All is not lost for reggae, dancehall – Contractor

At least one music industry insider is reacting with some measure of hope to a June 23 headline in the Daily Post Nigeria which spelled doom and gloom for reggae and dancehall.

The article stated that "Reggae and dancehall were among the dominant musical genres in Nigeria at the turn of the century. But right now, Afrobeats has effectively taken over the music industry. Because of how popular Afrobeats has become, some music fans worry that other subgenres may soon go extinct."

The writer pointed out that currently Afrobeats, which "dominates the charts, both domestically and globally [and] has brought Nigeria its first Grammy, courtesy of Burna Boy ... has become the description of Nigerian sound. It is the sound performed by Nigerian artistes on global stages, such as Tiwa Savage at the coronation of King Charles III and Davido for the official song of Qatar 2022 World Cup". The article emphasised that "most music lovers are perplexed by how Afrobeats continues to grow while other genres are in decline".

Producer and marketer, Sean 'Contractor' Edwards, while not in total agreement with the views expressed in the article, opined that many factors contribute to this perceived decline of reggae and dancehall and the rise of Afrobeats.

"I think that the most glaring fact that African music, and Afrobeats in particular, is doing so well is that the Grammys just added a category called Best African Music Performance and that includes Afrobeats, highlife, all the African sounds. Of course, the leading genre outside of and inside Africa now is Afrobeats," Edwards told THE STAR.

He noted that "we have definitely lost our market share in Africa to the Africans own music" and put some of that on the shoulders of the local artistes themselves.

"African artistes are easier to deal with. They are on time, their work ethic is better than this current crop of Jamaican artistes. You can hardly get a reggae dancehall artiste to do an interview about a show that they are on. Promoters can hardly get them to do a drop ... a jingle ... for a show that they are on," said Edwards, who is also a stage show promoter.

He added, "Take for example when the sound went out at the Burna Boy show in Kingston. Jamaican artiste walk off stage and cuss up a bag a bad wud ... Burna Bwoy smile and work through it and sing through it." Edwards also hailed Afrobeats for as "feel-good music".

"Their lyrics are positive, it's love ... makes you feel good. Afrobeats is going to rise even more," he predicted. He suggested, however, that all is not lost.

"Where the dancehall and reggae artiste can capitalise on is by collaborating, and they are doing this ... and they are interested in doing collabs with us. While reggae and dancehall is going through this transition, there is potential for it to rise again, opening up to the Latin American and Central American markets ... . Teejay, Masicka and Byron Messia all just got signed. I think that we are going through a transition in the market and there is optimism," he said.