Creator Content - Podcast, Comedy... music

What is Comedy Poetry Music?

Music is a universal language and as such is not unlimited by the creativity that can be applied to the craft. There are about forty-one primary genres and more than three hundred sub-genres with new sub-genres emerging every other day without any restriction.

Of all the categories available, Comedy and Poetry are one of the oldest. They are not quite popular because they only appease a particular type of audience. Elements of these two categories are often incorporated into other genres and they are always quite a great complement.

The relationship between music and poetry is an agelong one and because of the number of similarities they share, they are often confused for each other. Amongst the number of similarities they share, they both use words and a rhyme pattern and are also forms of expression. They also always have a theme; love, life, romance, and death are one of the most popular themes.

Poetry and music can blend so well but because there are many different forms of both, not all forms can blend with music and vice versa.

While poems express and address a particular subject or theme, sparking up feelings or emotions, and also helping you appreciate the beauty of language. Music does the same but with the extra objective of memorizing or familiarising a rhythm, harmony, melody or lyrics as the case may be.

Comedy music started in the first century in ancient Greek and Rome and continued to evolve over years. It was not until 1922 that one of the first comedy hits titled 'Yes! We Have No Bananas' sung by Eddie Cantor was released. The record was written by Irving Cohn and Frank Silver. Eddie Cantor who doubled as a comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter is recognized as one of the legends of this genre.

In the 1940s an American musician known as Spike Jones refreshed the genre with a new style by introducing amusing sound effects. The following decades will see a rise in the scene with a number of comedy artists whose careers spanned a period of more than ten long years. Allan Sherman, Frank Zappa, Tiny Tim, and Randy Newman are some of the most popular names who rocked the comedy industry in the 1960s and 1970s.

The year 1970 saw the rise of sixteen-year-old 'Weird Al' Yankovic who was first given a platform by radio host Dr Demento who would play songs sent in by upcoming artists.

Yankovic whose real name is Alfred Matthew released his first album, a self-titled project titled "Weird Al" Yankovic in 1983 and went on to sign a bumper fourteen-album recording contract. The obligations of the recording deal were fulfilled in 2014 with his last album, a twelve-track project titled Mandatory Fun. He has one of the most prolific discographies in the genre and can be considered a comedy legend.

Poetry and music are often intertwined and the use of both interchangeably brought to what is known today as a symphonic poem. A symphonic poem also known as a tone poem involves the infusion and use of simple orchestral sound to illustrate or narrate a poem.

One of the pioneers of this style is the Hungarian composer, Franz Liszt who released his first twelve series of compositions in the years 1848 and 1858. Liszt's main objective was to use his style to create an interaction between similar themes. He also wanted to be creative and create a remarkable effect on listeners so they can be able to imagine scenes and create imagery and different moods.

A number of very popular artists also doubled as poets and this was evident in their lyrics and how their songs were structured. John Lennon is a popular musician who was also a poet. A couple of years into his career, he released a number of projects in volumes and his poems were also very much evident in his music. Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison and rap legend, Tupac Shakur are also one of the most popular poets who are also musicians.

Explaining how he started rapping and how much influence writing poems had on his sound and creativity, Tupac explained in an interview in 1995 that he started turning his poems into music so he could make more impact and gain more traction for his records.

Today, a lot has changed with music but the influences still exist. In Nigeria, poetry is not really popular as a comedy but it has not entirely gone extinct. There are a number of stand-out spoken word albums; like Not for Sale by Shegzrhymz, Swim by Titilope Sonuga and The African Mind (Voem) by popular Nigeria rapper, Vector.

Popular African Comedy/Poetry Artists

1. MohaTheePoet
2. Shegzrhymz
3. Titilope Sonuga
4. Vector
5. Chigul
6. Broda Shaggi
7. Tolibian
8. Twyse Ereme
9. Josh 2Funny
10. Kenny Blaq

Comedy / Poetry songs and albums are online on Mdundo.com and are available for download in MP3.