Southern Nigeria's Music Voice "Ark" releases new video

Jan. 19, 2011 - PRLog -- South South Nigeria has finally found a musical voice. Welcome to the world of Ark aka South-South Boy, an artist who has thrived despite the deprivation and pain associated with growing up in the troubled Niger Delta region of the country. This pain he has expressed in his new video entitled Malaria.

“Its all about the malaria effect. Nigeria has the heaviest burden of malaria in Africa despite our huge revenue. This is similar to the plight of the oil producing communities with respect to the level of infrastructure in their communities.”
The Malaria music video captures the level of poverty in the country. It juxtaposes pictures of affluence with extreme poverty.

“My objective is to tell the story from different perspectives. I brought three kids who grew up in three different communities and together we painted a perfect picture. We had to ride though the communities and highlight different attractions from the regular streets to the so-called militant community. A lot of people have created a perspective that is not representative of the community and it hurts.
It was also necessary to send a word to the people. If they can see how far I have come, they will look at their situation and remain positive. Inspiration is the word.”

Ark’s musical career was launched in 2001. He grew up listening to rap music which he credits for his spoken english. Drawing a lot of inpiration from his love for the genre and the power of music in the community, he launched a solo musical career.

“I listened to lots of artists like Tupac and his expression of his community in his music was something I admired. My Dad taught me to care about my community and I realized that I could drive a lot more If I spoke to them through my music.”
The basic challenges we face as artists is managing the expectation of our Record Labels. The record companies are businesses and the continuous evaluation of productivity which is profit in simple english, leaves little or no room for emphassis on the art. I decided to incorporate my own record label in 2004 so I would be able to focus on my art  and that was the birth of Hilton Records”
The Malaria video is an illustration of Hilton Record’s commitment to Ark’s message. The Record company’s estimated budget of 3.45million Naira on a street music video is unheard of in the Nigerian music community. The hiring of a mack heavy cargo truck for a single set shot and the hiring of an helicopter for the Niger Delta community shots, provide an insight to the value that the Record Label has put on Ark’s Music project.

The masked out community center and market is an indication of the pain that exists in communities contantly under the threat of millitant and millitary invasion. The video also highlights the environmental degradation, community conflicts and poverty that is characteritic of the rural cummunities in the South-South Zone of Nigeria.

The Video which was produced by AJE films has a monotone feel and a multi flick transitional feel. The video boasts a film feel uncommon with Nigerian produced videos. The ability to obtained this picture quality from a regular panasonic camera is an indication of the technical ability present in the Nigerian music video production industry.

Malaria also boasts a rarely found inspirational rich lyrical content. The track is off Ark’s Double Disc album entitled “All Love - The diary of a South South Boy”.
With a due date of third quarter 2011 and we are confident of an interesting musical year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIbvemFWACs&playnext=1&lis...