The African Symposium: An online journal of the African Educational Research Network

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1 THE ARTISTE AS A PROPAGANDIST: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SAHEED OSUPA S MUSIC Abstract Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose Lagos State Polytechnic Music in Africa has always served social, moral, religious, psychological and spiritual purposes. The language of musicians does not also come in a vacuum. It always depicts different thematic preoccupations which are mutually shared by the lovers of the genre of music. Existing studies on music generally in Nigeria and Fuji music in particular have focused on invective and verbal altercations among musicians. This study which focuses on Saheed Osupa has considered a shift in the ideological underlining of contemporary Fuji artistes. Using van Dijk s approach to CDA and Jacob Mey s Pragmatic Act, the study investigates how Saheed Osupa depicts his superiority and domination to his all-time rival, Wasiu Alabi Pasuma in terms of artistic craftsmanship and material possessions. With six discursive moves of categorization, metaphor, hyperbole, comparison, implication and self-glorification, Osupa practs superiority to himself and practs inferiority, incompetence and warning to Pasuma. The study submits that the language of Fuji musicians is always ideologically impregnated. Keywords: Fuji, Osupa, Pasuma, discursive moves, pragmatic act. Introduction Music is an essential part of the African people at large and Nigerians in particular. Commenting on the importance of music in Africa, Aduonum (1980) asserts that: In Africa, music is life; that is, it permeates all daily activities. Music in Africa is the soul which is ultimately concerned with various customs and religious practices. The African is born, named, initiated, fortified, fed, nurtured and buried with music. In Africa, music heals the sick, directs and guides the blind, comforts the widow and music stops tribal warfare. (Aduonum, 1980:19-20) Among the Yoruba people of Nigeria, there are different genres of music. These genres include apala, fuji, jùjú, highlife etc. Of all these genres, Fuji has enjoyed the greatest popularity in the last twenty years. Fuji is a popular Nigerian musical genre. It arose from the improvisation of Ajisari/were music tradition, which according to Akpan (2006:101), is a kind of music performed to wake Muslims before dawn during the Ramadan fasting season. Fuji music emanated from the basic structure of indigenous Yoruba music. In performance, Fuji music borrows from a compendium of ritual music especially of the Ogboni cult, traditional game songs and moonlight tales songs, music of various professions and activities; all of whom are from unknown authors as well as injected compositions by the performers themselves in the general style and flow of the Yoruba culture. However, from the inception of Fuji music, invective and other forms of confrontations have been a regular characteristic. This study which focuses on Saheed Osupa looks at how he constructs his superiority and domination to his all time rival, Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, both in artistic craftsmanship and material possessions. The researcher is interested in how linguistic devices make positive and negative representations possible in the music of Saheed Osupa in line with the positive self-representation and negative other-representation approach to Critical Discourse Analysis. THE ARTISTE, SAHEED OSUPA He was born in Ibadan in 1973 to the family of a musician. His father was a Were singer and an elder cousin to Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister (the renowned Fuji pioneer). He started singing in the early eighties when Fuji Music was making fewer waves. Saheed Osupa has released about 20 albums, releasing the first one titled 'Fuji fadisco' in 1992 under the label of Alasco films and records. The native of Ibadan is a notable, well organised, sensible and educated Fuji musician. Osupa attended 76 Volume 15, No. 3, July 2016 The African Symposium (ISSN# )

