Charles Eno Post #2

Applaudise is a song by Nigeria artist, Iyanya. The title of the song “applaudise” means “applause” in Pidgin-English, a language spoken throughout Nigeria, Cameroon and much of West Africa. The lyrics of the song are also in Pidgin-English, which for the most part should be universally comprehensible to English speakers. The song reflects on the values and proceedings of an Ekoi wedding, showing the proceedings and events that take place during the wedding. The music video begins with Iyanya, the artist, complimenting and wooing a girl he’s interested in. He makes promises to her as to what will happen if she was to marry him. Originally, her parents really disagree with the union and want her to be with someone more traditional because they consider Iyanya to be too famous and involved with media. In the video, shes constantly on the phone with him and disobeys her parents request to stop seeing him. This is a struggle among many Africans, especially parents these days as they struggle to uphold traditional values in an ever-changing world. They end up in an interview with a news network in which they express their disagreement, saying that they don’t approve of the engagement. The girl retaliates by appearing on a T.V music video with Iyanya, showing that the two are a couple. Her father is silently impressed by the video but keeps it to himself because his wife still doesn’t approve of it. In the next scene, they have their traditional wedding. In many African cultures these days, a couple has a traditional and western wedding. Her parents surprise them by appearing at the wedding and giving them their blessings. The traditional wedding encompasses a series of traditions which confirm the couple’s union in accordance to traditional values and shows reverence to chieftaincy, while the white wedding shows more western perceptions of marriage. This shows the current state of African society as we balance both traditional values and western values.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=178&v=aqE0299oEvQ