What is Afropolitan Vibes?
Afropolitan Vibes is a monthly live music concert which exists as a platform for alternative music: a place where music lovers congregate to watch contemporary singer-songwriters and musicians perform mostly original works that are firmly rooted in African musical origins of Afro-beat, Afrofunk, Afro-hip-hop, Afro-pop and Highlife music. A host of talented artists gather each month to rehearse and then perform with Bantucrew on stage at Freedom Park’s Main Stage. The show is held every third Friday of each month. Show starts promptly from 8.00pm-10.30/11.00pm. Afropolitan Vibes is co-produced by Ade Bantu and Abby Ogunsanya.
Bantu
Bantu aka Brotherhood Alliance Navigating Towards Unity is a 13-piece Afrofunk-Afro-hip-hop-Afro-beat musical collective founded by Nigerian-German brothers Adé Bantu and Abiodun. The band features multi-instrumentalists and singers who perform as a collective.
Palm Wine Tradition
Palm wine is now available at all our shows. As our palm wine is always freshly tapped in Sagamu in the early hours of the morning of each show, this luscious white liquid is guaranteed to be sweet and only mildly intoxicating as it is yet unfermented. Our palm wine is served the traditional way: the wine is available to buy per gourd (to share with friends/family) or in individual calabashes. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are also available for purchase at the Freedom Park bar area where we encourage you all to come join us after the show for a drink, chat and photographs.
Official After Party
After each show, we have an after party gig at the Freedom Park bar area. We have different special guest DJs who make an appearance alongside Raymond Bola Browne aka DJraybeeBrowne of Igroove Radio who is our resident DJ.
Spread the Word
If you love Afropolitan Vibes, spread the word – tweet about us - @afropolitanvibe join our facebook page - facebook.com/Afropolitanvibes subscribe tour digital magazine - issuu.com/afropolitanvibes and invite your friends and family next time.
NEXT AFROPOLITAN VIBES SHOW WILL BE ON
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016 SEE YOU THEN!
Afropolitan Vibes Magazine credits: Editor: Abby Ogunsanya
Guest artists’ photographs: Courtesy of subjects
Guest artists profiles: Dami Ajayi, Kolade Arogundade, Oris Aigbokhaevbolo
Show photographs: Akin Kongi
Graphic design and layout: Graeme Arendse
Printing: John Bola
Contact and advertising enquiries: info@afropolitanvibes.com Tel: + 234-803-4937094
Issue 27 // January 2016
Editor’s Notes
Happy New Year! We at Afropolitan Vibes are very excited about 2016 because this year, we have very exciting plans in store to make the show even bigger and better than it already is. The perpetual struggle to secure sponsors continues, but we are not letting that slow down our efforts to make Afropolitan Vibes THE premier live music concert series in Africa. March 2016 will mark three years since the show began. If you would like to keep up to date with all that we have planned, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter online at www. afropolitanvibes.com. At the beginning of the year, Ade Bantu and I sat down to compile a mood board of what we want to achieve in 2016 with Afropolitan Vibes. Our wish list was used to compile what you see now the cover of this month’s Afropolitan Vibes Magazine. It shows the artists we want to work with, places we want to tour, things we want to do to improve the show and publications we want to see Afropolitan Vibes coverage in. As the year goes by, it will be interesting to see how much we are able to achieve. My optimistic streak says we will achieve them all! Enjoy the show...And the magazine!
In this issue
We profile our three guest artists: Sir Shina Peters, Show Dem Camp and Simi. We feature some of our favourite pictures from the 32nd edition of Afropolitan Vibes, which was held on December 18th 2015.
Contact us
You can email us with your thoughts at info@afropolitanvibes.com. We also read all comments and respond to questions on on all of our social media platforms We have a limited number of back issues of Afropolitan Vibes magazine. If you would like a copy, please contact us via email or on +234-803-4937094.
