So Omotola redid the video for Feel Alright and it seems the song itself was remixed… its definitely miles ahead of the original lol

Continuing my call for someone- with the resources- to tap into the overly underutilized talent in Nigeria…here’s something a friend of mine was kind enough to throw my way.  It may just seem like  a bunch of Naija kids messing around, but if you’ve ever watched a Naija home video before, you’ll more than understand the brilliance of this homemade mock about (and short) fan movie. While I’ll admit it’s a little rough, it’s obvious that at least one of these guys knew more about what it takes to make a movie than any Nigerian movie director in this country today. I also found it somewhat ironic that the makers of the fan-movie chose to call themselves: Low Budget Media…sigh, just imagine what they’d be able to accomplish with a bigger budget?

ENJOY!

This is a quick overview of Dare Art Alade’s last album; Un.DAREY.ted. A more detailed including track by track review will be coming up soon.

I admire Dare Art Alade. One does not need to listen to the album a million times to be aware of the hard work that went into its making. He has definitely worked so much on his singing since his last album and it has clearly paid off on his performance in un.DAREY.ted. His singing is much more confident, mature; and the singing gymnastics, simpler and better delivered. The feat could not have been achieved without hard work; only, I wished he had managed to make it all appear falsely easy, natural. His singing keeps hitting me from my speakers, powerful, bold and determined and I cannot but be totally soaked in the effort. I am glad he, at least, is making a serious effort to make music, unlike many…no, millions who now claim to have taken to music in today’s Nigeria.

Dare definitely stands out. However, if he is underrated, there might be a good reason for it. If I underrate him, I probably have good reason for it. It may however not be deserved. Dare needs to define himself musically. I would love to see him do so. There’s so much of him he appears not to be tapping into just yet! All the effort seems to be directed at tapping into some icons he really appreciates. That is good. It helps to develop musically but then, I believe there is always a time to look genuinely inwards- for self definition. For Dare, that should have been before un.DAREY.ted, not that it is now too late. Dare, we love you but then, where, really are you? True, you can sing juju, fuji, apala, R n’ b, jazz or whatever; it’s the result of hard work but to do that convincingly as self is another matter. Also, too much caution in singing helps to dull the sound, kill conviction. I blame a lot of the lack of conviction on the cautious singing. Yes, there’s an evident need, pressure to sing well but there’s also a need for a let go. Also, I am not sure being underrated should be celebrated. It should be fought…and defeated! Dare is yet to arrive. His being underrated is definitely undeserved if he hasn’t more to offer. I am waiting. I want to see more. We would be happy to see more.

Isn’t orchestration the use of orchestra instruments to create desired musical effects? From that perspective, there was definitely no orchestration in the entire album; not one orchestra instrument was used. Was confusion intended when the album sleeves were made to read “All tracks orchestrated in Nigeria by Tee-Y Mix…”? The album was definitely well produced. Tee-Y Mix did a good job producing, interpreting the songs; and the mixing was well done too, better than most works coming from Nigerian artistes. Cobhams Asuquo didn’t do a bad job either, on those two tracks.

If you haven’t seen his videos for this album, here they are in the order of release. Apparently, there is some sort of story being told across all three. In order, Not The Girl, More, No Stars. And don’t you forget to come back for the full album review!

Tonight by Amani

Estilo by Lizha James

Heartbeat by Nneka

Ingoma by Thandiswa Mazwai

Plenty Plenty by The Dream (couldn’t find a video. If you got it, drop a link in the comments)
Dominoes by Brian Temba
Heartbeat by Nneka
Khuli by Tswak Stik’em
Big Boi Anthem by Jay Ru
I Want You Back by XOD