CNN’s Africa Avant-Garde explores Nigerian music’s evolution with Adekunle Gold and Teni the Entertainer

In the latest edition of CNN’s Africa Avant-Garde, the programme explores Nigerian music, meeting singer-songwriters Adekunle Gold and Teniola Apata, known to her fans as Teni the Entertainer.

Apata talks about the current African music scene and its growing popularity, “Africa right now is a hot spot for music. The whole world is looking at Africa and I’m really excited that I am a part of this generation and also to be a part of the people who push the music to the rest of the world.”

Within this category of African music, Nigerian music is unique. Gold talks about this individuality, “Nigeria has a distinct music style. Our music is different. Nigeria itself in its entirety, I don’t even know how to describe it, but we have any kind of genre you can think about.”

Apata and Gold discuss the themes of their music. Apata believes in positivity and feels Nigerian music conveys this well, “My music and African music is just letting people know that we’re happy people. Nigerians are one of the most happiest people in the world. No matter what we are going through, we still find a way to be happy. Our music contains a lot of joy because we just want to have fun.”

Conversely, Gold uses his music to talk about the problems facing society in an effort to find solutions, “Right now I’m talking about black struggle and I’m working on a project that’s really talking about black struggle and pain that comes with having this skin colour, and then the oppression we face in the world.”

Both stars believe that it is important to inspire younger generations to tell their stories through music. Gold tells CNN, “We have a lot of people who should write messages about Africa. I feel like more young people need to follow suit.”

Apata hopes that her music and her story will motivate more young people to follow their dreams, “I just want to preach the gospel of love and just show the world that a young girl from Africa can come beat the odds and thrive and help other young girls and other young boys believe in themselves and stand up for something.”