Examining the Roles and Contributions of Evergreen Music in Archiving Nigerian Music

Abstract

This study focused on the roles and contributions of Evergreen Music Company in the archiving and documentation of music in Nigeria. It is observed that there is paucity of literature on archiving of Nigeria popular music. This underscores the need for this study. In carrying out this study, oral interviews, and available literature were utilised as sources of data. Respondents were selected from the staff of Evergreen Music Company. The study revealed that Late Mr. Femi Esho, the founding chairman of the Evergreen Musical Company, out of passion, started collecting several Nigerian popular music. Today, the company invariably owns the largest collection of Nigerian music of yesteryears. The study also highlighted the need for preservation of musical heritage and discussed the processes, challenges and importance of archiving music. Music archiving studies and activities should be encouraged by both public and private institutions as a way of promoting National heritage. Government at all levels and concerned citizens should provide adequate funding for researches into Nigerian music practices, especially in music archiving and documentation in order to have them documented and archived for future use.