THE GLEEFUL SOUNDS OF NIGERIA

THE GLEEFUL SOUNDS OF NIGERIA
By
Simeon Abi*

ABSTRACT
It will be improper to start without wishing a great nation, Nigeria, a happy centenary. Through hard work, dedication and sacrifices, Nigeria has become what it is today (the indomitable giant of Africa), though not perfect. Before hinting about perfection, we should know there is no perfect state in the world. America as the strongest nation in the world cannot possibly boast of perfection because it still has its own flaws. I was asked by a good citizen of Nigeria why we should possibly be celebrating hundred years of existence when Nigeria existed even before the British colonized us, that it is improper for Nigeria to celebrate only its existence as an offspring of the British people. Frankly, I was tempted to succumb to that, but on a clearer view of Africa and colonization, there was no Nigeria before 1914. All there was, were numerous groups of tribes/kingdoms/nations living without boundaries, until the British people separated them from several other similar tribes/kingdoms/nations, grouped them together as “countries”, created boundaries and then split them again into states and regions of that country with even more boundaries. So Nigeria only became Nigeria after 1914, but before 1914 all that existed were the different kingdoms in the different regions like the Arewa, the Oduduwa and the Igbo kingdoms respectfully.
INTRODUCTION
Nigeria has come a long way in every aspect of its dealings, but how far has it come in realizing the potentials of its creative industry that is making waves across the globe? In order not to digress entirely from the topic at hand and in order not to bore you with the whole before and after Nigerian history, I will cut right to the chase.
This paper will be based on the gleeful sounds of Nigeria as the topic suggest. ‘GLEEFUL’ as the word entails has to do with joyfulness, filled with high spirited delight. High spirited delight in this context has to do with the exciting part of Nigeria. By ‘EXCITING’ I mean the music, movies, comedy, fashion and trends which basically fall under the ‘Entertainment’ industry of Nigeria. Above all, the paper will look at how far the creative industry has gone in the past 100 years, and how far the government has gone in realizing its potentials and working towards its developments. I tag it as the ‘Exciting Part’ basically because like every other nation, Nigeria has many other sectors ranging from politics to infrastructure, oil and gas, and lots more. But the only ‘GROOVY’ aspect of Nigeria is the ‘Entertainment’.
The Nigerian entertainment and creative industries consists of a wide range of players, including actors, musicians, comedians, authors of screenplays, recording companies, radio and television stations, as well as directors and producers. These diverse groups of players can be broadly grouped into the film and music industries, and both industries have, over time, risen to prominence not only within Nigeria, but also on the African Continent and beyond.
Nigeria is also renowned for its musical talents. The country is home to a number of internationally renowned musicians whose works are widely enjoyed by diverse audiences.
In the past 100 years, the music industry has passed through one phase to the other to get to where it is today. The pre-colonial era music in Nigeria was holistic in approach: they learnt how to play instruments, sing and dance, met in recreational centers to display culture and music, and ensured that music was imbibed right from childhood. The post-colonial era eradicated such and made it modern: the recreational grounds are now known as theaters and cinemas and clubs and musical halls. Western life and western education was brought into the picture and village squares that were used as recreational centers gave way to town halls and other development projects. The acceptance of the western way of life gave room to western music, and gradually, interest in traditional music and dance waned in preference to foreign music. Do not get me wrong, I am not saying the traditional way of music has been eradicated completely; as a matter of fact, core traditional songs still make waves and tradition is still being practiced in most places, but if you understand what I mean, you will know that secular music in this twenty first century has taken over culture, thus the growing ups follow what the grownups do and culture is no longer being practiced as it was in the pre-colonial era of Nigeria.
We have seen many players come and go in the scene of the music industry; musicians of the 20s to 90s did not enjoy what the artists enjoy now, but did leave an everlasting name. Nigeria as we know have hundreds of languages and different ethnic groups, the major languages in Nigeria are Hausa in the North, Igbo in the east and Yoruba in the West respectively, and all these diverse group of people have their own sense of music, and their own traditional music.
