Prince Nico Mbarga's Sweet Mother

As a musician, Prince Nico Mbarga (1950-1997) is best remembered for one great song: Sweet Mother. The song is perhaps better known, by those who've heard it, than the singer. It is even so rarely heard nowadays that most of those who have heard it in the past probably forget having done so, until they hear it again. What's more, it is probably the case that few if any of those who know it remember who sang it. Regardless, Sweet Mother is, veritably, an African classic; and he, Prince Nico Mbarga, an icon.

So, who was he? Briefly: he was born in 1950, as already indicated, in colonial Nigeria. His mother was a Nigerian and his father a Cameroonian. He lived mostly on the Nigerian side of the border, but could not shed the pull and richness of his dual nationality. Nor is there any indication that he ever wanted to (See Map of Nigeria and Cameroon). 

READ MORE: About Prince Nico Mbarga


Here is the audio of Sweet Mother (ever heard it?):

And here are the lyrics:

Waka Waka, Shakira and the Art of the Blockbuster Song

Year 2010 was a watershed for Africa on several levels. South Africa hosted FIFA World Cup, bringing that global event to Africa for the very first time. That truly festive tournament was of course made more memorable by the ever-present Vuvuzela, which showed just how the 'blow' of an inconspicuous thing could cause an ear-shattering storm of chatter across the globe.  

But here's the thing. The official song, Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) didn't just 'kick off' the finals. In hindsight, I think, it also tagged, in a serendipitous but lasting way, the symbolic beginning of the African renaissance in popular music. [There were clearly earlier intimations of a rebirth, as amply demonstrated by the British Museum (2017) -- and birthing can be labored -- but I think that these were at best sneak views of the still to come renaissance]. Indeed, we're increasingly getting to see and feel the song's afterglow as the 2010s move along. If Waka Waka could make it big in that way, so could the artistic creations of Africa's millennials. After all, Waka Waka was an old, familiar song -- originally written in the time of their grandparents.

In 2010, Waka Waka was once again an undeniable communal fest -- but on a global scale. It was a great revival. The seamless tapestry of performers and colors and voices and sounds was a work of art in itself -- offered to an admiring world. Remember: the irrepressible Colombian Diva, Shakira, the impassioned and bubbly South African girl (whose name most of us still don't know), Southern Africa's very own Freshly Ground band, and the colorful and fairy-like dance troupe! They sang and played and danced as one with so much sparkle, there in Johannesburg. 

A few other components of the watershed that we can quickly mention as illustrations include:

1. Year 2010 marked the fortieth anniversary of The Year of Africa (1960). Events for which 1960 is remembered -- vaguely by baby-boomers and more vividly by history and, alas, an ever diminishing number of their living parents -- include a spate of independence celebrations across the continent: Fifteen countries gained their independence; Ghana became a republic (having been declared independent, with the Queen of England as its titular head, in 1957); and armed struggle against apartheid began in South Africa. At forty, you're a grown-up, and should show evidence of it:

a) Out of the 17 "Class of 1960" countries, five were represented at the 2010 FIFA World Cup: Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria and South Africa. Algeria, which became independent in July 1962, was the only other African country at the World Cup.

b) The successful preparations for, and hosting of, the soccer extravaganza were in themselves testimony, in the eyes of the world, that Africa's capacity for large-scale infrastructural development had turned a hugely consequential corner. 

c) The image of Mandela hosting the world in that way was a moving symbolic culmination of the journey for freedom and equity which he and his comrades had begun in 1960.

2. By 2010, cumulative developments in resource-rich African countries and elsewhere, though often 'under the radar' and too slow even for locals, were progressively eroding the world's perception of a poverty-stricken, helpless and hopeless continent with a begging bowl in hand. 

3. There was also perceptibly expanding space for competitive politics and institutions free at last of the worst excesses of unchallenged executive power. The light at the end of the tunnel was certainly getting brighter.

4. There was massive expansion of educational opportunities across much of the continent, and growing space for private enterprise.

5. Perhaps even ahead of Africa itself, world institutions were beginning to routinely point to an emerging African middle class likely in the long run, perhaps, to turn the usual 'pyramid' of economic power and hierarchy into a 'diamond'. 

Enough of that for now.

WATCH: Video of Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) [Hear the sounds, see the colors -- and 'read' the accompanying flow of moveable/moving body texts]

And here's the video of BB DJ -- inspired perhaps, as Dibussi Tande (2010) implies, by the spirits of his grandparents -- singing and dancing Waka Waka in 2009, the year before FIFA World Cup.

Shakira's and her co-singer's rendition (remix) of the already famous song was dogged with controversy from the start. First, there was spirited but far from unanimous objection to her choice, a non-South African, as the lead singer. Then there were accusations that she was claiming authorship of a song which wasn't hers. 

Indeed, Tande has noted that Cameroonian soldiers sang this song during World War II -- long before Shakira, or even her mother, was born. Allusions to that history appear in a series of interesting videos (click here to view one such). Even the original title that she had chosen for the World Cup anthem, Zaminamina, tied her back, inextricably, to those Cameroonian roots and the successors of the artistes concerned. Eventually, as Tande reports, a deal, belatedly urged by FIFA as well, was struck between the claimants on the one hand and Shakira and SONY on the other.

Against the backdrop of the accusations, the truth, it turned out, was somewhere in-between. Obviously, Zaminamina, Zangalewa (with a Waka Waka refrain) was, as already noted, an old Cameroonian song. But the song she jointly launched in 2010 was a thing somewhat apart: a fusion of her lyrics (written in English), a dominating chunk of Zangalewa, a lovely twist of South African singing, inspired instrumentation by Freshly Ground, and a dazzling troupe presence. And she tossed into all that her own global brand and star-power. Still, proper attribution was called for.

