Music video controversy in Nigeria: Logos Olori misreads a religious time bomb

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Recently, Logos Olori – a Nigerian singer who is signed to Afrobeats superstar Davido’s music label – released a video with supposedly Muslim men dancing to his song Jaye Lo in front of a mosque.

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The Conversation

URL:

https://theconversation.com/music-video-controversy-in-nigeria-logos-olori-misreads-a-religious-time-bomb-210743

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

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Geotags:

NIGERIA, AFRICA, GHANA

Summary

Key Points:

Recently, Logos Olori – a Nigerian singer who is signed to Afrobeats superstar Davido’s music label – released a video with supposedly Muslim men dancing to his song Jaye Lo in front of a mosque.
After an outcry, the controversial video had to be taken down by Davido because it sparked the ire of Muslims in Nigeria.
There were public burnings of Davido’s image on posters in the Muslim north and fervent calls to have him remove the video.

Religious tensions

Nigeria, a largely Muslim-dominated country, has been plagued by religious conflicts in contemporary times.
The religious uprising, which resulted in thousands of deaths, was an attempt to impose a “purer” version of Islam.
The country is governed by powerful religious sentiments – both Islamic and Christian – that make it, at most times, ultra-conservative.

Freedom of expression

A sophisticated way of assessing the Logos Olori controversy is to state that it’s about the right to freedom of expression.
But on the streets, it’s often unveiled as a tussle to establish “purer” standards of religious practice.

Art or gimmick?

But there is also a larger question; is this really art or a lowbrow attention-seeking gimmick?
But young African-American women who twerked atop the Elmina Castle in Ghana were criticised for bringing the slave dungeon into disrepute.
In the elevation of the risqué and the substituting of art with entertainment there is also a blurring of the distinction between the sacred and the profane.
In my view, Logos Olori’s portrayal wasn’t conceived as a piece of art but a gimmick (and perhaps a form of cultural appropriation) that ultimately backfired.

The common good

Most entertainment clearly isn’t art and the limits of individual rights and freedoms are often defined by the effects they have on the common good and social cohesion.
For a polity as diverse as Nigeria in ethnic, cultural, religious and political terms, the issue of freedom of expression and individual liberties in relation to the common good has been problematic.
And for the good of all, it’s better we take heed.