Siza's Vocal Assets Glitter in "Say What You Want"

While Eugy stays happily in the background, Siza, with her regal mien and enchanting eyes, stands out in Say What You Want. She has a rich array of sovereign vocal assets, which she deploys with not a jot of earthly ruffle. Among her 2017 royal peers, they're especially special. 

Click to watch the video

She raises not her voice, and yet inspires absolute loyalty from all that she surveys and reigns over. She is the epitome of grace and charm. She is, verily, a ladybird. Her version of reggae, her very vision, soothes and becalms. It enchants, even.

The Ballad at (as?) the Core: Popular African Music Today

The dominant genre of modern African music in 2013-14 was the ballad. Is this symptomatic of anything? Is the African singer, perhaps, at heart a balladeer(ess)? Since it began to step out of its Congolese cradle (where it nestled as rumba) in the mid-1950s, contemporary African music, increasingly a part of the global ‘pop’ culture, continues to be at its most endearing and most resonating in that modus. Since Bob Marley, however, it has been much challenged around Sub-Sahara by the infectiousness of the political-cultural messaging in reggae, the rambunctious imprint in hip-hop, and that catch-as-catch-can wave -- Afro-Fusion.

Still, the lyrical content of African pop music today is mostly about love and loneliness ('aloneness', even) and loss, in distant or forsaken places. Love: which in may sorts of ways, to an expression. The anguished heart which Zahara’s ballad evokes returns us to a period, not quite so long ago, which she probably has a personal recollection of, when parents, spouses and lovers didn’t have mobile phones, and many couldn’t even write. So absences and longings were total, and telegrams (the quickest way to say anything from afar) were dreaded for their habitus-induced capacity to totalize the end of hope. The telegram had become the default bearer of the worst kind of news -- the death of a loved one. 

Has the mobile phone, then, killed longing and lonesomeness? Not quite, for it has restored hope that, as in the traditional village or community life, no social (dis)connect is beyond rerouting and repair in the global village. But it requires a different sort of re-imagining and feeling. Perhaps Zahara should tell us how one should feel about the empty train now. 

Is not all gospel music a protestation of undivided love for The Maker? The “Kwetu” (motherland) which John Bosco, the Congolese, sang so longingly about in ‘broken’ Swahili -- that brokenness being both Sheng’s precursor and contemporary -- across East Africa of the Fifties: Wasn't it about Love?

Here below are 25 of the best African ballads of 2014. Check them out. They are not arranged in any particular order:

1. Bondo - Say You Love Me 
2. D’ija - “Awww” 
3. Jaywon - “Tana Wole”
4. Davido ft. Uhuru x DJ Buckz - “The Sound”{Nigeria+S. Africa}
5. Vanessa Mdee ft. K.O. - “Nobody But Me” {Tanzania + }
6. Skales - "I am for Real" 
7. Orezi and Davido - “Shuperu”
8. Seyi Shay - “Jangilova”
9. Yemi Alade - “Johnny”
10. Tiwa Savage - My Darlin'    
11. Adekunle Gold - Sade 
12. Rayce - For You 
13. Rayce - Tetela  
14. Mr. Flavour ft. Chidinma - “Ololufe”
15. Zahara - Limbisa {South Africa}
16. Tolu ft. Don Jazzy - My Lover 
17. Elani - Nikupende (Lyric Video) {Kenya} 
18. Waje - Coco Baby ft. Diamond Platnumz {Nigeria + Tanzania}
19. Avril - Nikimuona {Kenya}
20. Charass - Coco Butter [Remix] ft. Davido x Phyno 
21. Alicios - Posa ya Bolingo (Lingala Love) {DRC}
22. Harrysong - I'm In Love [Remix] ft. Olamide
23. Bisa Kdei - I Love You {Ghana}
24. DeeVS ft. Bisa Kdei - Yebeko 
25. Elani - Kookoo {Kenya}


NOTE
See also Zahara's Loliwe; and see how she explains the meaning of the song. The literal meaning of the word is “The Train”. Though it came out in 2011, I mention it here for the special poignancy and richness of its allusions. Loliwe is Zahara's metaphor for the deep longing for a father, a loved one, who went away in search of greener pastures. A father who went away and, it seems, isn’t ever coming back -- because trains from the big towns arrive predictably at the local station and disappoint.