READ: "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" 


READ/LISTEN: "Cameroon - Zangalewa - Zamina - Waka Waka Time for Africa - Original" 

CLICK: Lyrics for Shakira's Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)


Despite the controversy, Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) has over and over since 2010 proven to be a discernible, if back-handed, boost to the stature of African music, both within and outside the continent. 

WATCH: 
1) Shakira Live from Paris (2016)  
2) Shakira - Waka Waka Live China Concerd HD 

I'm more interested in the 'within', though. And I think that the song has emerged as an unintended, and largely unanticipated, catalyst (of enormous proportions) for pop-music artistry and appreciation all across Sub-Sahara. African artistes and fans have, since 2010, watched with surprise and been inspired by how the addition of a few lines have turned an old African song, fused with new and thoughtful tunes and creative dance routines, into a music video of global appeal. 

Certainly, the World Cup platform gave Waka Waka an unbeatable, world-wide head-start. But keen minds must surely have begun to sense, in this spectacle, continent-wide possibilities for musicians, songwriters, directors and producers -- even after the World Cup. I sense that they indeed have.   


But the 2010 FIFA World Cup's gravitational pull could only temporarily wire together the disparate national TV channels dotting the African continent. There was no permanent promise in this; and if there wasn't, there would be no long-term change in the pattern of distribution and consumption of musical products. Artistes on their own didn't have the wherewithal to make a difference here. 

So where's the wherewithal? The answer to that will have to await a separate post.

I conclude by saying this: In #TheYamboSelection of Africa's top pop songs of the year, so far covering 2010-2016, Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) was without a doubt the best song in 2010. One is reminded that it is the songs which are ranked in the annual series, not the singers. Of course, each song has a singer, or singers, but it is the song which forms the basis for the ranking. As already amply argued, Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) is undoubtedly an African song, even if the lead singer turns out to be a Colombian Latina, whom we should all embrace with both arms. It goes without saying that Waka Waka was also the year's best song by, or featuring, an African Diva. The song had two Diva's -- Shakira and that unnamed and lovable South African vocalist. I think that singing that heavily African song with the super-talented supporting cast, as Africa hosted the World Cup, made Shakira an African Diva as well, forever, in terms of that song (FIFA's anthem in 2010).

REFERENCES

Tande, Dibussi (May 2010) "Undermining African Intellectual and Artistic Rights: Shakira, Zangalewa and the World Cup Anthem" 

The British Museum (March 3, 2017) "Stream 8,000 Vintage Afropop Recordings". London: The British Museum

WFMU...Blog (March 2, 2010) "Around the World...Waka Waka Hey Hey!"



UPDATED: March 3-6, 2017

KENYA: DP #RutoShootToKill Sees a Certain Dip in His Fortuna

Kenya's Deputy President, #RutoShootToKill, must be wondering what's going on in Uhunyee's mind lately. Could his boss be the mysterious force recently giving him as much rope as he's been finding in his hands these past few days? Like freedom to act as the C-In-C and issue orders while @TheRealPrezzo is somewhere in the country -- and not jet-setting, or anything like that. Then chasing like one Wile E. Coyote after slippery Roadrunner. Or like all dem scaredy-cats when pig, pad Gunslinger hits town.

READ: Ruto Issues Shoot To Kill Order in Baringo

HERE'S WILE E. COYOTE:

But is this dip really certain? Or only 'temporally'? Only Taniel knows, perhaps. Which (s)prings us to Mama. Den Mutukufu's son, and hair. Den Mama's, akein an akein.

READ: Why Mama Ngina Met Mzee Moi

READ: Uhuru Pays a Visit to Moi

You see, #RutoShootToKill don't have no such 'bedicree', or degree of freedom (No way!). Which shouldn't matter, but is the material prop-lem here.

A meme is coursing through some Kenyan minds right now, I think. It is this: Is there coming to be a window of opportunity around April for Uhunyee to dump #Ruto... for #Kition? Was that the subliminal message when Mzee urged Uh to ensure that the coming erections are peaceful -- and don't degenerate into platshet? Is the son pre-positioning himself, and was that his true Christmas wish last December?

READ: Uhuru Promises Gideon Cabinet Posts

READ: Gideon's Real Christmas Wish?

Buffeted this way by Gideon and that way by Mashinani's #LittleRuto, #RutoShootToKill must be feeling pretty claustrophobic. Hard-knuckle political calculus may require that he step aside, to avoid being pushed in the same direction. Don't worry about the Chupilii pact that's seemingly cast in stone. Didn't the honorable judge just reinstate party-hopping -- Kenya's preferred political hip-hop or Gang Nam style? 

But devastating to #Ruto... as an #UhuruMoi ticket would be, it would pale in significance to the political tectonic shifts that it would unleash. It would lead to an almost certain loss by NASA of the top prize in the coming August elections, as Rift Valley would be gone! So, if NASA really wants to win the presidency, it better help #Ruto... hang on to Chupilii's second slot, odious as the very thought might be to ODM. Is what I'm thinking right now.

Perhaps we should all really forget all this, sit back -- and relax. And let Chebukati prepare us. And keenly watch this allegory of The Gunfighter, with #RutoShootToKill in the front row:

We may learn something.

This Blog's Milestones at End of February 2017

Here are some milestones of the Mauri Yambo Blog recorded at the end of February 2017 (Data for January 2017 and December 2016 shown in parenthesis):
1. Published posts (all-time): 908 (Jan '17 = 802; Dec '16 = 741)
2. Drafts + posts back in draft: 50 (Jan '17 = 57; Dec '16 = 46)
3. Pageviews, 28 Feb '17: 2112 (31 Jan '17 = 665; 31 Dec '16=417)
4. Pageviews, all of Feb '17: 30913 (Jan '17 = 25379 corrected; Dec '16 = 14944)
5. All-time pageviews: 436623 (Jan '17 = 405,710; Dec '16 = 380,331).

