Aging

Transcript

• 00:05

  He may be over 85 years old, but Fatai Rolling Dollaris still one of the most energetic artists in Nigeria.Each week, the sprightly octogenariantakes to the stage of Lagos to the delight of his fans.Much like he has done for the last six decades.Fatai is an icon of the music style known as high life.

• 00:27

  It's a genre whose golden age has passed, yet stillcontinues to inspire young artist.Fatai Rolling Dollar has been a kind of inspiration to me.Because just by his age, he's still playing.And also every time, he also advisesus to make sure that-- don't let this music die off.That we should keep on playing high life music.

• 00:48

  High life's survival is due in partto Fatai, whose comeback album a few years ago reignitedthe genre.The allure of modern hip hop has sucked in many younger fans,but Fatai says high life will always have its admirers.Hip hop is something like the time.It has its own time.When its time passes, everything goes away.

• 01:09

  But high life, we play.Because high life is the root of the music we are playing today.If you want to know a good musician,a good musician should know to play any instrument.Any instrument.A father to 15 children, the last just two years

• 01:31

  ago, the energetic artist has lost none of his enthusiasm.He confesses that it hasn't been easy on his pocket, however,but shows no sign of stepping out of the limelight.Only job done music in my life.If I stop, what can I eat?I can't eat anything again.God knows what will happen to me when I become very old.

• 01:55

  Because I'm not very old now.I'm still young.Young at heart, Fatai now has plansfor new music school for local children.And of course, another album.

The global increase in life expectancy over the course of the last 100 years has contributed to a steady increase in the number of people over the age of 65 years. Current trends suggest that by 2050, up to 25 percent of people living in industrialized nations will be over 65 years of age.

One consequence of this rapid demographic change is that aging has become the focus of increased research. While economic concerns may have driven this research, medical and social science disciplines have increasingly addressed a broad spectrum of questions specific to age-related conditions.

To date, however, there is only a relatively small body of research examining music in the context of aging. Music in human societies is complex, extremely diverse, and ubiquitous, and this discussion of music and aging is contextualized in the understanding that music is integral to individual lives from the developmental stage in utero, when the fetal auditory system becomes anatomically functional (24 weeks), until the time of death. While it is convenient to consider the entire human life span as consisting of a sequence of developmental stages, it is important to recognize that life is lived as a singular, cumulative construct across all stages of the life span.

Aging can be taken to refer to the stage in life when people have retired from their adult generative stages that are largely shaped by parenting, career building, and homemaking. The postparenting and postemployment period of adult life constitutes a significant change in life that Erik Erikson defined as the eighth stage of life characterized by reflection on and evaluation of the past. The consequences of such reflection can yield a sense of integrity or a sense of despair; however, the defining quality of this stage is wisdom. It is worth noting that aging is generally associated with reduced incidence of depression, there being a U-shaped curve in which depression peaks in the middle years and steadily returns later in life to a much lower incidence and prevalence, roughly equivalent to childhood levels. For most people living in industrialized nations, the postretirement stage will last 20 to 30 years and increasing attention is being given to optimizing health and well-being in this potentially vulnerable cohort.

...