No. 116/2024

What links music with plastic waste, emissions or oil leakages?The Nigerian Olusegun Stephen Titus explores just how protest songs can trigger re-thinking and help to achieve ecological sustainability. In 2011, Titus narrowly escaped a flood disaster. “My university in Nigeria was flooded, more than 100 people died.” The researcher, who just made it to safety, experienced the consequences of global warming at first hand. Since then, the musicologist has been intensively investigating how music can help to overcome ecological and social ills. “Music penetrates our subconscious. If you repeatedly sing a song that thematises environmental pollution, corruption or similar topics, it gets firmly fixed in your mind and changes your attitude,” he explains. Music cements problems and injustices in one’s memory, he believes, and thus helps to generate political pressure – just as it did in 2012 when the Nigerian government scrapped oil and gas subsidies and the prices rocketed. This led to nationwide protests that forced the government to rescind its measures. “There are more than 200 ethnic groups in Nigeria, but they were united by singing protest songs together. This brought about very robust resistance,” says Titus who is currently working on a book about music activism in Nigeria. The government is well aware of the power of music, he continues, putting pressure on singers and bands who disseminate protest songs and banning their songs on the radio and television. Nevertheless, critical songs reach a wide audience – via the internet, at concerts or parties. This gives Titus hope: “I encourage the musicians to raise awareness with their songs and to protest so that we can achieve ecological sustainability.” Text NORA LESSING Until September 2024, DR OLUSEGUN STEPHEN TITUS is working as a Georg Forster Fellow at the University of Konstanz. 7 HUMBOLDT KOSMOS 116/2024