When we talk about Yoruba music in the west for instance, they have the advanced drumming tradition, with drums like the dundun hourglass tension drums, making Yoruba music classic. And the renowned kings of Yoruba music are people like late IK Dairo, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde, King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Salawa Abeni, Yusuf Olatunji, late Fela Anikulapo Kuti and many other legends who made sure the Yoruba music is well known. The musicians that are taking Yoruba language worldwide are those that rap and sing with the language. People like Femi Kuti, Olamide, T. Code, 9ice, Reminisce, Adewale Ayuba, Kwam1, and many other musicians, even those that are not of Yoruba extraction who use the language in most of their songs. One person that really used the Yoruba language and whose songs are still making waves is the late Dagrin, (God rest his Soul). Femi Kuti portrays more of the Yoruba culture than others who just use the language as lyrics.
Igbo people in the east play a wide variety of folk instruments. They are known for their ready adoption of foreign styles, and are an important part of Nigerian high life. Their most widespread instrument is the 13-stringed zither which they call OBO. They also play sit drums, xylophone, flutes, lyres, udus and lutes. The kings of Igbo music are Osadebe, Oliver De Cogue, Oriental Brothers, Sir Warrior, Bright Chimezie and many more. The music stage now sees many Igbo people as major players. As a matter of fact, if musicians in Nigeria are to be counted, there is a possibility that Igbo people in the music scene will take 70 percent. Major actors that really use the Igbo language are Mr. Nigga Raw, Phyno, Slow Dog (in the Kitchen…), Flavor, late MC Loph, and many others who have modernized the Ibo music, thereby making people dance to the Igbo language music even when they do not understand it.
Hausa’s in the north are known for complex percussion instrument music which is known as the one-stringed goje, trumpets like Kakaki and a strong praise song vocal tradition. Traditional Hausa music is used to celebrate coronations, births, marriages, circumcision and other important events. The legends of the Hausa music are Mamman Shata, Dan Maraya Jos, Barmani Choge and many others. Eedris Abdul Kareem and many others are the modern day Hausa musicians making it in the music scene.
Now Nigerian music has come to a certain phase, a phase I call ‘Phase of Opulence’, with the artists living luxurious lives, buying houses and cars both home and abroad and making sure they stay in the music scene without fading away and even getting married abroad, 2face Idibia, Tiwa Savage are the sole example. Many companies and brands have added to the growth of the entertainment and creative industries as a whole and not just the music scene. Telecommunication companies and brands like GLOBACOM, MTN, ETISALAT, AIRTEL, HENNESSY, PEPSI, SPINLET and many other companies and brands by signing contracts and endorsement deals with entertainers give them the opportunity to live their dream lives, and make money outside their respective fields. In the last 10-20 years, the music industry has reached a certain climax which to me is the starting point of Nigeria’s music industry, producing an average of 550 albums or more of different genre/kinds of music annually. Record sales have more than tripled in the past years, averaging more than 10 million and rising to an estimated high of more than 30 million.
The Nigerian movie industry popularly known as Nollywood which kicked off in 1992 with ‘Living in Bondage’ was once the second largest movie industry in the world alongside Bollywood as the first and Hollywood as the third. Nollywood films have spread beyond Nigeria’s borders into the African continent and African Diaspora markets in the UK and the US. The Industry produces more films per week than Hollywood or Bollywood. It is Africa’s largest movie industry in terms of value and the number of movies produced per year. The Guardian has cited Nollywood as the third largest in the world in earnings and estimated the industry to bring in US$600 million per year.
Nollywood directly employs about 200, 000 people and creates over 1 million jobs in related retail. All these have been achieved within the period of 21 years. Nollywood is one of the biggest economic sector in Nigeria and it is worth NG₦853.9 billion (US$5.1 billion). It is obvious that Nollywood has a lot of potential but what is being done about it?
For most of us who are in the know, Nigeria is now Africa’s biggest economy, and has moved from 121st position, to become the 26th largest economy in the world. But something most of us may not possibly know is that Nigeria climbed to that position with the help of Nollywood and other creative industries.
Nigeria is challenged with creating a significant number of Jobs for its ever growing and demanding youth. Could the Creative Industry be part of the solution? I would say yes, because the movie industry alone employs more than 200, 000 youths, and when we talk about the other industries like music and fashion, we realize that it employs a lot more. Nigeria now is not about what you studied in school, but what you will do to put food on your table. This has led many youths to develop their own talents both as musicians, actors, comedians, presenters and fashionista’s, thus making them deviate entirely from what they studied to virgin areas they may know little or nothing about, but which they will want to be part of in order to make a good living. So I could probably say that Nigeria has a Future in which its economy would not be solely dependent on oil; because Nigeria’s creative industries have the potential to diversify the Nigerian Economy, which already, it has started doing by adding to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), thereby making it number one in Africa and twenty sixth in the world.
