Insidious eroticism in musical performances of Saint Janet

Abstract

From euphemism to dysphemism, the Nigerian popular music industry has enjoyed the patronage of the masses aided by the various virtual communities in the propagation of its message of eroticism. Unlike many Nigerian popular music artistes who are aggressive in their erotica performances, Saint Janet is a creative music artiste whose adoption of insidious eroticism knows no bound. With the use of ethnographic techniques (key-informant interview and participant observation), this article discusses the insidious eroticism used in Saint Janet's music. The paper argues that the Christian religious background of the artiste and the need to fulfil her daily needs have been the factors responsible for her insidious creativity. Socio-cultural themes such as didactic, religious, therapeutic, entertainment are part of her techniques in entrapping her audience in her web of eroticism. Subtly, both the young and old are lured into her erotica performances. The paper also argues that parody has been her major compositional technique with emphasis on the reconstruction of several Juju gospel music.