READ: Blog Milestones at End of June 2016

READ: BLOG POSTS: More Milestones Recorded in October 2015 

NOTE: It is not my intention to publish Milestones regularly on a monthly basis, but there will be more releases in the future.

Infidélité Mado: Maestro Franco Luambo Makiadi's Mesmerizing Guitar-Play

Concerning Infidélité Mado, and hazily remembering a certain past, this is what I tweeted very recently: "A wonderful guitar-play mesmerized all who heard it". All those who will only now hear it for the first time will, I believe, come to see why.

Maestro Franco Luambo Luanzo Makiadi and his band, T.P. OK Jazz, were such a dominant force back in the day when music permeated all our being, already nuanced with hormones of a certain age-set.


This was the era before the video: 

Click to listen to the audio

JKIA: Jomo Kenyatta International Airport ~ Eastern Africa's Gateway to the World

News broke on Feb 23rd, 2017 that relevant US authorities had, after long and (for us) frustrating scrutiny, finally granted Category One Status to Kenya's gateway to global air travel. Kenya thus becomes the eighth (or ninth) African country with (or which have had) direct flights to the US. The others are: 

Cape Verde: Obtained Category One status in 2003 and inaugurated Direct flights to Boston in July 2005 (see Dillingher, 2009: 11).

Egypt: Information about the current status of direct flights between Egypt and the US seems uncertain (but read this). Egypt has certainly had direct air links with the West, including the US, over many decades. However, Middle Eastern politics has often intervened.

Ethiopia: Daily non-stop flights between Ethiopia and the US (Bole-Dulles) began in December 2010. Prior to that, flights from Addis Ababa to the US were not so direct, as planes needed to stop over at an airport along the way -- initially in Dublin and latterly in Rome. On the other hand, eastbound flights from the US to Ethiopia seem to have had, for a considerable period of time, the clearance for direct flight. 

READ ALSO: A History of Ethiopian Airlines

Ghana: Had Category One status, lost it, and is currently trying to regain it. 

Morocco: Only Royal Air Maroc (RAM), which entered the airline business in 1957, currently operates direct commercial flights between Morocco and the US. This direct US flight began in 1975. Petitioners recently launched a campaign to get American carriers to operate on the route in order to put an end to unacceptable levels of service by RAM. 

Nigeria: Direct flights between the US and Murtala Mohamed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos, resumed in 2010, ending a suspension which had begun in 1993.

Senegal: Dakar Airport, now LSSIA, has been a strategic stopover/link for flights to and from the US, South America, South Africa, North Africa and Europe since around 1942.

South Africa: Retained its Category One status in January 2008, in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup of 2010, which the country hosted (See SA Civil Aviation Authority, 2008). 

ALSO READ: Gerald L. Dillinger (2009: 1-19)

READ: Kenyan airport attain category one status, key to non-stop US flights A BACKGROUNDER: Passengers to gain as Sh 4.6bn upgrade takes off

As already pointed out, Category One status allows for direct flight from JKIA to a US destination -- and vice versa. Atlanta (Georgia) has frequently been mentioned the likely touchdown city for Kenyan flights.  But the really cool and emblematic destination for our national airline, Kenya Airways (KQ), would be New York City. That would constitute a branding opportunity for KQ of incalculable value. 

Kenya's premier international airport, JKIA, is the nation's pride. After several false-starts and inexplicable bouts of mismanagement and loss of corporate vision, it is ready for big time. But false starts and corporate failures are not the main reasons for this delay. Four more fundamental factors can be suggested:

1. The 24 years of President Moi's rule were marked by a near complete disinterest in major infrastructural investments of any kind (Dillingher, 2009: 11 alludes to this problem). Real change only began during Mwai Kibaki's presidency in 2003. Roads were given first priority. Seaports and airports then followed. Other mega infrastructural initiatives have recently followed during Uhuru Kenyatta's tenure: power lines, pipelines, the iconic SGR project and, of course, the JKIA upgrade.

2. As one can see in the list of countries with direct flights to the US, it can also be inferred that crucial pressure for Category One status must have come from within the US itself. Morocco, for example, was for much of the 20th century a favorite holiday destination for US glitterati and other Americans. Senegal was of great logistical value for the US in both war and peace.

3. Most of the Sub-Saharan African countries with early direct flights -- Cape Verde, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal -- are to the west of the continent, nearer to the US and, as we have see, with crucial logistical value. Moreover, they have deep historical ties with the US, going back to the era of the slave trade. Liberia should have been in this category, but plainly did not have the resources to be a leading player here. Roots, a book published in 1979, unleashed unprecedented interest in Africa (but particularly West Africa) and irresistible pressure, particularly from the US Black community, for resources to facilitate closer people-to-people ties -- and hence for direct and sustained Africa-US flights.

4. The threat of Al Shabaab terrorism, and Kenya's early inability to deal effectively with it, offered little motivation for a direct air-link between Nairobi and a US city.

CLICK HERE TO SEE: Images of JKIA -- With Nothing Tucked Away
t

CONGOLESE MUSIC: Tabu Ley's (Rochereau's) Mokolo Nakokufa

We liked this song, in what seems now like the very, very distant past. It is quite to be loved even now, though the new converts will not, cannot, remember the old memories which were an integral part of its (and our) social and cultural, and also historical, milieu. That is the fate of all Golden Oldies, and so it goes -- on and on. 

Tabu Ley (a.k.a Rochereau) was like the lovable uncle we were happy to hang, aurally, around. We made only one demand on him -- that he make us happy. He came through most of the time, as I remember. And that was more than enough, there in Nairobi's expansive Eastlands.

MUSIC: 'Leg Over' ~ Mr. Eazi's Uneasy Confession

You don't want to lose, to get over, the spell that Mr. Eazi's Leg Over casts over you when you first hear it; and even when you hear it the second and third time. This is consistent with what will be said in the days and months ahead, I think: that Leg Over was one of Africa's truly mesmerizing songs of early 2017 -- and perhaps the year as a whole. 