MUSIC: Lola Rae's One Time

Young though she still is, Lola Rae has already packed some serious time and talent into her musical journey. And the effort's already bearing ample fruit.

HERE: Something about Lola Rae

Lola's enchanting music video, One Time, produced by Twenty20 Media in 2016, is a feast of song and hi-spirited dance. She, the leading and only voice, is both single-minded and self-assured. Her Afro-Reggae offering is a fusion of colors -- all shades of color -- dancing light, and fluid bodies, all moving in a combo of sound and unspoken, gesticulated text. 

Her song speaks to the proverbial rude boy and rude girl, and her egging, in that irresistible tone of hers, is more intoxicating than any root-beer (ha! ha!) can be to a man-child, or his naughty sister. All the stuff that's here is lovely, and here's all tinsely, but for the absence of tinsel itself -- in this cool set that's beyond make-believe.

The beat, it keeps coming at ya! It's persistent. It's hi-spirited. It's consistent. And yet as soft, as flowing, as silk. All-consumed with the tempo of the moment, the girls who have joined Lola in this feast, this feat, of camaraderie and feeling simply won't let up. 

Color and shapely forms. A bewitching cadence of (e)motion and sound. A suppleness of presence. A sense of earnest, burning desire. All these fill the air, and charm the view.

Naughty visual phrases pack the secret girls' room, too, where much of the action takes place -- to the chagrin of all them guys who cannot quite be in there, sorry.

c!

READ: The "One Time" Lyrics

Africa's Happiest Songs of The Year: Introduction and Selection Criteria ~ #TheYamboSelection

The material that appears below is a somewhat revised and 'domesticated' version of  the one released earlier in connection with Africa's Top 40 Pop songs of 2015. The present focus is on The Happiest Songs of 2015

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the second annual edition of #TheYamboSelection, presenting the full list of Africa's Happiest Songs of 2015. The same criteria are used this year (January to December 2015) as were used last year to select and rank, out of the songs released or published during the year, those that project and/or elicit the highest quotient of happiness in the listener/audience.  

As before, the focus in this series of lists is the song, not the singer, with the added requirement that only songs in video form qualify. In addition, the song must broadly fit the standard definition of popular (or pop) music; that is, music in any of these distinct genres, or any combination of them: Benga, Blues, Bongo Flava, Hip Hop, Kwaito, RnB, Rap, Reggae, Rock or Soul. We are not dealing here with gospel, classical  or traditional music; although borderline cases or creative partial 'fusions' with them will always be considered. 

Several segments of the Happiest Songs -- specifically Top 5, Top 10 and Top 25 -- will be separately released for quick reference, and (for whatever it's worth) in order to focus attention on them and permit longitudinal and other comparisons.  But, as we start browsing and clicking, let's remember that Top 10 is hallowed space. Only the best songs (or in this case the happiest songs) should populate it, in proper order, regardless of country or sex or language or ethnic identity or religion, or race; and here they do. 

In 'happiest songs' we include only those in which the singers have made patently creative use of those elements that characterize all music (of which pop is an integral part) in order to give them (the songs) superior appeal to the average or accomplished ear. These elements are: Tone, melody, harmony, beat, rhythm, audibility, tempo, and the visual impact. In addition, however, the happiness factor must come into play, in order to reflect how the song reaches the generalized ear, and how the hearer responds to it.

Pop music is 'popular' in the sense that it resonates with large publics, in their present (or day-to-day, or contemporary) circumstances. If not pop, it is traditional in orientation, and thus locked in, and into, the past; though some of these may eventually acquire the revered status of classics. Over time, it is important to realize, too, day-to-day begins inexorably to provide a break with what we may call the past. This is distinctly the case in multicultural environments, or the 'melting pots' of  deep-urban localities.

As already pointed out, #TheYamboSelection rates only music videos. The point here is that an artist who does not release the video version of a song is simply not ready for big time with that song. Fans nowadays want to see what's going on with the artiste and his or her 'band' while the song is sung. Today's pop scene, it seems obvious, is inescapably audio-visual. Sound quality matters exceedingly, and so does the quality of the visual dimension. And let's not forget that the production of a video is a cooperative venture between the artiste(s) and the video director/producer. The latter do deserve credit too when things go really right.

