Skalled is even hotter in My Favorite Song, which was published earlier than Hitsakile, on March 5, 2015. The frenzy in this song is not diminished at all by the fact that it runs for just (for all of) 2:49 (precious) minutes, which is a little more than one minute shorter than the typical single, by my reckoning.
Skalled is both teasing and naughty here, and full of zest. Her act is high-grade. She's just so super talented, and so bubbly and so self-confident. A true African Diva, if you ask me. But, with only 7,182 views so far, she's obviously not getting the attention she deserves from mostly parochial audiences whose tastes continue to be reinforced by equally parochial TV channels in Sub-Sahara.
Here's a not-so-easy-to-come-by 'find', as far as the African pop music scene goes. Skalled is Mozambican -- a country that's off the beaten path, so to speak -- which just goes to show that talent is sprouting all over the continent, even as most of us remain firmly 'local' (and ironically 'foreign' as well) -- in our musical tastes.
HITSAKILE (which features Zico and Uhuru) is a super hit, is what I'm saying. Skalled's is a captivating, endearing voice. I think I see that it'll endure. She'll be around 'sum'. The dancing, by all who dance here, is a treat to the discerning eye. All that sure-footed, quick-foot maneuvering!
The video was released only on November 20, 2015. It has 5,500 views so far.
Talking Music: Everywhere I turn these days, it seems, I bump into one Kenyan talent after another. It's like they're all coming out of hiding -- saying enuf, so to speak, to all the hiding they've been getting from all 'und' sundry. Out of the woodwork. A new song in hand, y'all. Yes, to prove a point -- seems like.
What a handful, my friends, this end of year!
So here's a one in the hand: Tuliza Nyavu Remix (released in October 2015, with 8,544 views to-date). It'srap (+) music by four super "plaiahs": Two new (2 me, if u like) and two 'old hands' (something like that, pardonne-moi): Kaa La Moto and Vivonce (both new), King Kaka and Sulumila (old, already!).
Yes, this is rap, but not, with Vivonce, as undiluted a fare as one all too often fears one will have to endure these days. Four (+) minutes (and even if only 4) are a lifetime now, in these harried lifestyles we're doomed into -- domed in.
Vivonce is the undisputed heart and soul of this party. Bubbly, effervescent, game-changing Vivonce! She cuts up the rap into lovely portions, and throws into this mostly male mantra of a thing a lustful and vivacious voce. With a calm and collected hand! Huyu dame hatishiki!
The instrumentation is workmanlike, and does the job. Doesn't let anyone down, at all. The video is very thoughtfully done, though the images of Nairobi city seen here have some kind of apocalyptic ring. Still, all around goodness,
Take a listen:
Wangu, released in July 2015, is super cool music by two of Africa's leading artistes, Donald and Diamond Platnumz. The two are like brothers. Like twins almost.
Really nice to hear, and to watch, this song. The beat's evergreen. The dance moves are a delight. This tastefully produced piece is surely going to be everyone's favorite. A classic in the making, then.
Yvonne Darcq (YDQ) urges all of us who care to listen: "Don't start a fire, huwezi zima!" [Don't start a fire you can't (huwezi) put out (zima)]. Mmmm. That's zima, not Zuma, OK? Fire is a surprisingly 'high-definition' song, visually and aurally. 'Dropped' only on December 3, 2015 -- just under two weeks ago -- it has 1,914 views so far. I think this number will rise steadily as more and more folks tune it.
A confession: I didn't think much of YDQ in Ooh Lala Oui Oui, a song she released earlier this year with the talented and hard-working Diva, Victoria Kimani. But Fire, something of a controlled blast, is a pleasant discovery, from the very start. It forces a reassessment of the earlier song by the likes of me. Bravo!
YDQ thus joins the Legion from the East which seems poised to stealthily offer a refreshing alternative to the Nigerian juggernaut, while South African artistes seemingly continue, in the main, to grope in the dark for a winning genre.
A strong eastern counter-force to the Nigerian wave can only enrich African music overall, don't you think. It may, indeed, prompt the Nigerians to reach even higher than then so far have.
I think I see early signs that we're about to reach a musical critical mass -- to witness a burst of awesome creativity in all directions -- here in Africa. Waiting with bated breath.
But we do need about 50 or so actively creative sorts from Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda to have the effect I have in mind. That is, fifty or so artistes each releasing 3 or 4 singles each year.
Here's contemplating George Bellows' Cliff Dwellers of NYC's Lower East Side: A steeper, more sheer and more austere cliff-side dwelling is hard to come by. This is totally unlike the Bonde Cliff I know. And yet there's an unmistakable poesy in this sweeping visual menagerie, a sunny ambience of a kind. Some sort of pent-up communal energy all over the air, and all the place. Tell-tale pixels of premature decay amid all that optimistic acceptance of things; of things as they appear to be right now. Of an invisible time-piece which routes and re-routes every desire, 'watches' all movement. Not visible, though, is any amount of sticky raw earth. Nor the hand of the glass-maker. Nor Batman's cape.