Sooner or later, however, critics will weigh in, and may want to temper the early impressions. But 'sooner or later' does not always extinguish the all-too-frequent magic of first impressions. The greater danger to the continued appeal of an artistic expression, I think, is the dulling -- the corrosive -- effect of familiarity.

As an aural-visual expression, Mr. Eazi's Leg Over is a duality of quite asymmetrical narratives. Aurally speaking, it has a wonderful tune, played with the fine and seamless accompaniment of his incomparable voice. It is as if the played tune and the singer's voice are conjoined twins. The melody that lurks in the background, putting everyone on notice, is irresistible and all-conquering -- with its persistent and lulling charm. Credit for all that goes to the songwriter, the instrumentalists and the singer. 

What we get is at once even-keeled and totally consonant with the narrator's despondent, yes despondent, account of the deeds and (spoken) thoughts which now put him down and which, even in the confessional, he cannot quite escape.

The song has a somber and foreboding beat, which (if you follow the inconsistent words) reflects the confusion in the protagonist's head and telegraphs his conflicted search for salvation; a salvation which he hopes will not be incompatible with the continuation of Leg Over -- and all it connotes.  

Visually, we can tell from body texts that what the priest has to hear is a horror. But what he hears can only be a fraction of what we ourselves (the spectator-audience) hear -- and see. He must nevertheless endure all of it -- his only solace the calming effect of the holy cross in his hand, and his solemn calling. 

In the end, the priest must, perforce, deliver a verdict of forgiveness. This despite the hints in the repenter's own words that the remorse, however deeply felt in spirit, is not (given the frailty of the social 'body') quite total -- nor quite likely to last. 

The one who watches the video knows, but the priest (ingrained in it) doesn't, that the dancing girls continue to dance, and thus embody the continuation of the very things that the confession is supposed to bring an end to. The temptations persist.

Here's the 'Leg Over' video (in which you hardly see, or hear much from, the other singers who supposedly feature ~ Wizkid, Eddie Kadi and Maleek Berry): Leg Over Video 

Top 20 Happiest Songs By/Featuring East African Divas in 2014 ~ #TheYamboSelection

 INTRODUCTION

Happiness is a state of mind, a feeling - with feelers to the 'outside'. Outside becomes what things we allow it to become, and what things we have no control over and so impose themselves.

Happiness and Love? They are twins. Twins, who-which, sometimes, alas, we find in mortal combat.

Good music!

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Duke Orsino utters these immortal words:  "If music be the food of life, play on; / Give me excess of it ..." I just want to endorse that here. If good music be, let it be. Give me more, is all!

Good music is at once a convergence of happiness - happy feelings - and its source. Happy songs make people happy, happy people arguably happier, and less sad sad people - and even, perhaps, happy; if they're not too deep into their own sadness. They breed happiness through the joyfulness of the words in the song and the soulfulness of the song in the words, the melody in the tunes, the liveliness of the body-language and suppleness of the assembled 'bodies', the harmony of the charged instruments, the pulsating visuals of the video, and the warmth of the stage upon which everything, and everything else, is set.

There is magic in the happy song, then. The song that makes people happy has magical power over 'em. So, oh my goodness, does the song that makes people truly sad.

There are times, if I may digress, that I have thought (sensed would be too strong a word) that truly throbbing drumbeat among the prayerful carries within it the voice of God in its surreal, surround beat, as it's heard among the gathered, and as it cascades across the land - and even among the landless and the faithless.

So good music, howsoever it is delivered, has the powers -- howsoever we c these powers. But, I ask:
Why is it that music videos that elicit the most happiness seem generally to have a street motif?

MEASURING HAPPINESS

Can happiness be measured? That's a question for another day.

BUT READ THIS IN THE MEANTIME: World Happiness Report 2015

DO ALSO READ: "The Happiness Contagion" that I posted on December 9, 2008

HERE, THEN, ARE THE TOP 20 HAPPIEST SONGS BY/FEAT EAST AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2014

[For the selection and ranking criteria used in creating this list, go to the bottom of this post]

20. Jordan by Sheebah (2014):

19. Tam Tam Remix by Willy Paul ft. Size 8 (2014):

18. Dumbala Reloaded By Jay A ft. Sage x Madtraxx x Ken Razy x DNA x Visita (2014):

17. Woman in Love by Vivian (2014):

16. Nikimuona by Avril (2014):

15. Only You by Nene ft. Jay A (2014):

14. Baramushaka by Knowless (2014):

13. Barua ya Dunia by Elani (2014):

12. Sugua Gaga by Shaa (2014):

11. Chuna Buzi by Shilole (2014):

10. Mfalme wa Mapenzi by Sanaipei [Sana] (2014):

9. Go Down Low by Palasso ft. Sheebah (2014):

8. Show by Victoria Kimani (2014):

7. Koolio by Stella Mwangi (2014):

6. Nimempata by Pam Daffa ft. Mesen Selecta (2014/6):
[The Official YouTube video of 2014 is no longer available. We're sharing here the link to a 2016 version of what's touted as the song's "Official Lyrics" video]

5. Chapa Nyingine by Chege ft. Gift (2014):

4. Njoo by Shaa ft. Redsan (2014):

3. KooKoo by Elani (2014):

Happy to have Elani's wonderful voice featured here, singing KooKoo for all to hear. Much Love in the Iborian air. 

2. Prokoto by Victoria Kimani ft. Ommy Dimploz and Diamons Platnumz. (2014):
Victoria Kimani is a Kenyan songstress who's already going places, as you can see from her two friends here, OD and DP.

1. Ole Themba by Linah (2014):
Linah delivers a wonderfully, delightfully charming bouquet of colors and sound. And beauty. And verve. The dancing girls are a feast for the eye. The lyrics, in Kiswahili, are superbly, artfully, put together. The melody -- the whole ambience -- transports us, all of us, to a place no one wants to come back from in a hurry.