Modeling and designing is all incorporated into the fashion industry. Fashion in Nigeria has come a long way, with top designers making waves all over the world, artists and movie stars opening their own brands and clothing lines. All over the world, the Nigerian culture is being borrowed because the kings and divas of the industry have been able to share our love for life, not smothering it with the western fashion, but introducing it as its own strong voice.
When we talk about fashion and modeling in Nigeria, many names of course will come to mind: names like Agbani Darego, Oluchi Orlandi and lots more will never cease to find their ways into our lips because they have brought a good name to Nigeria, legacies that will never go into oblivion. Darego is not only one of the sexiest women in the world, but the first African Miss World. Now that’s not a legacy that will be evanesced, is it? I presume not.
Talking about the likes of Agbani, there is also Oluchi Orlandi. The beautiful model who kick started her carrier as an M-Net Face of Africa winner, has made her way through Europe, America and came back to Africa not only as a top model, but host and brain behind the first ever Africa’s Next Top Model pageant. I personally classify her as the African Tyra Banks. And not just her, but many other Nigerian models who find their way to the top and continue to lift the green and white flag higher.
With more than one thousand years of existence and one hundred of those years as Nigeria, the entertainment and creative industries has made its way to stardom. With Nigerian music and films gaining traction all over Africa and overseas, Nigerian music and movies dominate radio stations and screens across Africa and are becoming increasingly popular in America amongst African Americans and other minorities, thereby enabling potential global partnerships.
Many Africans, particularly Nigerians criticize Nollywood based on the theme of their movies, and the way they are being scripted based on the harsh realities of the world, which of a fact many find not too comforting. Many despise Nollywood because of the poor productions; however, Nollywood movies then were produced with traditional analog video, so we wouldn’t expect the movies to be that perfect, or the picture qualities to be that good with the use of analog cameras. But Nollywood movies now are produced using Digital cinematography technology thereby making the Nollywood we knew five to six years back not be the same Nollywood we know now. Nollywood now is bigger and better than it ever was. We compare Nollywood to Bollywood and Hollywood, forgetting that though these other two may have better productions, visuals and of course make movies look more real unlike the Nollywood we know, all three have one particular thing in common – they all have basically the same movie theme.
Hollywood movies (majority of them), especially the science fiction movies, deal more with the future, and imaginations (though most have connection to real life). This makes me wonder most times, if God gets angry and decide to hit the world with what most of the fictional and imaginary movies talk about, then what will become of the world will be big.
Bollywood is basically love, songs, action, love, songs and songs, songs and songs (just kidding) but that’s Bollywood, it is widely known for that. I’ve barely watched a Bollywood movie that does not include singing and dancing.
Many Nollywood movies have themes that deal with the moral dilemmas facing modern Africans. The early movies had the same story line but scripted in another perception, thereby leaving the viewers to predict the next line of action or better still guess the end of the movie from how it began. But Nollywood movies now are a whole lot different from the ones we used to know. Of course things change according to how time changes. Though their movies have taken a new turn now, then we knew our actors by their roles, example;
 Patience Ozokwor popularly known as Mama Gee, who has played the role of a mother to virtually all the top Nigerian actors (if not all), is always known for playing the wicked woman, wicked mother in-law and wicked mother role;
 Kanayo O. Kanayo, always known for playing the blood money role, so any movie that involved blood money must have his name in it;
 Pete Edochie, popularly known as the God Father, is always known for playing the part of the father associated with witchcraft, or the heartless father;
 Olu Jacobs, always plays the rich man, rich father, and mostly all the king roles go to him;
 Osita Iheme and Chidezie Ikedezie popularly known as Aki and Pawpaw, always known for playing the troublesome children role;
 Jim Iyke, known for being the bad son, and money spender, and rugged;
 John Okafor (Mr. Ibu) known for being the foolish boy of Nollywood;
 Ramsey Noah, Emeka Ike, Nonso Diobi, Genevieve Nnaji, and Omotola Jalade, all known for being the lover boys and lover girls of Nollywood.
