Fuse ODG has deliberately chosen for his song, published in late October 2016, a title with two fertile and tantalizing connotations, as one can see at the beginning of the video. First, certainly for his team and for East Africans in general, Jinja readily brings to mind a town by that name in Uganda. It is located at that 'magical' point where the great River Nile pours out of Lake Victoria, headed north through the two Sudans, and then all of Egypt, and into the Mediterranean. This river's epic and never-finished journey is part of Fuse ODG's roots. It is at the core of his conception of T.I.N.A. (This Is New Africa) -- which is also the title of his album -- regardless of where ever he may physically be at any moment.
Secondly, the word is used in the video itself to mean: (a) "to give excessive energy to a person or situation, especially through dance", or (b) to "make someone or something more lively." The song, as you will see, clearly lives up to this promise; and, I think, only this. But this use of 'jinja' is not as idiosyncratic as it might seem. It is indeed a pun on a fairly common 'slang'. To "ginger up", Merriam-Webster tells us, means exactly what it's said to mean in (b) above; that is, "to make (someone or something) more exciting or lively" -- or, indeed, excited. A perfect concept for a crowd-dance.
It turns out that Fuse ODG's Jinja, which is produced by KillBeatz and runs for 3:51 minutes, is one of the most outstanding dance-oriented songs to dominate the African music space this year. It goes without saying, of course, that song and dance are twins, more (much more) often than not -- certainly in Africa. But some songs, like this one, are more dance-denominated than usual. Still, one must see and hear the singer(s) for the dancing to be well-anchored. That's a crucial distinguishing criterion -- certainly for me.
Here's the thing: we shouldn't include in our ratings of music videos any production in which the lead singer(s) remain(s) unseen throughout the song and dance, or in which the dance scenes are shot years after the song which inspires them is done. Dancing to music so 'canned' is not, shouldn't be, anyone's idea of pop music video -- no matter how good the dancing turns out to be. Art is not well-served by fracturing time -- that is, distanciating song and dance -- in that way.
So Jinja is a great piece of visually-populated music. We see and hear the singer. And the singer is there with the dancers, and the dancers with him. It's all intended to get millennials, and p'raps boomers still young at heart, up and dancing in no time. It is overflowing with the energy and creative body-and-soul moves, plus one or two nextgen dabs, of a self-assured cast. The irrepressible ODG's rapid-fire rap has catchy phrases and a relentless wordplay. "Jinja, maninja, majinja" -- is a refrain we keep hearing, as the Afrobeat goes on and on. And so it goes. Even the girls' 'cat'-walking becomes dance -- and inseparable from the groovy beat. So does a sweet half-baked dab by a little girl under, it seems, seven still to finish, uh, coordination. Everything, well- choreographed, moves as one; and it gets hotter and hotter on that charmed rooftop with all that constant and even acrobatic motion, but ends too soon. "Someone call police O!" Get that ODG!
Watch the Jinja video here