Linah is a pleasantly surprising 'discovery', and a full member of the superstar group that populates this Yambo Selection 2014. She brings along with her everyone, everyone bar none, in the video.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++

SELECTION/INCLUSION CRITERIA

To Qualify for inclusion in this list, a song Was required to meet The Following criteria:
1. Released as music video in 2014. Broadly in any of these genres: Pop, RnB, Hip-Hop, Reggae
2 Available via YouTube or Otherwise available online
3. Predominantly sung by an artiste or artistes from Africa, PARTICULARLY Sub-Saharan Africa
4. Regularly played on one or more of Africa's leading music channels: Afro Pop and HipTV Music, in particular (they pay sustained attention to their African audience); Sound City, MTV Base and Trace Urban (all three of whose fare is significantly more diffuse).
5. Have a discernible "happiness" (or sunny) content/slant in terms of the following mix of considerations: beat, language (verbal or body), lyrics, melody, visuals (dance routines, 'stage sets' and video quality), voice (and audio quality) and use of vocal and technical instruments
6. Broad sensitivity to sub-regional tastes and artists' bases of operation (East, West, Central or Southern)
7. Gender: Minimum of 1/3 Rule, if short-listed songs make this possible.


RANKING CRITERION FOR INDIVIDUAL SELECTIONS

1. How does Yambo rate a particular song relative to the others on the list?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A call for comments: Your comments on individual selections and ranking criterion will be highly appreciated.

Note: I can imagine a future in which all I have tried to do here is open to public participation.

Top 10 Happiest Songs By/Featuring East African Divas in 2014 ~ #TheYamboSelection

 INTRODUCTION

Happiness is a state of mind, a feeling - with feelers to the 'outside'. Outside becomes what things we allow it to become, and what things we have no control over and so impose themselves.

Happiness and Love? They are twins. Twins, who-which, sometimes, alas, we find in mortal combat.

Good music!

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Duke Orsino utters these immortal words:  "If music be the food of life, play on; / Give me excess of it ..." I just want to endorse that here. If good music be, let it be. Give me more, is all!

Good music is at once a convergence of happiness - happy feelings - and its source. Happy songs make people happy, happy people arguably happier, and less sad sad people - and even, perhaps, happy; if they're not too deep into their own sadness. They breed happiness through the joyfulness of the words in the song and the soulfulness of the song in the words, the melody in the tunes, the liveliness of the body-language and suppleness of the assembled 'bodies', the harmony of the charged instruments, the pulsating visuals of the video, and the warmth of the stage upon which everything, and everything else, is set.

There is magic in the happy song, then. The song that makes people happy has magical power over 'em. So, oh my goodness, does the song that makes people truly sad.

There are times, if I may digress, that I have thought (sensed would be too strong a word) that truly throbbing drumbeat among the prayerful carries within it the voice of God in its surreal, surround beat, as it's heard among the gathered, and as it cascades across the land - and even among the landless and the faithless.

So good music, howsoever it is delivered, has the powers -- howsoever we c these powers. But, I ask:
Why is it that music videos that elicit the most happiness seem generally to have a street motif?

MEASURING HAPPINESS

Can happiness be measured? That's a question for another day.

BUT READ THIS IN THE MEANTIME: World Happiness Report 2015

DO ALSO READ: "The Happiness Contagion" that I posted on December 9, 2008

HERE, THEN, ARE THE TOP 10 HAPPIEST SONGS BY/FEAT EAST AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2014

[For the selection and ranking criteria used in creating this list, go to the bottom of this post]


Click on any song's title given below to watch the video:

10. Mfalme wa Mapenzi by Sanaipei [Sana] (2014):

9. Go Down Low by Palasso ft. Sheebah (2014):

8. Show by Victoria Kimani (2014):

7. Koolio by Stella Mwangi (2014):

6. Nimempata by Pam Daffa ft. Mesen Selecta (2014/6):
[The Official YouTube video of 2014 is no longer available. We're sharing here the link to a 2016 version of what's touted as the song's "Official Lyrics" video]

5. Chapa Nyingine by Chege ft. Gift (2014):

4. Njoo by Shaa ft. Redsan (2014):

3. KooKoo by Elani (2014):

Happy to have Elani's wonderful voice featured here, singing KooKoo for all to hear. Much Love in the Iborian air. 

2. Prokoto by Victoria Kimani ft. Ommy Dimploz and Diamons Platnumz. (2014):
Victoria Kimani is a Kenyan songstress who's already going places, as you can see from her two friends here, OD and DP.

1. Ole Themba by Linah (2014):
Linah delivers a wonderfully, delightfully charming bouquet of colors and sound. And beauty. And verve. The dancing girls are a feast for the eye. The lyrics, in Kiswahili, are superbly, artfully, put together. The melody -- the whole ambience -- transports us, all of us, to a place no one wants to come back from in a hurry.

Linah is a pleasantly surprising 'discovery', and a full member of the superstar group that populates this Yambo Selection 2014. She brings along with her everyone, everyone bar none, in the video.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++

SELECTION/INCLUSION CRITERIA

To Qualify for inclusion in this list, a song Was required to meet The Following criteria:
1. Released as music video in 2014. Broadly in any of these genres: Pop, RnB, Hip-Hop, Reggae
2 Available via YouTube or Otherwise available online
3. Predominantly sung by an artiste or artistes from Africa, PARTICULARLY Sub-Saharan Africa
4. Regularly played on one or more of Africa's leading music channels: Afro Pop and HipTV Music, in particular (they pay sustained attention to their African audience); Sound City, MTV Base and Trace Urban (all three of whose fare is significantly more diffuse).
5. Have a discernible "happiness" (or sunny) content/slant in terms of the following mix of considerations: beat, language (verbal or body), lyrics, melody, visuals (dance routines, 'stage sets' and video quality), voice (and audio quality) and use of vocal and technical instruments
6. Broad sensitivity to sub-regional tastes and artists' bases of operation (East, West, Central or Southern)
7. Gender: Minimum of 1/3 Rule, if short-listed songs make this possible.