 Sam Loco Efe (late), Victor Osuagu, and Charles Awurum and lots of others are all known as the comics of Nollywood
So mostly when you see a poster with these names, and by the title, you predict what the movie is going to be about, so basically every script then had its own placed actor. And the soundtracks most times predict the next action, even when they are trying to make it look like the viewers are supposed to be in suspense and most times some soundtracks don’t fit what a particular scene is talking about. But Nollywood films now are full of suspense, real suspense and are hardly predictable and they are many actors now in the industry so the possibility of sticking a role to a particular person over and over again is no more there. But in the quest for fame, many Nollywood movies now portray less of the Nigerian or African way of life, but are of soft pornography because youths accept any script given to them just for the cash and the fame. And because the century is now twenty first, not twentieth anymore so everything now is changing.
Music now is unique, noisy, and some of course we have no idea what they sing about but we just dance to the beat. Beat in music is all that matters now not the lyrics, though lyrics most times count. Why I said not the lyrics is because everyone now wants to tell the world how he or she is living, so their lyrics all fall down to them talking about money, fame and haters. So we mostly just dance to the beats and not the lyrics. Beats in music nowadays are mostly made according to the popular dance steps, Etighi, Azonto, Alkayida, Skelewu, Sekem and other steps as many artists create their beats and invent dance steps to go with it. And producers (beat makers) are doing pretty good jobs also. Producers like Don Jazzy, Detunes, Masta Kraft, Spellz and many more of them, deliver well when it comes to making beats in the industry.
Music videos in recent times are doing very good, and the music video directors know how to deliver to the musicians. Good video quality, good visuals and these is all that is mostly required in videos and Clarence Peters and other music video directors sure know how to deliver quality where it is required. Most artistes prefer to shoot their videos outside of Nigeria. In the past years, their base was South Africa but now, it has gone beyond South Africa. They go as far as the United States, London and other countries to shoot their videos. And to my observation, most videos shot in the UK are directed by Mr. Moe Musa, the Nigerian music Director who is based there; and he delivers so well that many if not all African artists who shoot their videos in the UK have him as their director.
If you think music has not changed in Nigeria, I would recommend you listen to, and watch Nigerian music videos of the 20th century, and you will know that Nigerian music has changed, and its videos are definitely better as I said earlier. I would recommend a particular music video I came across for you, “ZAAKI AZZAY FT KC PRESH IN ‘MY RAIN’” then you will see how music videos are better now. Check out how our hot and ever sexy Limpopo king Kcee and his long time partner Presh looked, then you will give thanks to twenty first century Nigerian music. And sometimes I wonder where names like Zaaki Azzay, Danfo Drivers, Sky B and many of these names that actually made us dance to their music are now. Which brings us back to faces appearing and disappearing in the music scene, some leave because of piracy, others quit, some don’t just make it above the level they did so they give up and do something else.
Talking about visuals and Nollywood, I sometimes wonder why Nollywood producers and directors do not collaborate with music videos directors to make good visuals in movies. Though the Nigerian movies are doing real well, the visuals are definitely not that good, and some do not even look real. The essence of the use of visuals in movies is to make the viewers believe what the story is portraying by delivering make believe visuals, but Nollywood hardly delivers that. Though they are good in delivering the whole witchcraft scene graphics, which sometimes look real, but all these are the reasons why some people despise Nollywood. There are great movies, even greater ones; there are international collaborations: movies like “Doctor Bello” and “Half of a yellow sun” have featured a great deal of international actors, and many more to come.
Talking about half of a yellow sun, a movie that is considered to be Nigeria’s greatest movie, yet The Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board does not want it to be brought down to the country to be shown in the cinemas, even when it has been shown in cinemas around the world. My question is what has Boko Haram got to do with the Biafra war, which will make a movie that is based on the Biafra war not to be shown in Nigeria? Well, we keep our fingers crossed and watch carefully to see what happens next. Though Nollywood is growing, such things are not supposed to happen and should not happen because it will make other people planning to work or collaborate with the industry to back out. Let the movie come to Nigeria, it is our movie, the greatest for that matter, let us appreciate it, because it is the beginning of a great Nollywood, let us watch our own get nominated for the OSCARS or the ACADEMY AWARDS. What the board doesn’t know is that, in the words of Biyi Bandele, (the director of the movie), ‘Whether or not the film eventually gets ratings certificate in Nigeria, half of a Yellow Sun will be seen by millions of Nigerians.’
