美語情景對話 第988期:Music in Nigeria 尼日利亞音樂

Todd: So Abidemi, you're from Nigeria. Can you talk a little bit about the music scene in your country?

託德：阿比德米，你來自尼日利亞。你能介紹一下尼日利亞樂壇嗎？

Abidemi: Yes. Nigeria is just amazing now in terms of music and even in the past we've had and we still do have great music, great musicians. We love to party just as much as we love to eat, there's nothing that Nigerians loves more than parties. We love to have a good time. So of course, music plays an important role in that. One of the music that we have now is like fusion. A mix of old traditional Nigerian music and instruments with more Western Hip Hop, R&B kind of sound and even reggae and Jamaican music and some Spanish too mixing with it.

阿比德米：可以。尼日利亞的音樂非常精彩，尼日利亞以前有偉大的音樂和音樂家，當然現在也是如此。我們喜歡派對，就像我們喜歡美食一樣。沒有比派對更讓尼日利亞人喜歡的了。我們喜歡享受美好時光。當然，音樂在這當中發揮着重要的作用。現在尼日利亞盛行的其中一種音樂形式是合成音樂。就是將尼日利亞傳統音樂和樂器與西方的嘻哈音樂、R&B音樂、甚至是雷鬼樂、牙買加音樂和西班牙音樂混合在一起。

Todd: Oh wow, that sounds like a nice mix.

託德：哇哦，聽起來是種不錯的混合。

Abidemi: It is actually and because we love to dance as well, it's something that you can move your body to, you can dance to, and also some ballads as well, that makes people think. In the past, Nigerian artists were either they sang traditional songs which they sang in the languages that we had in Nigeria or they sang in English for the most part because we do have many languages. So if you want to reach a wider audience, you needed to sing in English. But these days the interesting thing is many people are mixing.

阿比德米：沒錯，因爲我們也喜歡跳舞，所以這種音樂可以讓身體跟隨節奏舞動，當然也可以混合民謠樂。以前，尼日利亞音樂家或者用尼日利亞的各種語言演唱傳統歌曲，或者在大多數情況下用英語演唱歌曲，因爲我們有很多種語言。如果你想擴大聽衆羣，那就需要用英語演唱。不過最近許多人開始混合使用語言。

Todd: Oh, nice.

託德：哦，不錯。

Abidemi: They will sing a little bit in English as well as in their ... mostly in their native language which makes for very interesting mixes because then people that do understand that language, it attracts them to it. And it becomes more our own thing in our own country.

阿比德米：歌詞裏會有一些英語，不過大部分都是母語，這會創造出非常有意思的混合，人們在理解了歌詞以後，就會被歌曲所吸引。這成爲了我們國家獨有的特色。

Todd: So what are the languages that are mixed with English?

託德：通常會將哪些語言和英語混合使用？

Abidemi: For example in my region, I speak Yoruba, so Yoruba, they use a lot of Yoruba. They use Igbo language too, it's from the southeastern part of Nigeria. And there's also Pidgin, Pidgin is a kind of ... it's Nigerian English or ... I know in other parts of west Africa they use Pidgin as well. But it's more like slangy English, I would say. So there's a mixture of that. So the music becomes more Africanized, Nigerianized, if that's a word. So it makes it much more our own thing and people enjoy it. Yeah, and it's really good. So new artists now, they're doing that and one of the results of that is it's more accessible actually to people that are not Nigerians. So a lot of people download Nigerian music from YouTube. For example, there's D'Banj. He's an artist that's gone over to the United States and he sings with Kanye.

阿比德米：我家鄉說約魯巴語，所以歌詞裏會使用很多約魯巴語。當然也會使用伊格博語，這是尼日利亞東南部地區使用的一種語言。另外還有皮欽語，這相當於尼日利亞式英語，我知道西非一些地區也使用皮欽語。這種語言更像是充滿俚語的英語。人們會混合使用語言。這樣音樂就會更加非洲化和尼日利亞化。這使音樂充滿了尼日利亞色彩，所以人們很喜歡。當然這樣做也很好。現在的一些新晉音樂人都會這麼做，這種做法的其中一個結果就是使音樂更易被尼日利亞以外的人所接受。有許多人在優兔網上下載尼日利亞音樂。比如D'Banj這名音樂人，他打入了美國市場，而且和坎耶合作了歌曲。

Todd: Oh, wow!

託德：哇哦！

Abidemi: Yeah, and some big top Hip Hop artist in the United States. There was a guy who they used one of his songs in one of the American — Black American movies in the States as well.

阿比德米：對，他還和一些美國頂級嘻哈音樂人進行了合作。一部美國黑人電影使用了另一名尼日利亞音樂人的歌曲。

Todd: Oh, cool!

託德：真酷！

Abidemi: And he got a lot of exposure through that. So our artist are, yeah, they become more more famous it seems like. And they're leading other areas of Africa too.

阿比德米：這名音樂人也因此增加了曝光率。可以說，我們國家的音樂人現在越來越出名。他們領先於非洲其他地區的音樂人。

Todd: Well I'll be sure to put some YouTube clips up with the interview so people can check it out.

託德：我一定會把優兔網上的視頻片段和這段採訪一起放到網站上，這樣人們就能欣賞音樂了。

Abidemi: Please do.

阿比德米：請這麼做吧。

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重點講解：
1. play a role in 在……發揮作用；
例句：They played a shameful role in this farce.
他們在這場鬧劇中扮演了可恥的角色。
2. for the most part 大部分；多半；通常；
例句：For the most part the defaults given should be suitable.
大多數情況下，默認選擇最爲妥當。
3. be sure to do sth. (事情的發生)一定，必然；
例句：With over 80 beaches to choose from, you are sure to find a place to lay your towel.
有 80 多個海灘可供選擇，你一定能找到一處滿意的。