The Culture Specific Application of Sound in Nigerian Video Movies

Abstract

Nigerian video movies an important urban popular culture, have in recent times become a major object of attraction in terms of artistry, patronage and socio-economic values. The success of this industry could not have been complete without the inputs from scriptwriters, actors, film makers sound engineers and the musicians, who supply the needed music. This paper critically examines the use of sound( both musical and non musical) in Nigeria's video based movie industry, with a view to identifying its nature and functionality vis-à-vis the culture milieu. The need for relevant music led to the rise of video movie music composers like Tope Alabi and Shola Allison. The culture specific character of sound in the movies generally include background score, dialogue, songs, noise, sound expressing emotion and silence. However, there is still need to improve the sound quality of the movies by employing veritable sound designers.

Nigerian Music Review Vol.5 2004: 51-61