2 the Polytechnic of Ibadan where he had OND in He later studied computer networking in the US. Saheed constantly claims to be the king of music because of his consistency in keeping the original face of Fuji music. He believes that Fuji music is not just about dancing to drum beats but should also be used for serious discussions and philosophical expositions as well as imparting cultural thoughts to listeners as it was being used by earlier artistes like Barrister and Kollington who used their music to advice people and pass messages to despotic rulers. His albums have featured hip hop tracks in collaboration with a number of hip hop artistes which has somehow endeared his music to many young people. However, due to the controversies in which he is constantly involved, the larger corporate audience tends to keep him at arms length, getting neither too close nor too far. It must be said however that these controversies which usually are superiority statements have always characterized the Fuji scene right from the time of Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and Kollington Ayinla who are the founding fathers of Fuji. Literature Review Studies abound on songs generally in Nigeria, Olagunju (1997), Sunday (2011), Olamisoji (2014) and others. Sunday (2011) examined the verbal battle between Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and Ayinla Kollington, bringing out instances of the abuses they rained on each other from their songs. Using the instruments of CDA and Brown and Levinson s politeness, the researcher analysed the several issues debated in these songs, but they were all hinged on one particular issue: the origin and founder of Fuji music. Barrister does not want to lose the privileges attached to being the founder and Kollington feels that he is being fraudulent by claiming to be the founder of Fuji. This led to a series of verbal banters and altercations between the two Fuji icons, with each bringing out instances of past ordeals and how things run in other genres of Yoruba music. Considering the age of these artistes, Sunday submits that, they both should retrace their steps and use their old age to correct the havoc that their music has wrecked on the psyche of the society for the sake of posterity. Odejobi (2014) examined Yoruba indigenous folksongs as a veritable source for the impartation of moral education in children. Two hundred grandparents and two hundred young mothers were sampled randomly for the study. Odejobi held that Yoruba indigenous folksongs were used as a veritable source for revitalizing moral education among preschool children. The study which was both quantitative and qualitative in its analysis found that moral values drawn from indigenous folksongs include honesty, hard work, laziness, cleanliness and truthfulness. The study however recommended that teachers should adopt folksongs in the classroom as this will not only preserve or transmit cultural heritage but also impart moral education in children in a lively way. Theoretical Frameworks The study uses both van Dijk s framework of Critical Discourse Analysis and Jacob Mey s Pragmatic Act as its theoretical guide. CDA is mainly concerned with analyzing opaque as well as transparent structural relationships of dominance, discrimination, power and control as manifested in language. (Wodak, 2001:2). Van Dijk's (2004) framework consists of two main discursive strategies of 'positive selfrepresentation' (semantic macro-strategy of in-group favouritism and 'negative other-representation' (semantic macro-strategy of derogation of out-group) which are materialized through some other discursive moves such as 'actor description', 'authority', 'burden' ('Topos'), 'categorization', 'comparison, 'consensus', 'counterfactuals, 'disclaimer', 'euphemism', 'evidentiality', 'example'/'illustration', 'generalization' 'hyperbole', 'implication', 'irony', 'lexicalization', 'metaphor', 'self glorification', 'norm expression', 'number game', 'polarization', 'Us-Them', 'populism', 'presupposition', 'vagueness', 'victimization. Above are 27 ideological strategies among which the fundamental dichotomy of self positive-representation and other negative representation stand out. This study selects six of these discursive moves which are employed by Saheed Osupa in portraying his superiority to Wasiu Alabi Pasuma both in artistic craftsmanship and material possessions. The discursive moves used are: categorization, comparison, hyperbole, implication, metaphor and self glorification. These moves were selected purposively based on the dictates of the data. 77 Volume 15, No. 3, July 2016 The African Symposium (ISSN# )