If Half of a Yellow Sun, a book written by our own international award winning author Chimamanda Adichie, which is now turned into the greatest movie of all time, is this hard to be accepted into Nigeria, what will happen when the novel ‘AMERICANAH’, written by the same author, which is set to be made into a movie eventually comes out? Half of a Yellow Sun, directed by a Nigerian, starring many great Hollywood and Nollywood acts, alongside our own Igbo British born actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor is nowhere to be found in Nigeria, even if it is eventually accepted, what will become of it, considering the rate of piracy in the country? And what will become of the fate of AMERICANAH which is going to star alongside one of the fastest rising actresses and multiple award winner, Kenya’s Lupita Nyog’o? We wait patiently to see how it is all going to come down, and I personally wish the actors and directors of both movies good sales in Nigeria when it is eventually accepted, and hope that many awards come their way, because like I said earlier, it is just the beginning of a greater Nollywood.
Nigeria is home to many foreign actors and musicians some have done a lot of collaborations with their Nigerian Brothers both in the music and movie scenes respectively. People like Wale, Hakeem Kae-Kazim and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Since Wale’s last visit to the country, he has done pretty good collaborations with Whiz kid and Olamide. And Hakeem has featured in a number of Nollywood movies, and he is one of the few that has really done a good job by coming home. Chiwetel was featured in the movie half of a Yellow Sun as I mentioned above, and we hope he does a lot of other movies in the country also. If our children in the international level can come together and make a good name for Nollywood, it will be a good start by making a good collaborative movie.
When we talk about comedy in Africa, we possibly will know the most common names that will come to the heads of those who know comedy. Names like Bright Okpocha (Basketmouth), Bovi, Ayo Balogun (AY), Gordons, I Go Die and lots more are names that people will not cease to talk about. Nigerian comedy has come a long way both locally and internationally with shows held both in and outside Africa. The one show that I know brings African comedians together is the African Kings of comedy that is being held in Europe, America and other parts of the world. Comedy is a way to let out your sorrows and laugh to good and funny jokes, and our comedians sure know how to deliver to the people. If we take a look at Nigeria in the last 20 years, we’ll see that comedy wasn’t as prosperous as it is now. In other words, everything that has to do with entertainment now in Nigeria, has the tag ‘Prosperous’ written all over it, because Nigeria has achieved a lot in this 100 years of existence when it comes to entertainment.
The entertainment and creative industries has lost many of its great entertainers ranging from music artists, actors, directors, fashionista’s, and other range of great people. Example is Sam Loco Efe, Enebeli Enebuwa, Justus Esiri, Dagrin, Amaka Igwe, Goldie Harvey and recently Kefee all of Blessed memories, and many others who have left us. What has the industry done in order for the legacy of these great people to linger in generations to come? Though they have their movies and music and fashion works to make people remember them, is that enough to keep their legacy going for long? No! There should be a better way for our great entertainers to be recognized, and by this I mean immortalizing them. The Nigerian entertainment industry should have a hall of fame, where great personalities not only in the entertainment scene but other fields also will be recognized. This does not mean that everybody’s name that made it to the lime light would be incorporated, but there should of course be a hall of fame. The Hollywood Hall of Fame does not in any case have every celebrity’s name incorporated. But it has done a great deal in preserving their legacies.
You will agree with me that the music industry has come a long way, with Nigerian acts getting global recognitions and deals, collaborating with international artists, getting signed to international record labels and getting international awards.
Artists around Africa get to feature Nigerian Artists and get featured also. For some, it’s the way they get to limelight outside of their country because they are some Nigerian names in the music scene that once you get them in your song, people will be asking for more. Names like Banky W, Whiz Kid, P’square, Davido, Flavor, ice Prince and a lot of hot names in the industry right now, are names that sure will get everyone dancing to your tune once they are featured and thus giving you recognition around Africa and beyond.