RANKING CRITERION FOR INDIVIDUAL SELECTIONS

1. How does Yambo rate a particular song relative to the others on the list?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A call for comments: Your comments on individual selections and ranking criterion will be highly appreciated.

Note: I can imagine a future in which all I have tried to do here is open to public participation.

Top 5 Happiest Songs By/Featuring East African Divas in 2014 ~ #TheYamboSelection

 INTRODUCTION

Happiness is a state of mind, a feeling - with feelers to the 'outside'. Outside becomes what things we allow it to become, and what things we have no control over and so impose themselves.

Happiness and Love? They are twins. Twins, which, sometimes, alas, we find in mortal combat.

Good music!

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Duke Orsino utters these immortal words:  "If music be the food of life, play on; / Give me excess of it ..." I just want to endorse that here. If good music be, let it be. Give me more, is all!

Good music is at once a convergence of happiness - happy feelings - and its source. Happy songs make people happy, happy people arguably happier, and less sad sad people - and even, perhaps, happy; if they're not too deep into their own sadness. They breed happiness through the joyfulness of the words in the song and the soulfulness of the song in the words, the melody in the tunes, the liveliness of the body-language and suppleness of the assembled 'bodies', the harmony of the charged instruments, the pulsating visuals of the video, and the warmth of the stage upon which everything, and everything else, is set.

There is magic in the happy song, then. The song that makes people happy has magical power over 'em. So, oh my goodness, does the song that makes people truly sad.

There are times, if I may digress, that I have thought (sensed would be too strong a word) that truly throbbing drumbeat among the prayerful carries within it the voice of God in its surreal, surround beat, as it's heard among the gathered, and as it cascades across the land - and even among the landless and the faithless.

So good music, howsoever it is delivered, has the powers -- howsoever we c these powers. But, I ask:
Why is it that music videos that elicit the most happiness seem generally to have a street motif?

MEASURING HAPPINESS

Can happiness be measured? That's a question for another day.

BUT READ THIS IN THE MEANTIME: World Happiness Report 2015

DO ALSO READ: "The Happiness Contagion" that I posted on December 9, 2008

HERE, THEN, ARE THE TOP 5 HAPPIEST SONGS BY/FEAT EAST AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2014

[For the selection and ranking criteria used in creating this list, go to the bottom of this post]

Click on the title of any song listed below to watch the video

5. Chapa Nyingine by Chege ft. Gift (2014):

4. Njoo by Shaa ft. Redsan (2014):

3. KooKoo by Elani (2014):

Happy to have Elani's wonderful voice featured here, singing KooKoo for all to hear. Much Love in the Iborian air. 

2. Prokoto by Victoria Kimani ft. Ommy Dimploz and Diamons Platnumz. (2014):
Victoria Kimani is a Kenyan songstress who's already going places, as you can see from her two friends here, OD and DP.

1. Ole Themba by Linah (2014):
Linah delivers a wonderfully, delightfully charming bouquet of colors and sound. And beauty. And verve. The dancing girls are a feast for the eye. The lyrics, in Kiswahili, are superbly, artfully, put together. The melody -- the whole ambience -- transports us, all of us, to a place no one wants to come back from in a hurry.

Linah is a pleasantly surprising 'discovery', and a full member of the superstar group that populates this Yambo Selection 2014. She brings along with her everyone, everyone bar none, in the video.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++

SELECTION/INCLUSION CRITERIA

To Qualify for inclusion in this list, a song Was required to meet The Following criteria:
1. Released as music video in 2014. Broadly in any of these genres: Pop, RnB, Hip-Hop, Reggae
2 Available via YouTube or Otherwise available online
3. Predominantly sung by an artiste or artistes from Africa, PARTICULARLY Sub-Saharan Africa
4. Regularly played on one or more of Africa's leading music channels: Afro Pop and HipTV Music, in particular (they pay sustained attention to their African audience); Sound City, MTV Base and Trace Urban (all three of whose fare is significantly more diffuse).
5. Have a discernible "happiness" (or sunny) content/slant in terms of the following mix of considerations: beat, language (verbal or body), lyrics, melody, visuals (dance routines, 'stage sets' and video quality), voice (and audio quality) and use of vocal and technical instruments
6. Broad sensitivity to sub-regional tastes and artists' bases of operation (East, West, Central or Southern)
7. Gender: Minimum of 1/3 Rule, if short-listed songs make this possible.

East Africa's Top 30 Happiest Songs of 2014 ~ #TheYamboSelection

INTRODUCTION

Happiness is a state of mind, a feeling - with feelers to the 'outside'. Outside becomes what things we allow it to become, and what things we have no control over and so impose themselves. Happiness and Love? They are twins. Twins, which, sometimes, alas, we find in mortal combat.

Good music: In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Duke Orsino utters these immortal words:  "If music be the food of life, play on; / Give
me excess of it ..." Good music is at once a convergence of happiness - happy feelings - and its source. Happy songs make people happy, happy people arguably happier, and less sad sad people - and even, perhaps, happy; if they're not too deep into their own sadness. They breed happiness through the joyfulness of the words in the song and the soulfulness of the song in the words, the melody in the tunes, the liveliness of the body-language and suppleness of the assembled 'bodies', the harmony of the charged instruments, the pulsating visuals of the video, and the warmth of the stage upon which everything, and everything else, is set.

There is magic in the happy song, then. The song that makes people happy has magical power over 'em. So, oh my goodness, does the song that makes people truly sad.