3 According to Yule (1996:3), pragmatics is the study of speaker and contextual meaning, and how more gets communicated than is said, as well as the study of the expression of relative distance. The analysis in this study is corroborated by Jacob Mey s Pragmatic Act to account for certain contextual factors that are brought to bear in interpreting the musical excerpts. In the words of Mey (2001: 221), the pragmatic act theory focuses on the environment in which both speaker and hearer find their affordances, such that the entire situation is brought to bear on what can be said in the situation, as well as what is actually being said. This view is expressed as a pragmeme. A pragmatic act is instantiated through an ipra or a pract, which realises a pragmeme. Every pract is at the same time an allopract, that is to say a concrete instantiation of a particular pragmeme, (Mey 2001: 221). What determines a pract is solely participants' knowledge of interactional situation and the potential effect of a pract in a particular context. Thus, practing resolves the problem of telling illocutionary force from perlocutionary force (Odebunmi 2006). There are two parts to a pragmeme: activity part, meant for interactants and textual part, referring to the context within which the pragmeme operates. To communicate, the interactants draw on such speech act types as indirect speech acts, conversational ('dialogue') acts, psychological acts, prosodic acts and physical acts. These are engaged in contexts, which include INF representing "inference"; REF, "relevance"; VCE, "voice"; SSK, "shared situation knowledge"; MPH, "metaphor"; and M "metapragramatic joker", Mey (2001), Odebunmi (2006). This study utilises mainly the textual part, giving its contextual relevance. Methodology This study deliberately chose its data from the artiste s live performances. This is because; Fuji artistes generally tend to comment more on the goings-on within the industry in their live performances. It is usually where one finds them uncensored. Four live performances which are: Combination, Akuko Omole, Koloko Okota, Eko Mix and Oba Nla were purposively selected for this study. These live performances were taped at different times between 2005 and This is to show that the ideology captured in the analysis developed over a long period of time. Data Analysis Given the nature of the studied data, the excerpts are subsumed under the devices. Two excerpts are provided for each device and the explanations follow. In the set of excerpts provided under each device, there is usually an indication of legitimization or positive self-representation in one of the excerpts while the other indicates delegitimization or negative other-representation of the other figure. CATEGORIZATION: Assigning people to different groups. EXCERPT 1 T oba ni Olufimo ni seyin o, ferin da won lohun ni, toba ni Olufimo sope still on top, abosi o sinbe, awa siwa lako sa lawa bi ibon, gbogbo odi Jericho to taku s ono lati wo When they say Olufimo now, reply them with a smile, when they say Olufimo say still on top, hypocrisy is not involved. We are still standing firmly. All the walls of Jericho on the way have fallen down. (Oba Nla) In this excerpt, there is a case of categorization. Fuji musicians usually brand themselves with titles aside their usual names. Osupa refers to himself as Olufimo 1, Obanla. In this excerpt, he mentions his own in-group name (Obanla) and portrays himself as still doing excellently well while he represents the other group derogatorily. Using Pragmatic Act, the walls of Jericho has two references in the excerpt. First is to the other group, Pasuma whose in-group name, OGA NLA is derogatorily referred to as the walls of Jericho and the other reference is an allusion to the biblical Jericho that was conquered by the Israelites. The inference here is that, he, Osupa and his brand of Fuji has conquered any other and this is to pract superiority. EXCERPT 2 78 Volume 15, No. 3, July 2016 The African Symposium (ISSN# )

4 T alon f oba we oga o, oga eru, arinfin! T alon fi Saridon Papa we olorin gbadogburu? B alai mokan ba fiwe mo pity fun, apoti ma lofi we portfolio yen, original logbe s egbe agbelero. Boya komo pon se yanmayanma niyen. Who s comparing a king to a boss, the boss of slaves, ridiculous! Who s comparing Saridon papa to an empty musician? If an ignorant person does that I pity him. He is just comparing a stool to a portfolio, original to fake. I doubt the person knows he is misbehaving already. (Oba Nla) As said earlier, the different artistes have nomenclatures. Osupa is Oba Nla ( great king) and Pasuma is Oga Nla ( great boss). Having referred to Pasuma as a boss, he ridiculously said he is just the boss of slaves, therefore depicting him and his own group in a derogatory manner. In line with pragmatic act, positive words like portfolio(knowing a portfolio will always have valuables) and original are used by Osupa for himself while he refers to Pasuma with words like stool( which will always be sat on by persons or things) and fake. It is to be inferred here that he, Osupa is a better artiste and therefore practs superiority to himself and simultaneously practs inferiority to Pasuma. METAPHOR: Comparing a person or