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Issue 27 // January 2016
The Sound
of Things to Come Dami Ajayi
S
imi is arguably one of the finest female vocalists doing Afrosoul in the Nigerian music scene. With a slew of back-to-back hits, she has lent her voice to many good songs: Tiff, her soulful love song; Jamb Question, her mellifluous rhetoric on forlorn love; E No Go Funny, still about forlorn love but taking a humorously abusive turn. Clearly, Simi’s taste for matters of heart is as unmistakable as her silky voice.
Brown and Take a Chance. However, her breakthrough came with Ara Ile, a gospel dance song that became a mainstream hit. Not relenting on her efforts, she followed up with a 5 track Extended Play album in 2012 called Restless. Best described as an “Alternative music mixtape”, Restless was a mesh of covers of global hit songs like Rihanna’s Man Down, Bruno Mars’ Grenade and One Republic’s Apologise. It was also a crucial and successful attempt at Simi’s redefinition. The EP, a cult classic, earned Simi high praises. Henry Igwe of Net Nigeria wrote in his enthusiastic review that, “at the risk of being comparative… Asa may have found new competition.”
With a modal voice ranging from a sibilant low pitch to an astonishing falsetto, Simi came to music at the young age of eight. Although she attests to not coming from a musically inclined family, her father was an avid listener of the popular records of her formative years. By either osmosis or diffusion or both, his listening list became hers; a list replete with the songs of King Sunny Ade (who also hails from her home state Ondo), Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey and Sir Shina Peters.
With such outstanding accomplishments as an indie musician, it wasn’t long before her meteoric rise was foreshadowed by the record label XM3 which, incidentally, is home to the award-winning musician Praiz. Simi’s discography will not be complete without mentioning her sonic chemistry with Falz the Bahd guy with whom she did the duets, Jamb Question and Soldier, hers and his respectively. She has also penned songs for celebrated AfroSoul musicians like Bez and Dare. She listens avidly to Contemporary Nigerian music and names international stars like Natasha Beddingfield, Jason Mraz and Lauryn Hill as some of her influences.
At age 10, a year after her parents separated, she penned her first song, He Lives, an affirmative gospel song that was never recorded. Like most musical talents, she started in the church. She joined a gospel rap group called Outstandin’ in her early teenage years and wrote her first recorded song at age of 13. Simi—Full Name: Simisola Bolatito Ogunleye—did not look back after penning her first song. She combined her love for music with her academic studies, graduating with a degree in Mass Communication from Covenant University.
Clearly her influences move from the domains of popular music, rhythm and blues, soft rock, urban hits all the way down to indigenous Afrobeats and Highlife music. With lyrics couched in Yoruba, her native tongue, and Nigerian English, Simi is singing to and from heart of her people.
In 2008, she recorded her first album with the eclectic producer Samklef. Although the ten track gospel album called Ogaju was not officially released, it launched Simi into limelight with memorable songs like I Do, Chocolate
All fingers are crossed in anticipation of her sophomore album.
