In Baby Paulina, Nigeria's enigmatic Ketchup looks and sounds and moves, decidedly, like Awilo Longomba, who is his musical father. Indubitably. The same agility, the same joie de vivre, is all we see. But there's a kind of hyper-schizophrenic wariness and unease in the son that the father is not burdened by, as I remember. A Bond-like concern with ever-present existential dangers from sworn but unknown enemies afflicts the son. Or is it (it is) all an act, to remember?
Ketchup's alter ego simply can't have any other relationship, but with Baby Paulina -- whom he can't quite have! He's on a permanent quest, for her. That's the root of his recurring anguish, despite the availability of tempting alternatives. Anguish morphs into these bursts of primeval despair we hear in the chorus:
"Baby Paulina dey do like sey
She no give me her numba eh!
And Baby Paulina dey do like sey
She no dey feelin de lamba eh!..."
[Y sez: Fyn poetry dat!]
Yet Ketchup is steadfast, and this makes for a sensitive and wonderful song. Though it is the case that all novelty in due course fades, I think you'll never forget the first impressions that form in your mind with this captivating song by a man anguished by the love he has for his elusive babe. Images, sounds, voices, passions -- and the crazy story-line -- all blend into a brief moment of a highly-charged spectacle.
Uhuru, a South African group, features strongly in Baby Paulina, as they have done in an unusually large number of pretty good songs by various artistes across Africa. They are a true credit to the finished song, with a shoulder to lean on always at the ready for their restless buddy. Their signature hollering, which here tempers Ketchup's despair, adds a rich flavor to the offering. Their presence represents balance, and the promise of a good ending, even if only after we, the audience, are long out of the picture.
What lets the production down is the unnecessary and careless copycat instrumentation that's so noticeable in the first 25 seconds of the song. But all is soon forgotten as the feeling frenzy sets in and overcomes everything that there is there to overcome. And the ending is a truly spirited and even agitated affair, and itself culminates in a veritable montage of unfettered voice and body language and percussion and trumpeting and (did I hear?) sax. All as one. And all in the name of the one Baby Paulina that there is in the whole universe.
NOTE: Baby Paulina was published on December 4th, 2015. It has garnered 40,397 views to-date, as I publish this commentary.