group with something else. EXCERPT 3 Kini kini kilode, shebi kaluku lon se ti e, gbogbo igbe t erin logbo l owo, seb ololaajo obinu, nigba ti kiniun wan lo ti e, ewa l e fe p oloola ajo lejo, iro ni ko l ejo nu. What? What? What is happening? Everybody is on his own business. The time the elephant had the forest, after all the king of the jungle was not angry. Now that the lion is in charge, you now say you want to summon the king of the jungle. That s a lie. There is no case in that. ( Eko Mix) In the excerpt above, Osupa compares Pasuma and himself with animals. He starts on a note of lamentation trying to show that Pasuma is envious of his popularity when he ( Pasuma) had in the past enjoyed such popularity before the emergence of Osupa. He however says clearly that it is his own era of fame and no one can do anything about it. Reference as a pragmatic tool makes it known that Osupa is referring to himself as lion and king of the jungle while he is referring to Pasuma as an elephant. SSK helps to make the meaning of this excerpt clearer giving that lovers of Fuji can tell that Pasuma has been famous and prosperous before Osupa (though this is not to say he is no longer famous). He therefore practs his present superiority to Pasuma. EXCERPT 4 Baba je kin leyin ni d ise orin kin gba yi titi d ale. Jowo je kin leyin ni d ise orin kin gba yi d ojo ale. Tori laye igbakon t esin bama wi, a loun sa l oga o t oba je t are sisa. Seri n igba yen ere nbe l ese malu gon, okun ese lon se ifa seyin fun, a tesin t on sare ati malu ton rin o, gbogbo e gbogbo e lori iyi noni. sewa ri ni seyin are esin o niyi mo, sewa ri malu lo wan gba yi niseyin, gbogbo ara malu lowa di kiki owo Oh Lord let me reign till the end of my career in the music profession. Because back then whenever the horse wanted to talk, he would claim to be the champion of any race. But you see there was actually race in the cow s legs then but the rope in its legs was serving as a setback. Both the running cow and the walking horse were in search of fame. But now the running of the horse has lost value; it is the walking of the cow that is valuable. All parts of the cow now give money. ( Akuko Omole, Kolokolo Okota) Again in this excerpt, Osupa represents himself with the cow and Pasuma with the horse. He 79 Volume 15, No. 3, July 2016 The African Symposium (ISSN# )

5 however establishes that when the horse was a famous runner, it was not the case that the cow could not run but for some obstacles. Rope in the excerpt refers to obstacles. However he establishes that the race of the horse has lost its value and it is the walking of the cow that is now profitable. The SSK which makes all Fuji lovers know that Pasuma must be the horse since he became prosperous before Osupa can help infer that Osupa is practing his superiority to Pasuma at the moment. HYPERBOLE: A device for enhancing and exaggerating meaning. Excerpt 5 Owa ni t eba w ole oun o, oni swimming pool Kunle o, olo ni mortuary Paso Kunle, oni Tanterlizers o, oni Mr Biggs Kunle o, nibi ti ile oun l ede, oni Chicken Republic ba wasi He said if you see the house, it has swimming pool in it, Kunle o. He said it has mortuary Paso Kunle. It has Tanterlizers and Mr Biggs, Kunle. The house is so big that it has Chicken Republic (Eko Mix) As the excerpt shows, Osupa mimicks Pasuma about the facilities in his (Pasuma s) house. This is because at the time of this music, Osupa had publicized two of his houses through a big party opening and Pasuma had not at this time thrown any party for house opening. Osupa began to intimidate Pasuma on this ground and one of such intimidations was saying that Pasuma claimed the highlighted words in the excerpts would be in his house. Evidently this is an exaggeration as no one in this part of the world will have a mortuary in his or her home. Again, if one will have an eatery in his house, it definitely will not be as many as three as Osupa has claimed on behalf of the innocent Pasuma. Osupa renders this song using Pasuma s voice. This prosodic act and VCE pract mockery to Pasuma. EXCERPT 6 Owa lohun omo alalubarika, ose record korita, awa ta se meta t ata. Baba won t ose meta gan ko ta to tiwa. Atu se merin a ta He claims to be a blessed child. He made a record and could not sell it. We did three we sold it. Even their father who did four didn t sell as much as we did. We again did a four in one album and sold well. (Eko Mix) In the excerpt above, the exaggeration flows from two directions. First, it is exaggerating to claim that a popular artiste like Pasuma made a record and did not make a good sale. It is also an overblown trumpet on the part of Osupa to say his record sold more