There are times, if I may digress, that I have thought (sensed would be too strong a word) that truly throbbing drumbeat among the prayerful carries within it the voice of God in its surreal, surround beat, as it's heard among the gathered, and as it cascades across the land - and even among the landless and the faithless.

So good music, howsoever it is delivered, has the powers -- howsoever we c these powers. But, I ask:
Why is it that music videos that elicit the most happiness seem generally to have a street motif?


MEASURING HAPPINESS

Can happiness be measured? That's a question for another day.

BUT READ THIS IN THE MEANTIME: World Happiness Report 2015

DO ALSO READ: "The Happiness Contagion" that I posted on December 9, 2008


HERE, THEN, ARE EAST AFRICA'S TOP 30 HAPPIEST SONGS OF 2014
[Click on a Song's title to watch the video]
[For the selection criteria used in creating this list, go to the bottom of this post]

30. Dumbala Reloaded  By Jay A ft. Sage x Madtraxx x DNA x Ken Razy x Visita (2014): 

29. Woman in Love by Vivian (2014):

28. Nikimuona by Avril (2014):

27. Only You by Nene ft. Jay A (2014):

26. Mbele by Nonini ft. Wyre (2014):

25. Baramushaka by Knowless (2014)

24. Barua Ya Dunia by Elani (2014):

23. Sugua Gaga by Shaa (2014):

22. Chuna Buzi by Shilole (2014):

21. Mfalme wa Mapenzi by Sanaipei [Sana] (2014):

20. Go Down Low by Palasso ft. Sheebah (2014):

19. Kanyaboya by Messen Selecta (2014):

18. Butterfly by Nameless (2014):

17. Bum Bum by Diamond Platnumz ft. Iyanya (2014):

16. Show by Victoria Kimani (2014):

15. Coco Baby by Waje ft. Diamond Platnumz (2014):

14. Koolio by Stella Mwangi (2014):

13. Nimempata by Pam Daffa ft. Mesen Selecta (2014):
[Video now unavailable]

12. Chapa Nyingine by Chege ft. Gift (2014):

11. Njoo by Shaa ft. Redsan (2014):

10. Mdogo Mdogo by Diamond Platnumz (2014):

9. Mfalme by MwanaFA ft. G. Nako Warawa (2014):
Epic ~ MY

8. Nikikutazama by H_ART THE BAND (2014):

7. Dabby Gololi by Emma Jalamo (2014):
The 2016 edition is much longer and more detailed

6. Wale Wale by Jose Chameleone (2014):

5. KooKoo by Elani (2014):

4. Prokoto by Victoria Kimani ft. Ommy Dimploz x Diamond Platnumz (2014):

3. Sura Yako by Sauti Sol (2014):

2. Be Happy By Eddy Kenzo (2014):

1. Ole Themba by Linah (2014):

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++

SELECTION/INCLUSION CRITERIA

To Qualify for inclusion in this list, a song Was required to meet The Following criteria:
1. Released as music video in 2014. Broadly in any of these genres: Pop, RnB, Hip-Hop, Reggae
2 Available via YouTube or Otherwise available online
3. Predominantly sung by an artiste or artistes from Africa, PARTICULARLY Sub-Saharan Africa
4. Regularly played on one or more of Africa's leading music channels: Afro Pop and HipTV Music, in particular (they pay sustained attention to their African audience); Sound City, MTV Base and Trace Urban (all three of whose fare is significantly more diffuse).
5. Have a discernible "happiness" (or sunny) content/slant in terms of the following mix of considerations: beat, language (verbal or body), lyrics, melody, visuals (dance routines, 'stage sets' and video quality), voice (and audio quality) and use of vocal and technical instruments
6. Broad sensitivity to sub-regional tastes and artists' bases of operation (East, West, Central or Southern)
7. Gender: Minimum of 1/3 Rule, if short-listed songs make this possible.

East Africa's Top 20 Happiest Songs of 2014 ~ #TheYamboSelection

INTRODUCTION

Happiness is a state of mind, a feeling - with feelers to the 'outside'. Outside becomes what things we allow it to become, and what things we have no control over and so impose themselves. Happiness and Love? They are twins. Twins, who-which, sometimes, alas, we find in mortal combat.

Good music: In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Duke Orsino utters these immortal words:  "If music be the food of life, play on; / Give
me excess of it ..." Good music is at once a convergence of happiness - happy feelings - and its source. Happy songs make people happy, happy people arguably happier, and less sad sad people - and even, perhaps, happy; if they're not too deep into their own sadness. They breed happiness through the joyfulness of the words in the song and the soulfulness of the song in the words, the melody in the tunes, the liveliness of the body-language and suppleness of the assembled 'bodies', the harmony of the charged instruments, the pulsating visuals of the video, and the warmth of the stage upon which everything, and everything else, is set.

There is magic in the happy song, then. The song that makes people happy has magical power over 'em. So, oh my goodness, does the song that makes people truly sad.

There are times, if I may digress, that I have thought (sensed would be too strong a word) that truly throbbing drumbeat among the prayerful carries within it the voice of God in its surreal, surround beat, as it's heard among the gathered, and as it cascades across the land - and even among the landless and the faithless.

So good music, howsoever it is delivered, has the powers -- howsoever we c these powers. But, I ask:
Why is it that music videos that elicit the most happiness seem generally to have a street motif?

MEASURING HAPPINESS

Can happiness be measured? That's a question for another day.

