Want some quality music? Just take a step back in time!

Recently, I had a winding argument with some friends. No, it had nothing to do with favorite soccer clubs, the best supercars or even money. The substance of the argument was concerned with music.

If you were to find yourself in East Africa at this time, your musical diet would consist of Dancehall Reggae in the rural areas. In an urban area, you would most likely listen to some bubblegum rap or electro-house.

Go ahead and ask the average twenty-something year old who their favorite musician is. The answers would most likely comprise names such as Rihanna, Wiz Khalifa, Lady Gaga or Gotye. The teenager would more often than note chose Kenyan hip hop sensation, Camp Mulla.

It is yours truly’s taste that leaves his contemporaries confounded. Scroll through my playlists, and you will find artistes, acts and genres that have long since gone out of vogue. I listen to musicians and performers such as: Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, MC Hammer, The Journey, Queen, Guns n’ roses and Prince. My buddies just cannot fathom why someone born at very dusk of the 80s would be listening to music belonging to genres that are struggling to stay relevant, or are already extinct. They cannot understand while I do not identify with “urbane swagger”.

I try to assure them that I do not consider myself particularly bohemian. It is that I do not see any art in singing about women, cars, money and smoking Marijuana. I love music with complex melodic and structures and compelling lyrics.to be more succinct I believe most of the music made from 2000 onwards is inferior to that made earlier.

At this point, you may already be alarmed. But let’s take a journey back in time. During the classical era (Mid 1700 to early 1800s), most composers made music for prominent members of society: Kings and Queens, Cardinals and Archbishops, and other members of European High Society. These people had access to the best education that included lessons in music appreciation. They had refined tastes that needed equally refined music to sate their appetites. Composers thus came up with material that had complex structures with a complex audience in mind. There were contrasting melodies, harmonious key changes and change in moods: the kind of music enlightened mind would identify with. Their audiences had the aptitude for challenging music, and did the composers deliver!

Still on the trail of music history, let us cross over to the Americas. Songs about hope for emancipation had been carried down from one generation of slaves to another. The angst and emotional feel, coupled with a touch of African Rhythm, had already spawned a genre then known as Negro spirituals. It is the confluence of classical music and African elements that contributed to most of the genres that arose in the twentieth century. There is rock n’ roll, jazz, funk, blues and later hip hop.

Going back to my argument, I believe the golden age of modern music was from the late 70s to early 80s.Musicians could actually play instruments; the lyrical content was top notch as well. Some even performed with full live orchestras! There was a deliberate effort to have a maximum impact on listeners. The hippie movement in the late 60s to 70s had put art on a pedestal, as a channel for human expression. There was a demand for quality work; songwriters and performers delivered. Just how many people do you believe, are of the opinion that the following are not the best compositions of all time: “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, “Stairway To Heaven” by Led Zeppelin”, “Purple Rain” by Prince or “November Rain” by Guns n’ Roses?

Fast forward to the 21^st century. Along came glamour, flashiness and yes, shallowness. Synthesized beats and use of auto tune are all the rage now. True, there have been some fantastic productions in recent times; but most are characterized by shameless display of wealth, disrespect for women and above all, lack any intellectual spine.

The fast pace of 21^st century life does not help matters either. Hardly does anyone sit down to listen to entire albums, just for the sake of it anymore. Nowadays, music is something you listen to while working out, writing a boring business report, or while falling asleep in a bus.

Music appreciation is at an all-time low. Target audiences just cannot figure out complex music. Naturally, musicians have gravitated towards the easier route: sampling material from the 70s and 80s, adding a modern touch and a danceable beat, and voila, there’s a hit! These hit songs however have a short lifespan in the charts. I can bet that after 2 or 3 years most are hardly listened to anymore. Compare that to hits from the 70s and 80s which still have a place in people’s hearts and minds.

To be more direct, it is my opinion that the decline in quality of music can be attributed to the inability of patrons to appreciate and understand music that requires talent to compose and perform. As such, they are easily excitable by material of an inferior quality. A sad story indeed. The solution? Just travel back to earlier times!