than others. With reference we can deduce that their father as used by Osupa is a reference to Wasiu Ayinde. This is because Pasuma was then Ayinde s loyalty. Ayinde is arguably the most exposed, travelled and sophisticated Fuji artiste as it stands. A claim by Osupa to have sold more than even Ayinde is therefore a case of exaggeration. The use of the plural pronoun awa-we for himself is a self-exalting strategy. This excerpt however simultaneously practs superiority for Osupa and mimicry and inferiority to Pasuma and even Wasiu Ayinde. COMPARISON: Comparing one person or group with another in order to emphasize the good and bad side Excerpt 7 two elephants ni Ibadan o je tan, b ase tu se double star l eko o ro, sebi combination l oti jeya to poju o, combination extra otu leju m opatan. S oye k ole tuma s oro ogun, sebi akinkonju eyan loye ko ma royin ogun. (Kolokolo Okota) 80 Volume 15, No. 3, July 2016 The African Symposium (ISSN# )

6 Two elephants at Lagos you lost. Again when we did double star at Lagos you ran away. It was in combination that you were most beaten. Combination extra was even a bigger case for you. Should a coward narrate a war story? Only the real warrior should actually talk about war.. (Kolokolo Okota) In the excerpt above, Osupa compares his and Pasuma s experiences in the series of live performances that the duo had had together. In all of the performances, Osupa portrays himself as having musically molested Pasuma. There is a deliberate derogatory account of Pasuma in all of those events. At the end, Osupa s reference to himself as a warrior and his reference to Pasuma as a coward is a deliberate attempt to pract superiority to himself and to pract inferiority and incompetence to Pasuma. Excerpt 8 Paso wan s oro wipe iru mi om ara nmu. Iwo ton wo buba totu ma de Kango si, layi gun keke to tu ma lo gloves o, iwo t olo igo welder ti mo ni gba designer mi. Paso now says I do not dress well. You that wear native attire (buba) and wear a kango on it, you use gloves when you are not on bicycle. You that wore welder glasses and I offered my designer glasses. (Koloko Okota) At the beginning of the excerpt, Osupa claims Pasuma started the comparison on their fashion sense. However, he evidently portrayed Pasuma in a derogatory manner especially when he said he (Pasuma) wore the type of glasses welders use to protect their eyes against the fire coming from welding irons. This is evidently derogatory as one can guess that even if Osupa had offered Pasuma his glasses at some point in the past, it will not translate into the caliber of Pasuma having to wear the kind of glasses welders use as Osupa has claimed. The reference to welders glasses as used by Osupa evidently practs ridicule to Pasuma. IMPLICATION: Deducing or inferring implicit information. Excerpt 9 N owo n owo ogo o.n owo n owo ogo t on f owo se fuja, won feron olorin l on se n owo, se wa ri b on se fi ife n owo, expectations t oni l asi ko yen nipe olorin no oye k ofowo s oun re. The spender isn t foolish. The spender isn t foolish when they spend on fun. They spend because they love the artistes. And as they spend with love, the expectation on their mind is that the artiste should do good things with the money. (Oba Nla) In the excerpt above, Osupa does not mention Pasuma s name. However, SSK suggests to us that the reference is to Pasuma. This is because as at this time, Pasuma had not opened any big house to the knowledge of the general public of the Fuji fans and this act of opening a house with a big party is characteristic of Fuji artistes. Osupa has, as at this time opened two houses to the knowledge of all Fuji fans. One can therefore infer that the reference of the song is Pasuma and Osupa indirectly practs warning to Pasuma to engage in capital project with the money he makes. Again, an undertone behind this warning is also to claim superiority.( Oba Nla) Excerpt 10 Tiwon ba sofun t oba lohun o seun re, esi leti pe ko tete seun re, e la si ko ko duro d eni konkon. Eni ba f ere sise nigba to jere, se bo ni toun lo r ere gangan je. If they tell him and he refuses to do something good, he should be urged to quickly do something good. Tell him time waits for nobody and it is he who uses profit well that can really 81 Volume 15, No. 3, July 2016 The African Symposium (ISSN# )

