Nigeria, Aug. 4 -- I listened to St Janet just as I listened to Fela's Na Poi. I have always loved creativity in all its forms, just as I cherish freedom. My instinct is to let people create, speak, sing and imagine as they wish, provided they do no harm to others. I have always been an admirer of the free spirit. Civilisation advances not merely through conformity but through those willing to push boundaries.

St Janet's passing has provoked intense debate. The moralists never accepted her. Many religious people could not stand her. Yet she commanded an enormous following among ordinary people, while many who publicly claimed refined tastes quietly listened to and enjoyed her music in private.

That contradiction is as old as society its...