Shaku Shaku Songs And The Danger Of Following Trends -By Adetayo Omotoyosi Adeolu

Originality is the key to the success of any individual, industry, and society in general.

In this article, our focus is on the Nigerian music industry. Nowadays, anyone can just jump on a beat, you don’t have to be educated. As long as you have the beat ready, just spew gibberish on it and get your promotions right and you are on your way to becoming a superstar in Nigeria.

The Shakushaku songs and the dance has stayed with us for some time now, especially here in the South-West. Almost all of us have been conditioned to the beat and dance of Shakushaku.
I was far away from Lagos to serve my Father’s land and was totally unaware of the current dance in the music industry. I was awestruck when for the first time I saw a lady doing the Shakushaku dance without beat on the main road. It has long become a trend to be doing the Shakushaku dance even on the expressway.

How did we get here?

The way it is now, every musician now follow this trend without deep questioning of what will happen to their musical careers when the Shakushaku songs and dance fades. Even those established musicians that we never thought could follow this trend are now trying to blend in.

Rochas Okorocha doing the Shaku Shaku dance

There have been several trends, songs and beat that has come and gone. So is the way this current trend will go.
Makossa, Azonto, Etighi, Akube, Dabbing and so on are just a few and a pointer that the Shakushaku trend will soon go into extinction.

Also there has been an upsurge of street musicians that has catched on the trend to gain cheap popularity. They have suddenly risen to fame and are now the celebrated superstars, but can they really last?

Can their songs stand the test of time?

Some of these musicians are Mr. Real, Idowest, Naira Marley and so on.
Some of them even won record deals, but can the likes of Idowest that was signed by Davido do songs out of the already saturated Shakushaku?

Although there have been arguments and different postulations on why musicians should follow trends, but how many of those musicians who followed the trend of Makossa, Etighi, Azonto are still relevant today?

When musicians follow trends, if unchecked they can lose their creativity. Years ago, Azonto was the new deal and every musician tried to conform to the status quo, although some of them became popular with a hit or two, that was the last we heard from them.

The Nigerian music lovers and audience follow trends but they don’t stick with it, when they get tired of the current trend and they see that you have nothing else to offer them. They switch to the next musician who can satisfy their current needs.

Originality is your key to remaining relevant in this Nigerian music industry, check the trends you follow.

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