Believe it or not, I'm not a member of the "music is healing, music is God, music makes the world spin on its axis, I can’t live without my radio" cult.
Call me an old soul, who only get moved by, well what actually moves me. Make me dance or cry, get me angry or horny, spark the mosh pit and make me two-step till I sweat. Or don’t even bother.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’d love to chase good music but it’s just to tiring. Somehow it still finds me though. Every once in a while I hear something that makes the earth move under my feet.
So it’s circa 2007 and out of the cosmos comes a girl named Ayo with an album wackly titled JOYFUL.
Aside from the album title, this Nigerian-German songbird deserved all praises due. But if singing in a language not your own, producing and arranging your own music isn't enough to convince the hardcore; then lyrically she deads all ill noise. Emotional and heartfelt her delicately nuanced verbs and nouns never came off as pink or gushy nor were we left ever feeling embarrassed for her.
Let me try and break it down like this.
Remember the first time you heard that MJB joint -you pick the one- where you got all caught up in the moment and got a little misty around the eye region? And although nothing even remotely like a Hailey brother beat down might have actually happened in your world - you still felt the shit out of Mary’s pain. And after the song was done you felt like you’d dropped a burden from your shoulders -realizing how much you probably needed that cry.
Cliché? Well yes - but Ayo’s sound was kind of like that. She made music that actually hurt to listen to; but didn't hurt to listen to. Not predictably optimistic or becoming slit your wrist music; JOYFUL managed a harmony rarely found in its genre.
While the strength of her talent was clearly rooted in the ability to make grown men weep, she had a few toe tappers (and a few joints just itching for deep house remixes) thrown in for good measure. Midway through JOYFUL Mami got all flirty-like on the Abbey Lincoln remake of “Supposed to Be Love”( For some reason we feel Lilly Allen should be somewhere taking notes). With JOYFUL Ayo did some cool stuff, and she did it all pretty damn well.
Anyway, yeah it’s an “old” album, but we just came across these videos for the first time today and it reminded us of how much we dig this girl.
Well made and built to last. Kind of like your daddies Chevy.
1 comment:
dayum..thanks for turning me on to this. sounds awesome.
"I’d love to chase good music but it’s just to tiring."
i feel ya. i'm too lazy. i just let it find me...kinda like what just happened when i stopped by your blog.
Post a Comment