Explore music as a universal language that helps manage emotional stress – Artiste

Augustine Adigwe, an upcoming artiste, on Monday emphasised the need for Nigerians to see music as a universal language that provides capacity for people to cope with emotional conflicts.

Adigwe, a gospel musician with the stage name “Austin Adigwe”, disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent on Monday in Lagos.

Adigwe, who started his music career in 2019 and has released 11 singles online, reiterated that music is a language of the soul that increases self-awareness and encourages coexistence.

“Music is a universal language, it does not discriminate, it is not a respecter of status, ethnicity or religion.”

“That is why you find an Igbo man singing Yoruba music.”

“If you speak the language to him, he may not understand, but if it is musically served, he will not reject it but dance and make effort to understand it,” he said.

He added that music was created for every occasion, situation and takes away the invincible burden and pains that comes from too much anxiety as well as gives a soft landing that inspires hope.

According to him, people who go for gym listen to music to support the process as well as those going through healing process in the hospital play music for support, adding that if music is taking out they would loose hope and slide into depression.

He said that music also inspires negatives if you listen to the wrong music because information that would be internalised has a way of influencing character.

“When you listen to the right song at the right moment you will realise that music heals, it helps to overcome depression and it inspires.”

“If you are the one that listens to violent lyrics in music, you can behave violently and if you are the type that listens to Gospel lyrics in music, you will be cautious to avoid conflict.”

“You will even want to live by the spirit and tenets of the lyrics of the songs,” he said.

He appealed to government to sustain its quest for creating enabling environment for the entertainment industry and make it thrive, adding that the industry has contributed immensely to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

The artiste also advised young people not to depend on government for employment, but to identify their talents and develop them to be self-employed and be employers of labour.

Adigwe said the industry could also create more jobs, especially for Nigerian youths, if properly harnessed.