Entertainment Lifestyle 

Rave reviews of ‘E maa yonu si mi’ K1’s new song

‘E maa yonu si mi’ is K1’s new song currently on air; it appears that each day and everywhere I go, the track advertises itself to me. I did not give it attention until I deliberately searched for it from a cd retailer last Saturday. And with a sum of N150, I was a proud owner of the latest cd, content of which lives up to K1’s seemingly desperate sprint to retain his seat in the stardom, especially among new generation of music lovers.

He undisguisedly flirted with hip-hop genre, laying all his songs on synthesizer rather than on his regular percussion for which fuji, an indigenous genre, derived its strength and appeal, especially to foreign audience who love to see how talking drums, sakara, sekere, agogo, igba are played coordinately to bring out a rich rhythm.

But there is no need to issue K1 query over this experiment. He is the pilot of his band. He is the master of his act, having invested about four out of his six decades on earth into it. Therefore, his choice of instrumentation is in order and evidence of his mobility.

Be that as it may, he should have retained some traditional instruments and blended them with those generated by machine. Dr Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, for instance, remixed his famous Fuji Garbage II during his UK tour of 1990, collaborating with some foreign music producers who probably must have asked him to do what K1 just did to his fuji.

There must, therefore, have been a disagreement over this because Barrister could be strict and stubborn on his music, which he considered his identity among other genres. The best he did to appease his producers was allowing the volume of what we call electric drum set to submerge other instruments and also increasing the pace of the beat. That’s all. All his regular percussionists, including agogo, entered the studio with him and featured in that remix originally produced for international market. Yet, the cd blended with the producers’ concept.

Again, when Barrister observed mass acceptance of Lagbaja’s Africalipso genre, especially his ‘Konko Below’ cd released in 2002 or thereabout, he brilliantly looked out for the soul of that music and transplanted it into what he gave us as ‘Reality’ in 2004. Till date, a good number of non-fuji fans keep Barrister’s ‘Reality’ inside car and at home. He used Lagbaja’s bata, married it with piano, saxophone and bass guitar to set dance floor on fire for all lovers of melody. Simple!

However, K1 has done what he called aso igba laa da fun igba (the trendy sound). And he deserves that right. Since Saturday, I have ceaselessly listened to all the tracks, a compilation of his known songs from the 90s, and found the sound fresh and somehow compelling. Those tracks are excerpted from his Dance For Me, 1989, American Tip, 1990; Reflection, 1995; Legacy, 1996; History, 1997; Fuji Fusion, 1998; Message, 2000; Statement, 2001.

His duet with a familiar female hip-hop act, I think, a lady called Teni, is right and commercially strategic, for the numerous fans of the lady would want to look out for and have a taste of the unusual collabo. Should I confess? My best in the cd titled ‘Fuji, The Sound’, is bass guitar which I think was played by K1 Joel, who is unarguably one of the best bass guitarists around. The consistent rhythm of that string at the background pumps some fragrance into my soul.

You may, this morning, go out and pick a copy to know that K1 is determined not to be elbowed aside or left at the rear by the young elements. Of course, he is frequently engaged with A-class live performances for the kings and aristocrats and return home with bagful of money.

Still, he believes he has what it takes to show Davido, Olamide, Naira Maley and other youngsters, whose singles control the minds of the youths and some old ones, that old soldier never dies and, more importantly, old wine corked in new bottle will always taste richer.

@ HIS DESPERATE SPRINT by
TUNDE BUSARI

Sourced From Nigerian Music

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