For the most part, the video of Let Me Know pays particular attention to the cheerfulness of the sole actress, who's the main focus of the song as well. It's not just her broad smiles that prompt cheer, but also her full range of playfulness -- her body texts. Click to watch the video A happy face and happy gestures transmit and engender happy thoughts all around -- certainly among those 'willing' to be moved. And there's lots of engendering here. But for the singer, it's what she really thinks about their relationship that really matters. Are they more than "just friends"? He sings to her concerns as well, for sure, in this song with two parts. So he seeks to know in her own words what she, this mystifying lady, thinks. And likewise does she, more subtly, wish to know what's on his mind after a year together, in his own words. "Make her know, make her know", the singer (un)surprisingly tells anyone with ears to hear. Can he show some dedication to keep this good thing going, then? They seem like a pair that can resolve issues. And so, Let Me Know. Happiness shows its true face in various ways, is all.
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?
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 1/3Rule, 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.
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.
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.
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 1/3Rule, 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.
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.
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.
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 1/3Rule, if short-listed songs make this possible.
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
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):
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++ 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 1/3Rule, if short-listed songs make this possible.
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
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):
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++ 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 1/3Rule, if short-listed songs make this possible.
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
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):
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++ 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 1/3Rule, if short-listed songs make this possible.
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
HERE, THEN, ARE EAST AFRICA'S TOP 5 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] 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):
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 1/3Rule, if short-listed songs make this possible.
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.
HERE, THEN, ARE THE TOP 25 HAPPIEST SONGS BY/FEAT AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2014
[For the selection and ranking criteria used in creating this list, go to the bottom of this post]
25. Sugua Gaga by Shaa (25):
24. Chuna Buzi by Shilole (2014):
23. Pala Pala by Mani Bella (2014):
22. Mfalme wa Mapenzi by Sanaipei [Sana] (2014):
21. Go Down Low by Palasso ft. Sheebah (2014):
20. Terminus by Laurette La Perle (2014):
19. Show by Victoria Kimani (2014):
18. Koolio by Stella Mwangi (2014):
17. Mimempata by Pam Daffa ft. Mesen Selecta (2014):
16. Coco Baby by Waje ft. Diamond Platnumz (2014):
15. Chapa Nyingine by Chege ft. Gift (2014):
14. Amour en Or by Claudia Bakisa ft. Fabregas Metis Noir (2014):
13. Triple Option by Papa Wemba ft. Barbara Kanam (2014):
12. Njoo by Shaa ft. Redsan (2014):
11. Gimme Some More by Fliptyce ft. Yemi Alade (2014):
10. Adaobi by MAVINS [Don Jazzy x Reekado Banks x Di'ja x Korede Bello] (2014):
9. Kuchi Kuchi by J'Ordie (2014):
8. Girlie 'O' Remix by Patoranking ft. Tiwa Savage (2014):
7. Face a Face by Mani Bella (2014): Mani Bella is irrepressible, resourceful.
6. 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.
5. Prokoto by Victoria Kimani ft Ommy Dimploz and Diamond Platnumz (2014):
Victoria Kimani is a Kenyan gal who's already going places, as you can see from her two friends, OD and DP.
4. Fiko Fiko Fion by Claudia Bakisa ft. Koffi Olomide (2014):
All laid back, two great sophisticates join to drop a lovely track: Fiki Fiko Fion. Koffi Olomide reigns still, an unobtrusive monarch. Claudia Bakisa patiently waits, with pent-up energy, for Africa's playing field to level.
3. 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.
2 Tchelete (Good Life) by Davido and Mafikizolo ft. Uhuru and Oskido (2014):
Davido and Mafikizolo? A super-charged duo delivers a song made in musical heaven. davido also scored big at the MTVMAMA2015.
1. Dorobucci by Mavin Don Jazzy, Reekado Banks, Dr. Sid, Korede Bello, Tiwa Savage ... (2014): Dorobucci was voted Africa's best single of the year (2014) earlier this year at the MTVMAMA2015. This is a verdict that I, having myself already arrived at it before MTVMAMA2015, fully endorse. All of Africa does. It is for me also the happiest song of 2014. Nothing could stop Dorobucci that year.
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 1/3Rule, 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.
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.
HERE, THEN, ARE THE TOP 5 HAPPIEST SONGS BY/FEAT AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2014
[For the selection and ranking criteria used in creating this list, go to the bottom of this post]
5. Prokoto by Victoria Kimani ft Ommy Dimploz and Diamond Platnumz (2014):
Victoria Kimani is a Kenyan gal who's already going places, as you can see from her two friends, OD and DP.
4. Fiko Fiko Fion by Claudia Bakisa ft. Koffi Olomide (2014):
All laid back, two great sophisticates join to drop a lovely track: Fiki Fiko Fion. Koffi Olomide reigns still, an unobtrusive monarch. Claudia Bakisa patiently waits, with pent-up energy, for Africa's playing field to level.
3. 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.
2 Tchelete (Good Life) by Davido and Mafikizolo ft. Uhuru and Oskido (2014):
Davido and Mafikizolo? A super-charged duo delivers a song made in musical heaven. davido also scored big at the MTVMAMA2015.
1. Dorobucci by Mavin Don Jazzy, Reekado Banks, Dr. Sid, Korede Bello, Tiwa Savage ... (2014): Dorobucci was voted Africa's best single of the year (2014) earlier this year at the MTVMAMA2015. This is a verdict that I, having myself already arrived at it before MTVMAMA2015, fully endorse. All of Africa does. It is for me also the happiest song of 2014. Nothing could stop Dorobucci that year.
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 1/3Rule, 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.