7 be called a beneficiary. (Oba Nla) Excerpt 10 is similar to 9. Like in 9, Osupa tries to establish that he has been prudent with his wealth and he indirectly refers to Pasuma to also invest his wealth. This again can be said to pract warning to Pasuma and superiority to Osupa. SELF GLORIFICATION: A device to create positive self representation by glorifying one s self. Excerpt 11 Eyin gan len ba Fuji je Fuji t ojo rin ni, agbo k ogbon ni, agbo mujo ni, orin ti gbogbo aye n gbadun leso di papangolo. Tiwon ban konri won ani lelele, lele, ooooo. Awa gan lan fo fuji mo fuji t ojo rin ni, agbo kogbon ni, agbo m ujo ni, orin ti gbogbo aye n feron kin sorin panpangolo. It is you that are spoiling Fuji which is a sensible and danceable song. It is a song that the whole world enjoys and not a childish brand of music. When they sing, they say lelele, lele, oooo. It is we that sanitize Fuji, which is a sensible and danceable music. It is a music that the whole world enjoys and not a childish music. (Akuko Omole, Kolokolo Okota) As seen in the excerpt above, Osupa exalts himself by claiming to be the sanitizer of Fuji while he ridiculously makes reference to Pasuma as the person who makes Fuji loses its value and make it childish. This reference is evident through the mentioning of lelele lele ooo which is a kind of sound associated to Pasuma and his band. This self glorification is evidently to pass superiority to himself and to ridicule Pasuma. Excerpt 12 Ekoko bami dupe l owo Jibola, oti ra Navigator, Saheed Osupa. T ori Alabi Pasuma Jibola, mowa j owu Saheed moti koko ra navigator t ele, mowa da pada s America mo wa sodi Hummer. Osupa Hummer mi nbo, gbogbo yin a fojuri, mafi Hummer yen s ile ni First of all, help me thank Jibola; he has bought navigator. Because of Alabi Pasuma Jibola I became envious, I had earlier bought Navigator, I had to send it back to America to change it to Hummer. Osupa my Hummer will soon arrive and I shall be opening my house with it. (Combination) The excerpt above is an obvious attempt to glorify one s self. Mentioning openly that he had to return his own Navigator on the ground that Pasuma had got one and changing it to Hummer which supposedly is a better and more expensive vehicle is a clear attempt to display superiority. The self glorification is further evident in the announcement of his house which perhaps was nearing completion at that time. Conclusion This study is a confirmation of the fact that the language of music generally, and that of Fuji in particular, is always ideologically laced. An earlier study by Sunday (2011) has examined the crisis of Fuji ownership between Barrister and Kollingnton. This study however adds that since this feuding duo faced out, artistic craftsmanship and material possessions have been another basis for ideological clashes among the younger Fuji musicians. Using the theoretical instruments of critical discourse analysis and pragmatic acts, the study reveals that Saheed Osupa directly and indirectly constructs the ideology of superiority and domination to his all-time rival, Pasuma. This domination is always in terms of being artistically more endowed and materially more successful than Pasuma. As a further study, the author suggests a comparative study of the music of the two artistes in terms of confrontations to each other or a study of Pasuma s reactions to Osupa s self-constructed superiority. 82 Volume 15, No. 3, July 2016 The African Symposium (ISSN# )

8 References Aduonum, A. (1980). A compilation, analysis and adaptation of selected Ghanaian folktale songs for use in the elementary general class. Ph.D. dissertation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. Akpan, W. (2006). And the beat goes on? Popular music censorship in Africa. Eds. Drewett, M and Cloonan, M. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited. Mey, J. L. (2001): Pragmatics: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell. Odebunmi, A. (2006). Meaning in English: An introduction. Ogbomosho: Critical spheres. Odejobi, C.O. (2014). Yorùbá indigenous folksongs as a veritable source for revitalizing moral education among pre-school children in Osun State of Nigeria. International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies. Vol. 9 No. 4, pp Olagunju, A.O. (1997). Orin as a means of expressing world views among the Yoruba. Journal of Yoruba folklore. Vol.2. Ago Iwoye. Ogun state University press. Sunday, A.B. (2011). Verbal assault in Fuji music: The case of Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and Kollington Ayinla. Journal of Pragmatics. 43: van Dijk T. A.(2004a). Politics, ideology and discourse. Retrieved from Wodak, R. (2001). The discourse-historical approach. In R. Wodak, & M. Meyer (Eds). Methods of critical discourse analysis. London: Sage. Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Author Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose ganibamgbose@gmail.com Lagos State Polytechnic Ikorodu, Lagos 83 Volume 15, No. 3, July 2016 The African Symposium (ISSN# )