By Wandoo Sombo
The Acting Director, Nigerian Army Band Corps, Lt.-Col. Michael Toriola, has called for the early identification and nurturing of talents in classical music to sustain the genre in Nigeria.
Toriola made the call in Abuja on Sunday while speaking at the annual classical music performance, tagged “Symphony and Belcanto”.
The event was organised by the Founder and Executive Director of Abba Music School and Studio, Abuja, Mrs Nana Gbolahan.
He said government and private organisations should invest in classical music from primary to tertiary levels to encourage young people interested in the genre.
According to him, depending on the area you are looking at it from, clasical music has its own audience and its audience patronise it anyday, anytime.
“Entertainment has a different vibe and when it comes to classical music, it’s a difficult and technical area of music that not everyone goes into.
“When you look at it from the government perspective, if you are not music oriented, you may not look into that direction but for the private organisation and private schools, they are doing so much to encourage classical music.
“Classical music is good, it is accepted by those who love it.
“Schools, from primary to tertiary institutions are encouraging it and are doing so well to discover talents in the country.
“As a matter of fact, the music is doing so well in the country and in Africa generally,” he said.
For her part, Gbolahan also agreed that classical music had its own audience and if one was not a scholar, they might not understand what classical music was all about.
“For the country to continue to thrive in classical music, you must catch them young, so that their imterest could be further developed in that area of music,” she said.
Gbolahan also called for greater government involvement in classical music, saying Nigeria had the potential to produce talents capable of attaining the world stage and winning laurels.
She said classical music was not something Nigerians were quite familiar with, but noted that the country could excel in the genre.
“I feel that as Nigerians and Africans, we possess the propencity to actually do exceedingly well in Classical music.
“You know as Nigerians, we do well anywhere we find ourselves and I know with classical music, we can excel and exceed and even do much better than the people who thought they brought the classical music.
“Government involvement is needed in classical music and in every other area because government is for the people, so, anything that concerns your people, particularly, those things that will benefit them, government should be involved in.
“If there is anything that will make your people smarter, more intelligent and bring them to the world stage, why wouldn’t the government invest in it,” she said.(NAN) www.nannews.ng
Edited by Funmilayo Adeyemi