf Ndour, Ebenezar Obey, Césaria Evoria, Bright Chimezie (aka Okoro Junior) Kanda Bongo Man, Sunny Okosun, Christy Essien, Bébe Manga etc are being crowded-out by a siege of no-talent pimps. Due to sheer desperation, our best cultural export; African music is now flogged on the international market like the proverbial fallen woman. Our moral dilemma is how to stop it. The video I've included here is one of the more digestible ones of the kind of thing I'm talking about.

 

A rather sad departure from our respectable, rich and diverse culture, something ought to be done to check it. ***

 

 

By: Samira Edi

[FatB]