INTRODUCTION
This is the third annual edition of #TheYamboSelection, presenting the list of Africa's Top 5 Happiest Songs of 2016. The same criteria are used this year (January to December 2016) 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.
With all the talent that keeps popping up all across Africa, it has been no less daunting a task this year to put together this list. Having more to pick from does not necessarily mean a greater leeway in doing so, one finds, as there's even more, regrettably, to let go that should be in. But all lists of quality do have a 'genetic' limit of sorts, one hazards to add, in the sense of how long, how elongated, they can possibly be -- and still remain optimal and (common)sensible. So, as we look ahead, one senses that this list is fast approaching a certain limit one cannot breach.
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: Hip Hop, RnB, rap, reggae or rock. We are not dealing here with gospel, classical or traditional music; although borderline cases or creative partial 'fusions' with them will always be considered.
CLICK HERE to read the whole Introduction to the criteria used to make the list below.
HERE, THEN, THE LISTING AND RANKING OF AFRICA's TOP 5 HAPPIEST SONGS OF 2016:
[Click on a Song's title to watch the video]
5. Salome by Diamond Platnumz ft. Rayvanny (2016):
Click here to read a review of the song
4. Elengi by Innoss'B ft. Koffi Olomide (2016):
Click here to read a review of the song
3. Jinja by Fuse ODG (2016):
Click here to read a review of the song
2. Tere Tere by Toofan (2016):
Click here to read a review of the song
1. Count Ur Blessings by Mixzy (2016):
Click here to read a review of the song
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
READ: Africa's 40 Happiest Songs of The Year, 2015
READ: Africa's 25 Happiest Songs of The Year, 2014
READ: World Happiness Report 2015
DO ALSO READ: "The Happiness Contagion", which I posted on December 9, 2008
Toofan is a super-inspired and talented duo from Togo, in West Africa. They go by the 'stage' names of Masta Just and Barabas, respectively. They have been around for more than a couple of years now, and their fame has only grown. Last month, November 2016, they released a very catchy track titled Teré Teré, which is making great waves right now on TV channels dedicated to music -- more specifically Trace Mziki and Trace Naija -- across Africa. It's catchy in both the sight and sound realms. Catchy and captivating.
Click here for the video
The song is sung in French. But some East Africans would be forgiven to think that Toofan was using two words very familiar in their vernacular: Mano Ber (at 0:38, 0:47, 1:31, 1:40, 2:23, 2:32 and 3:18 of the video); and Sibuor (loudly at 1:42). Just aural illusions, rather than smart-alec allusions, though. For these East African ears, mano ber has a clear meaning: "that's good or fine" (whatever that is). Sibuor is the word for a lion (preferably a male lion in full gear, or mane).
About five decades ago, one still recalls, a popular Jamaican song (by Chaka Demus and Pliers) titled Murder She Wrote (read the background story here) was similarly widely but mistakenly 'heard' and sung in Nairobi as "Mama Shiro"! And so it goes, charmingly.
Teré Teré is both the essential song and the beat which carries the dance along. It is, that is to say, a part of that niche in pop music which lays great emphasis on dancing -- group-dance (or choreographed dance routines) -- and so discourages extended or 'fancy' singing. This niche has been around for quite a while, really, but seems to be enjoying some kind of resurgence now. So the singing in Teré Teré is of limited scope.
The only melody there is in Teré Teré, you don't hear -- you see. It is in the body-text of the men and women or girls of the very same Teré Teré. It is in how their bodies excite in unison, driven 'madly' sensuous by beat, mood and indigo circumstance. It is in the perfectly timed pauses that, in the 'witching moment, transmute into poses -- and postures, even -- that are themselves music to the eye. In the rippling glow of a slow-motion jig in the video by the lady in grey at the car's open doors, her back to us. It's in the awkwardly outstretched hands seeming to levitating the dancer who stretches them, with knees knocking, into the very heart of the dance. And finally in that naughty finger-pointing by the male protagonist, sneakily taunting fertile minds.
In short, to borrow a meme from Swiss cheese, Teré Teré is practically all dance, with just enough lyrics (and related singing) to hold the dance together. And Teré Teré is at once the song's title and the lyrics' (and the dance's) dominant punctuation mark.
Click Here for a Partial Transcript of: Teré Teré lyrics
#TheYamboSelection