We’ve seen the likes of 2face, D’banj, and Ice Prince Zamani coming home with the Black Entertainments Award (BET), Femi Kuti getting nominated year after year for the GRAMMYS and eventually coming home with the award this year. And Nigerian musicians nominated year after year for the best international act category in the Black Entertainment Awards (BET) of which Tiwa Savage and Davido Adeleke are this year’s nominees. And D’banj is the latest winner of the just concluded World Music Awards which was held in Monaco. He came back home as the best Selling Artist in Africa.
We’ve seen artists like D’banj signed to Kanye West’s ‘Good Music’; Peter and Paul Okoye (P Square) signed to Akon’s ‘Konvict Music’.
We’ve seen international collaborations with artists like R. Kelly, Snoop Dog, Akon, Rick Ross, Kanye West, Sean Paul, Wale and Whiz Kid being featured by Kardinal Offishall, and lots more coming as we expect to see a number of international artists featured in P Square’s upcoming 6th studio album. With these, I am sure we do not need a soothsayer to tell us how much and well our artists are doing globally.
Taking a close look at the Nigerian entertainment and creative industries from the Diaspora, there’s no doubt that the creative industries are hitting the waves of Africa as a whole and also globally. Nigerian has been called the heart of African music and truly, it is and Nigerian music is taking over mobile phones, PCs, clubs, parties, schools, hotels and lots more. As a matter of fact, there’s no party or gathering you go to that Nigerian music will not be played, except it’s a core traditional gathering.
All over the world, music and movies are making waves, and I can proudly boast that there is nowhere in Africa you will possibly talk about music or movies that Nigerian music, comedy or movies will not be mentioned. Also Nigerian designers are called to many fashion shows as judges or as guest designers. Now that is a lot of achievement in a hundred years.
The world entertainment industry in the next 10-20 years will possibly see Nigeria as a main actor, alongside major players like Bollywood and Hollywood. If Nollywood could be rated second, ahead of Hollywood, there is no doubt that it will in the next few years clinch that first position and be the center of attraction for entertainment. People will look up to Nollywood the way they do to Hollywood now, but these cannot be achieved if piracy keeps on cheating us.
Piracy is the number one killer of the Nigerian entertainment industry. Pirates get to eventually make more money than the actors and musicians, and this kills so many people’s carrier as they don’t get to bloom if the pirates hit on them.
One of the themes of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2014 is the ‘millennial crisis’, and it is as a matter of fact, a crisis that needs to be tackled. Nollywood is huge and the Nigerian music industry is the pacesetter in Africa. But something continues to hold them back; and it is the intellectual property protection. Major record labels and film studios are still not convinced enough to come back into the country as piracy is still rife and distribution a major problem. We thank God for technology as music now is 99 percent downloaded online, and thanks to the bloggers as they get to make it easier for people to download from anywhere in the world. It has definitely eased the work of the artists because back then artist just go straight to producing a full album before people get to hear their songs. Now even a single that an artist will drop, will make him popular, then he drops a lot of singles before getting to eventually release an album. It may be surprising that many of the popular artists don’t even have an album to their name yet, but get to rise to fame with a single song or two. And that’s because technology has made it easier for people to listen to them from anywhere, and made it easier for them also.
Pirates control entertainment in Nigeria, where the situation has evolved from them being faceless figures to unofficial distributors for artists. There’s no doubt that this problem needs a long term and sustainable fix, and we must show commitment in order to fix it. Nollywood is 21, and at 21 everyone is considered an adult and responsible for his or her actions, Nollywood is now an adult and there isn’t any better time to show that it can stand on its own and can be that powerful force that it should be. It can be done, and we must act, not tomorrow, not when Nollywood is getting grey hair, not when the music industry is also getting grey hair, but now and NOW is the time to stop piracy, because Nigeria entertainment industry in the next 10-20 years should be seen as a piracy free industry.
Nigerian movie industry, Nollywood is big enough for all other aspects of Nigerian entertainment to be incorporated under it. By this, I mean one should talk of Nollywood when talking about entertainment in Nigeria, thus all other industries ranging from music to comedy to fashion be called Nollywood. So Nollywood should not be all about movies, but about entertainment in Nigeria, and hopefully in a few years when we talk about entertainment in Africa, we will talk about Nollywood. So we can rightfully call Nigerian entertainment NOLLYWOOD. Therefore, NOLLYWOOD is the Gleeful Sound of Nigeria.