Twitter & Instagram @SympLysimi Facebook: facebook.com/Simi 5
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Shinamania Ijo Shina Kolade Arogundade
“Ohun tán sọ pé kò dùn n’íjọsí rèé o, yègèdè Olúwa ti f ’oyin si O”
F
irstly, let me tell you that I am very sad to miss this month’s Afropolitan vibes. It’s been over 20 years since I last did Ijo Shina! In his hay days Shina pushed the boundaries of Juju music. He reigned supreme. He was the darling of the youths from the north, south, east and west of the country. Everywhere you went in West Africa, Ijo Shina was there. He added speed to the Juju tempo and he called it Afro Juju, the press dubbed it Shinamania. He did not bother with any complicated idioms and Yoruba wise sayings; no it was wise sayings and coded lewdity...the very thing Lagos yuppies had been waiting for. Ijo Shina was the rave of the late 80s and 90s. He played everywhere. He toured the country, visited the Universities and got everyone dancing. Shina started from the bottom though. He got to the top through the hard way in his own unique way. When he came on the scene in the 70s, it was as the teenaged guitarist, a prodigy and session man in the legendary General Prince Adekunle’s Western
Brother’s Band. Shina was a wizard on the guitar (aje oni guitar). When he left Adekunle in 1977, he paired up with Segun Adewale, another product of Adekunle’s. The belief was that Shina could not sing, but Segun could sing and played the guitar though not as well as Shina. This meant that despite the convention that juju bands were usually named after the front singer, Shina’s brilliance on the guitar meant their band was known as Shina Adewale (a marriage of both their names) and the Superstars Internationals. They were equal partners. There was always going to be complications in the Shina/Adewale union. Juju music was always about the singer not the instrumentalists. After nine albums over a period of three years, they broke up in 1980 and Segun Adewale was an immediate success in his solo run. Segun Adewale played what he called soko, it was the era of innovation, everyone wanted to invent a genre. While Segun Adewale reigned, Shina went somewhat into oblivion. Between 1980 and 1994 Shina released four albums that did not make it. But Shina did come back, and what a comeback!
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“
Lyrically, unlike the wise Yoruba idioms of juju, Shina engaged in self praise and lewd calls to dance. “Figure eight” dance with “your chest”. The market loved it, Shinamania had arrived.”
He started out playing small gigs such as weddings and private parties in the mid ‘80s trying to make ends meet. Notably he played at Victor Olaiya’s Stadium Hotel every weekend to a mixed crowd of Lagos yuppies. This was not the regular juju music fans who before used to be mainly a Yoruba speaking crowd, this was a crowd of Yoruba and non Yoruba speaking people, mostly Igbo and people from the old Bendel State. He shifted so that some of his lyrics were in English, that was his breakthrough.
that invited you to dance with “your chest” and “dig it right, dig it left show me your chest” and “oronbo aya e o dun jo osan lo” (the round thing on her chest is sweeter than orange). When critiques complained about the emptiness of his lyric he wrote a pro feminism song encouraging Nigerians to respect and let women rule. When he was accused of singing for only non Yorubas he wrote a song saying his music was loved by all Nigerians he included the lyrics of popular Igbo and Hausa folklores in his Shinamania album.
Shina had learnt to sing! In fact in one of his songs he talked about it...”the voice they said was sweet has been sweetened by the Lord”. He released Ace in 1989 with hit track Afro Juju. It was a gamble and it worked...adasi jewon! Ace was a massive hit. It was what the market was waiting for. Ace came with a dance style, ijo shina. Juju stopped being Yoruba music and became Nigerian music. As was the trend to take a self given title General, King, Commander, Shina chose to be known as Sir Shina Peters (SSP).
When he goofed during a PMAN music awards ceremony wishing King Sunny Ade (KSA) “soonest recover” the whole nation mocked him but Shina wrote another song; “grammar no be my language”. You could not stop the Shinamania. He was the real pop star, he acted in movies, was on talk shows and presented awards. He met actress Clarion Chukwura on the set of Kannakanna a movie they both appeared in, they had a child together, Clarence Peters, a South African trained music video maker. He built a house for N20 million the same year Jim Ovia started Zenith Bank with the same amount.
It was an innovation, a reinvention of Shina and Juju music. Instead of the traditional guitar as lead instrument in juju music, Shina used a Keyboard and synthesiser to make all sorts of sounds on computer programmed beats. It had not been done in Juju music before. In fact only William Onyeabor had ever used synthesisers in Nigeria before then. Lyrically, unlike the wise Yoruba idioms of juju, Shina engaged in self praise and lewd calls to dance. “Figure eight” dance with “your chest”. The market loved it, Shinamania had arrived, everyone wanted a piece of him.