BUT READ THIS IN THE MEANTIME: World Happiness Report 2015

DO ALSO READ: "The Happiness Contagion" that I posted on December 9, 2008


HERE, THEN, ARE EAST AFRICA'S TOP 20 HAPPIEST SONGS OF 2014
[Click on a Song's title to watch the video]
[For the selection criteria used in creating this list, go to the bottom of this post]

20. Go Down Low by Palasso ft. Sheebah (2014):

19. Kanyaboya by Messen Selecta (2014):

18. Butterfly by Nameless (2014):

17. Bum Bum by Diamond Platnumz ft. Iyanya (2014):

16. Show by Victoria Kimani (2014):

15. Coco Baby by Waje ft. Diamond Platnumz (2014):

14. Koolio by Stella Mwangi (2014):

13. Nimempata by Pam Daffa ft. Mesen Selecta (2014):
[Video now unavailable]

12. Chapa Nyingine by Chege ft. Gift (2014):

11. Njoo by Shaa ft. Redsan (2014):

10. Mdogo Mdogo by Diamond Platnumz (2014):

9. Mfalme by MwanaFA ft. G. Nako Warawa (2014):
Epic ~ MY

8. Nikikutazama by H_ART THE BAND (2014):

7. Dabby Gololi by Emma Jalamo (2014):
The 2016 edition is much longer and more detailed

6. Wale Wale by Jose Chameleone (2014):

5. KooKoo by Elani (2014):

4. Prokoto by Victoria Kimani ft. Ommy Dimploz x Diamond Platnumz (2014):

3. Sura Yako by Sauti Sol (2014):

2. Be Happy By Eddy Kenzo (2014):

1. Ole Themba by Linah (2014):

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++

SELECTION/INCLUSION CRITERIA

To Qualify for inclusion in this list, a song Was required to meet The Following criteria:
1. Released as music video in 2014. Broadly in any of these genres: Pop, RnB, Hip-Hop, Reggae
2 Available via YouTube or Otherwise available online
3. Predominantly sung by an artiste or artistes from Africa, PARTICULARLY Sub-Saharan Africa
4. Regularly played on one or more of Africa's leading music channels: Afro Pop and HipTV Music, in particular (they pay sustained attention to their African audience); Sound City, MTV Base and Trace Urban (all three of whose fare is significantly more diffuse).
5. Have a discernible "happiness" (or sunny) content/slant in terms of the following mix of considerations: beat, language (verbal or body), lyrics, melody, visuals (dance routines, 'stage sets' and video quality), voice (and audio quality) and use of vocal and technical instruments
6. Broad sensitivity to sub-regional tastes and artists' bases of operation (East, West, Central or Southern)
7. Gender: Minimum of 1/3 Rule, if short-listed songs make this possible.

East Africa's Top 10 Happiest Songs of 2014 ~ #TheYamboSelection

INTRODUCTION

Happiness is a state of mind, a feeling - with feelers to the 'outside'. Outside becomes what things we allow it to become, and what things we have no control over and so impose themselves. Happiness and Love? They are twins. Twins, who-which, sometimes, alas, we find in mortal combat.

Good music: In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Duke Orsino utters these immortal words:  "If music be the food of life, play on; / Give
me excess of it ..." Good music is at once a convergence of happiness - happy feelings - and its source. Happy songs make people happy, happy people arguably happier, and less sad sad people - and even, perhaps, happy; if they're not too deep into their own sadness. They breed happiness through the joyfulness of the words in the song and the soulfulness of the song in the words, the melody in the tunes, the liveliness of the body-language and suppleness of the assembled 'bodies', the harmony of the charged instruments, the pulsating visuals of the video, and the warmth of the stage upon which everything, and everything else, is set.

There is magic in the happy song, then. The song that makes people happy has magical power over 'em. So, oh my goodness, does the song that makes people truly sad.

There are times, if I may digress, that I have thought (sensed would be too strong a word) that truly throbbing drumbeat among the prayerful carries within it the voice of God in its surreal, surround beat, as it's heard among the gathered, and as it cascades across the land - and even among the landless and the faithless.

So good music, howsoever it is delivered, has the powers -- howsoever we c these powers. But, I ask:
Why is it that music videos that elicit the most happiness seem generally to have a street motif?

MEASURING HAPPINESS

Can happiness be measured? That's a question for another day.

BUT READ THIS IN THE MEANTIME: World Happiness Report 2015

DO ALSO READ: "The Happiness Contagion" that I posted on December 9, 2008


HERE, THEN, ARE EAST AFRICA'S TOP 10 HAPPIEST SONGS OF 2014
[Click on a Song's title to watch the video]
[For the selection criteria used in creating this list, go to the bottom of this post]

10. Mdogo Mdogo by Diamond Platnumz (2014):

9. Mfalme by MwanaFA ft. G. Nako Warawa (2014):
Epic ~ MY

8. Nikikutazama by H_ART THE BAND (2014):

7. Dabby Gololi by Emma Jalamo (2014):
The 2016 edition is much longer and more detailed

6. Wale Wale by Jose Chameleone (2014):

5. KooKoo by Elani (2014):

4. Prokoto by Victoria Kimani ft. Ommy Dimploz x Diamond Platnumz (2014):

3. Sura Yako by Sauti Sol (2014):

2. Be Happy By Eddy Kenzo (2014):

1. Ole Themba by Linah (2014):

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++

SELECTION/INCLUSION CRITERIA

To Qualify for inclusion in this list, a song Was required to meet The Following criteria:
1. Released as music video in 2014. Broadly in any of these genres: Pop, RnB, Hip-Hop, Reggae
2 Available via YouTube or Otherwise available online
3. Predominantly sung by an artiste or artistes from Africa, PARTICULARLY Sub-Saharan Africa
4. Regularly played on one or more of Africa's leading music channels: Afro Pop and HipTV Music, in particular (they pay sustained attention to their African audience); Sound City, MTV Base and Trace Urban (all three of whose fare is significantly more diffuse).
5. Have a discernible "happiness" (or sunny) content/slant in terms of the following mix of considerations: beat, language (verbal or body), lyrics, melody, visuals (dance routines, 'stage sets' and video quality), voice (and audio quality) and use of vocal and technical instruments
6. Broad sensitivity to sub-regional tastes and artists' bases of operation (East, West, Central or Southern)
7. Gender: Minimum of 1/3 Rule, if short-listed songs make this possible.