Some intellect dude once said; “There is nothing but comparison that makes people happy or miserable.” And I’m not in any way trying to make anyone feel miserable, after all maybe entertainment isn’t our thing, we (Kenyans) were meant to be famers and pastrolists 🙂
Anyway back to serious matters, I’d like to pick Nigeria for our comparison since they’re Africa’s best so far.
The country attained its independence 3years (1960) ahead of Kenya and they also had the same challenges we’re currently facing in our film & music industry, in fact theirs was much worse.
According to “Film Makers and Film Making in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects” by Augustine Ufua Enahora:
Film distribution and exhibition in Nigeria were in foreign hands and foreigners decide the films to be screened in Nigerian theatres. They screened very old films that they bought at a give-away prices and the core of their politics was to discourage indigenous film production. The films were of Western and Indian cultures and styles. The Nigerian film audience was conditioned by these styles and found it difficult to appreciate Nigerian films. This perpetual presence of Western aesthetics influenced not only the film goers, but had adverse effects on the film makers. Films screened in Nigerian theatres by that time neglected their educational philosophy, its goals and objectives, there institutional framework and cultural background. The foreigners created social and psychological problems.
Well, that was in the late 80’s, to be precise 1989. Today, Nigeria’s movie industry grosses US$200m-US$300m a year in revenues and actually Nollywood has become the embodiment of the country’s soft power, employing about a million people.
On music matters, less than a decade ago Nigerian airwaves were dominated by international songs, and most club DJs had to ensure that the majority of tracks on their playlists were foreign records or risk the loss of an audience. MTV hardly played African music and Nigerian artists earned peanuts relative to the amounts they command today. In recent times however, this trend is reversed as club DJs and TV stations have their tracks dominated by local records.
I think we all can relate to the above paragraph, and that’s why I’m asking;Is there still hope for Kenya’s Entertainment Industry?, Will this “stupid” trend of ours be reversed? Anyway We can only wish for the best.
Feel free to leave your interesting comment below.
