Sierra Leone music fans, promoters and musicians took to social media to appreciate a Nigerian disc jockey – DJ Neptune, for what they described as ‘unprecedented prominence’ of Salone music in any nightclub.

The Nigerian DJ was invited to Decode Nightclub in Freetown, where he rocked the club with 90% Salone sounds, something many believe, has never happened before.

Over the years, DJs have been blamed for giving prominence to foreign music over Sierra Leonean music. This snub in Salone music destroyed the taste and value of Salone music for a very long time, especially the nightclubs. The excuses many Sierra Leonean DJs give for not playing Salone music ranges from Artists disrespecting DJs, to not appreciating them, to satisfying their audience (who they claim appreciate foreign music Salone music). The list is endless. And our music has suffered in the hands of some of our DJs, irrespective of the emerging social media proliferations or foreign sounds.

The trend of snubbing Salone music is also prevalence in many radio stations, public and private events across the country. Few DJs have been outstanding in promoting Salone music good, whether paid for or not.

From this backdrop, the audience at the Decode Nightclub where shocked on Friday night to learn that they could dance to Salone music for over 3 hours courtesy of a non-Sierra Leonean DJ. The least they could do is to hail him for his professionalism and masterclass to awakening the spirit of nationalism and patriotism in us.

Neptune is in Freetown as a special guest in the Housemate Salone 3 reality TV show, where he is expected to party tonight. All thanks to Ellen Keister and others for taking him to Decode Nightclub last night to explore Sierra Leonean sounds, which he did.

This is a wake up call for more Salone DJs to join the bandwagon to prioritize Salone music.

There have several reactions on social media by prominent entertainers:

 

Source: Vertex Media