“Which way Nigeria?” Music under Threat: A Question of Money,
Morality, Self-Censorship and the Sharia
by Jean-Christophe Servant

A MAJOR REPORT PUBLISHED BY FREEMUSE, 29TH APRIL 2003

“A band like mine can’t play in the North. The dancers would be stoned to death.
I would be prosecuted.”
Femi Kuti

Many Nigerian musicians battle for economic and professional survival, as the NTBB (Not To Be Broadcasted) code at national radio/TV, payola, and Islamic Sharia Laws affects the freedom of musical expression in Nigeria.

In June 2002, the local government of Jigawa State banned public drumming and singing, and in Kano State, a board of censorship was established, not to censor music but, rather surprisingly, to control music and protect local musicians in danger.

“The report examines the different aspects and reasons that prevent musicians from expressing themselves freely through performing, recording, broadcasting and making a decent living out of their profession”, explains Marie Korpe, Executive Director of Freemuse. “As politics, money and religion go hand in hand, we get to understand the complexity of the problem. As the saying goes: He who pays the piper dictates the tune.”

This fourth Freemuse report, written by French freelance journalist Jean-Christophe Servant, deals with direct acts of censorship, which have affected such musicians as Femi Kuti as well as Hausa artists Alhaji Sirajo Mai Asharalle and Haladji Waba Yarim Asharalle.
It includes interviews with media and music industry figures, a censor from The Kano Censorship Board, and several artists (e.g. Lagbaja!, Femi Kuti, Daddy Showkey).

“Which way Nigeria?” Music under Threat: A Question of Money, Morality, Self-Censorship and the Sharia will be presented at a press meeting on 29. April in Paris, where Nigerian master-drummer Tony Allen (the powerhouse behind the late Fela Kuti’s band Africa 70) and the composer Ray Lema, member of Freemuse advisory board will contribute to the event.

Report abstract is online now at www.freemuse.org. From 1. May the report will be available in PDF-format at the Freemuse web site.

The report is published in French and English by Freemuse (Freedom of musical expression) - an independent international human rights organization, advocating freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide. Freemuse receives core funding from The Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and from Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency).

Previous Freemuse reports:

“Can you stop the birds singing?”- The Censorship of Music in Afghanistan (April 2001)
“Playing with fire” - Fear and Self-Censorship in Zimbabwean Music (October 2001)
“A little bit special” - Censorship and the Gypsy Musicians of Romania (October 2001)
”Stopping the music” - a video documentary on censorship during apartheid South Africa (September 2002)