Success demands that the audio-visual challenge be simultaneously attacked from two perspectives: (a) From the performance perspective, the artiste's obligation is to produce the vocals, the lyrics and the dance or 'stage' routines (the 'body language') that together signify, accentuate or enhance his or her persona in the eyes and ears of the fans. (b) From the recording perspective, both the sounds (in all their permutations and combinations) and the visuals are technically the responsibility of the cinematographer and/or the video director/producer.

The artiste must therefore choose very carefully, and it costs a tidy sum to commit the people who can produce a video of high technical and artistic quality. Indeed, as directors such as Clarence Peters, Justin Campos, MattMax, C.A.R.D.O.S.O and Moe Musa know -- and as those who know their work do too -- the task of directing/producing a winning music video is not merely a technical challenge but a demanding creative-artistic one as well. This does of course rope in the actors, the artistes, as everything visual converges on the set. Certainly, the dancing and other forms of acting must be well choreographed for the camera and synchronized with the song, even if the sound of a particular single or track comes to the set pre-recorded.

The naming of more than one hit inevitably prompts the question as to which hit comes first, and which next or last. Sometimes, all too often perhaps, there are ties which must be broken and songs which must thus, regrettably, be excluded. The more valued the list, the greater the regret all around.

In selecting and ranking Africa's Happiest Songs -- limited to Sub-Sahara as already indicated -- the following six criteria (each on a scale of 1 - 5, with 5 being the highest score) have served as a guide (and thus an otherwise altogether qualitative proposition is tempered with a known procedure):

1. The creative appeal and musicality of the voice asset.
2. The choice and mastery of the musical instruments in play.
3. The poetic form and content of the lyrics.
4. The artistic and aesthetic depth of the video component.
5. The synchronic or choreographic quality of the audio-visual
product, in terms of: harmony, tone, melody, rhythm, beat and color (dis)play.
6. Based on the foregoing, how happy the entire single/track, from beginning to end, makes me feel: about it, about me, about the moment -- and, for the time being, about "things" or life. This criterion also serves as a qualitative tie-breaker; that is, a virtual 'casting vote' whenever any other criteria yield a quantitative tie.

In addition to the six criteria, the maximum number of listed titles under which an artist may be indicated as the lead singer in a given year is firmly restricted to three; but there is no limit to the number of times an artist may feature or make cameo appearances in listed songs or videos.

Updated: January 19, 2016

Harrysong's 'Reggae Blues' Ranks Third in Africa's Top 40 Songs of 2015 ~ #TheYamboSelection

Harrysong has a reputation for releasing catchy, catchy tunes, and he doesn't disappoint here. Reggae Blues, his latest song, is an oxymoron, and a playful one at that, which adds spice to a song whose name it is; and intrigues those yet to hear it. The presence of five Master Artists in this music video is a brave statement of purpose, which is ultimately well-justified by a very high quality of vocal and instrumental delivery, as well as the high spirits that they thereby infuse into the video and the club atmosphere. Both of these are surely noticed and appreciated by all who have the chance to watch and the time to contemplate, and so savor, Reggae Blues.

READ: (1) Olamide Baddoo's bioinfo, (2) Harrysong's bioinfo, (3) Kcee's bioinfo, (4) Orezi's bio info, (5) Iyanya's bioinfo.

The video's dance-acts are easy-going and self-assured, performed by known impresarios, here blended by team spirit into one but many-sided and swinging and swaying and vibrant thing -- a tour d'force kind of thing inside the virtual live-entertainment spot.

Everyone's just having a good time in the kanightclub, and not minding all that raw slang -- whose meaning everyone knows anyway (which is what I gathered from a recent Harry Song interview with that lovely hostess on HipTV). Not at all. Thought I heard: "Idhi i pop champagne", but I'm sure that's not what Harry said.

The song's tune is very easy to follow, and easy to appropriate -- with body and soul. But its simplicity is deceptive. The thinking behind its use is accomplished thinking and, given the effect it has on one, admirable. One beat, and the one tune, subtly run and loop through the whole song, which is just four seconds short of five minutes long. The sum total of all this creative endeavor is a song, Five Star Music, that will be liked by almost all who hear it, and who watch the video -- or feel moved by it to dance.

Reggae is a word that sounds very familiar in my household. So, let me conclude by saying: "Hi Rege, they're singing your song!"

NOTE: Reggae Blues was published on August 7, 2015. It was directed by Adasa Cookey of Squareball Media. It had a total of 1,600,346 YouTube views as at 3:45 p.m. on December 26, 2015.


Click here to watch the Reggae Blues video