In all Shina revolutionalised juju music, he brought juju to our national consciousness in a way no juju musician before him did. The man that was told could not sing broke charts singing; “Ohun tán sọ pé kò dùn n’íjọsí rèé o,
yègèdè Olúwa ti f ’oyin si O”
Ijo Shina is back in this edition of Afropolitan Vibes backed by the Agbero International aka BANTU..no better way to start the year.
He called his music Afro Juju but it could have been anything. Fast tempo synthesised beats with lyrics
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Issue 27 // January 2016
Rap’s
Dreamer Duo Oris Aigbokhaevbolo
T
rapping pair sit in a classroom, hands on head in the Nigerian mime for shock and/or alarm as they take in the gluteal endowment of a lady affecting a pose less teacherish than dominatrix. For the other side, listen to ‘Talk about It’ with 2face, where Ghost asks the question that plagues every conscious artist: “Can I change the country with a song?”
ec and Ghost, the pair of rappers that make up Show Dem Camp, are a study in contrasts. Ghost possesses a gravelly gadget as larynx; Tec is softvoiced. Appropriately, Ghost’s delivery is a controlled growl. Tec has a fluid, if somewhat hesitant, flow. They differ in appearance as well. Take out Tec’s shaped string of a moustache and his face won’t miss a thing. Ghost, on the other hand, is a bearded almost-bearish man.
While Ghost and Tec tried to figure the answer to that question, they took the opportunity offered by the warm reception of The Dreamer Project to tour around the world.
Sameness, clearly, is superfluous for the guys of SDC. Which is not to say they don’t have their similarities. As rappers both are devotees of hip-hop, and come from musical childhoods. Olumide Ayeni, before becoming Ghost, was a music loving child. The plan was not to take it up as career but that is exactly what happened. “A time came when I thought the game needed some life to be added into it,” he said in an interview with ThisDay.
The aforementioned humorous side to the duo saw them release the roguish ‘Feel Alright’ in 2013. ‘Feel Alright’ featured Poe and the alternative artist Boj. In the same year, the differences between the guys increased further as Ghost took a bride, leaving Tec in the single’s market. A break ensued and when the duo returned to the studio a year later, they blended both sides of their music and the result was the hit comic single ‘Happy Weekend’, a song which for all of its humour probes Nigerian bribe culture. A playful video followed.
“We thought, hey, maybe we could provide some of that so we decided to come and do it professionally as well.” Perhaps the decision was easier for Tec (real name Wale Davies). His father ran a record label years ago. “To be honest,” Davies said, “music is what I love doing more than anything else.”
In 2015, Show Dem Camp joined a half-dozen other artists to form a collective called The Collective (but stylised as The Collectiv3.) Other members of the group are Poe, Temi Dollface, producers Kid Konnect and IKON, as well as the singer Funbi and instrumentalist Nsikak.
Both rappers were born in Nigeria and lived in cities in Europe and the US before returning to Lagos in the noughties. After the underground success of mixtapes Clone Wars volume 1 and 2, the duo released their debut studio album in 2011. Titled ‘The Dreamer Project” the album charted the path of young persons with big dreams. It spawned the well-received single ‘Farabale’ featuring singer Mr. May D and had guest spots filled by, among other artists, 2face, MI, Temi Dollface and Poe, all of whom SDC would work with again in the future.
Show Dem Camp closed that year with a few singles including a feature on rapper Falz’s remix of ‘Karishika’, and their own song ‘Shey Bai’, which was the duo’s contribution to The Collectiv3’s self-titled album. If you are reading this, you probably know Show Dem Camp open 2016 with a performance at the monthly Lagos concert Afropolitan Vibes. Here’s something else to know: a follow-up to The Dreamer Project is in the works.
The Dreamer Project introduced their audience to two sides of SDC: the humorous side and the conscious side. For the first see the album cover for TDP where the
Now go tell everyone.
Twitter: @showdemcamp Facebook: facebook.com/sdc-showdemcap Website: www.showdemcamp.com 11
DECEMBER 2015 Edition
Afropolitan Vibes