FRONT COVER
Issue 41 | June 2017
EDITOR’S NOTES
innovate to keep Afropolitan Vibes fresh and provide greater value for all our fans who have grown with us since inception in March 2013.
This magazine issue that you hold in your hands will be the very first copies to be distributed at Muri Okunola Park in Victoria Island, where Afropolitan Vibes will now be held every three months after four years at Freedom Park. We commemorate this exciting move with this quarter’s magazine cover which shows the performance stage area and the pristine surroundings of the park.
We hope that you enjoy the new surroundings, drink plenty of our palm wine and visit our sponsor stalls as well as our own official merchandise stall. You can also visit our online store at www.printivo.com/store/afropolitanvibes to purchase from the full tang of merchandise that we have available.
There are many exciting things planned for the next few months as we constantly strive to IN THIS EDITION
AFROPOLITAN VIBES MAGAZINE CREDITS
We profile our four guest artists: Iyanya, Paul Play Dario, MzKiss and Leeroy.
Editor: Abby Ogunsanya Guest artist profiles: Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, Kola Tubosun. (MzKiss & Leeroy profiles edited from official bios) Cover Photo: Dohdohndawa Photography Show photos: Dohdohndawa Photography Cover Graphic Design: Graeme Arendse Graphic Design: Ayomidotun Freeborn Guest artists pictures: Courtesy of subjects
We feature some of our favourite pictures from our 4th year anniversary edition which was held on March 17th 2017. CONTACT US You can email us with your thoughts at info@afropolitanvibes.com. We also read all comments and respond to questions on all of our social media platforms.
Contact and advertising enquiries: info@afropolitanvibes.com Tel: + 234-803-4937094
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 +234-803-493-7094.
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Issue 41 | June 2017
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, Afro-funk, Afro-hip-hop, Afro-pop and Highlife music. A host of talented artists gather to rehearse and then perform with Bantucrew on stage. The show was held monthly at Freedom Park’s Main stage for four years from March 2013- March 2017. The first of our now quarterly shows will be held at Muri Okunola Park in Victoria Island on Friday 16th June. Show starts promptly from 8.00pm 10.30/11.00pm. Afropolitan Vibes is co-produced by Ade Bantu and Abby Ogunsanya.
Bantu
Palm Wine Tradition
Bantu aka Brotherhood Alliance Navigating Towards Unity is a 13-piece Afro-funk-Afrohip-hop-Afro-beat musical collective founded by Nigerian-German brothers AdĂŠ Bantu and Abiodun. The band features multi-instrumentalists and singers who perform as a collective. 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 bar area where we encourage you all to come join us after the show for a drink and a chat.
Spread the word
If you love Afropolitan Vibes, spread the word - tweet about us, join our Facebook page at facebook.com/Afropolitanvibes, subscribe to our digital magazine at issuu.com/afropolitanvibes and invite your friends and family next time. THE NEXT AFROPOLITAN VIBES SHOW WILL BE ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 15TH 2017 ENJOY THE SHOW!
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Issue 41 | June 2017
POP’S UNLIKELY HERO By Oris Aigbokhaevbolo
Oris lives in Lagos and tweets from @catchoris 6
Issue 41 | June 2017
The other day I caught a video online of Iyanya singing with a small band. He goes through a few songs, from his own catalogue and from others, and ends the session with the song you might expect: ‘Kukere’. It is the song that immediately leaps to your lips when you are asked about Iyanya. Curious then that ‘Kukere’ was almost never recorded.
O
ver two decades before that hit song was made, the child who will be called Kukere Master by D’Banj was born in Calabar, Cross Rivers state to a forester father and a head mistress mother.
At the time in keeping with his American heroes, he went by the name Desire, a name certain to elicit giggles today. Perhaps it was an effective name for an R&B cat back in Calabar. Project Fame was having none of it. The show demanded he changed his name before allowing him onstage and on air.
Growing up in the town he was born, Iyanya is said to have led the children’s choir of his church at age 5. While this may have hinted at a future as a performing and recording artist, Iyanya Onoyom Mbuk, the child’s full name, was born in the mideighties and grew up in a Nigerian household in the 1990s. As anyone would tell you, this was not a period in which Nigerian parents were agreeable to entertainment dreams—especially not as harboured by one of their own kids. Still in Calabar, Iyanya attended primary school and ended up at his state’s federal university, University of Calabar. There he studied business management. It is perhaps unsurprising that the talent for music, so early discovered, never really left. Subsequent to obtaining a degree, Iyanya began to perform at different spots in his hometown, singing karaoke to guests, presumably dancing as he did so. These performances were usually to songs by American artists, the dominant group on Nigerian radio at the time. Craig David, purveyor of a major soundtrack to the teenage years of men of a certain age, has been mentioned by Iyanya as influence. Ditto R. Kelly. Little wonder then that when Iyanya as a recording artist was at the start an all out R&B artist. For a brief time, he is said to have been a rapper. Now no one knows how good—or bad—he was.
Online, you can find a video of a then newly rechristened Iyanya singing and soliciting for votes. Iyanya is up against Omawumi and Praiz and a few others who leave the show with their obscurity intact. At the end of the season, both his name and his life have changed. He is rich and a little famous. He is aware that ahead of him is serious work. In 2009, Iyanya’s first album My Story was released. On it, he sings and sings, just like his American heroes taught him via the speakers of his youth. The album wasn’t quite well received. This was partly due to logistics, and partly, as it seems in hindsight, because he was recording music in the wrong genre. He was a popstar singing just R&B. Two years after the release of My Story, Iyanya was blackmailed into recording the song that would be the biggest single of his career. For some months, his manager was trying to get him to record a particular song. Iyanya demurred. It wasn’t a song in his image: too fast, too frivolous, too dance-y. Then one day his manager fashioned a way to get Iyanya to make the song. “I didn’t believe in it,” Iyanya said about the delay in recording the song. “My manager had to trick me that we had a show where they wanted to pay us N500,000. so when I got there, he told me to complete ‘Kukere’ before we go for the show. After I completed the song, he told me there was no show.” Smart move it turned out to be.
The path to recording music came through the popular Project Fame singing contest. To launch the first season of the show, its producers called for interested individuals. Iyanya presented himself. 7
Issue 41 | June 2017
To shoot the video for the song, Iyanya sold his car. The success of the song meant the man could replace the car and then some.
Applaudise was the last project released under MMMG, the label he co-founded with Ubi Franklin. At the end of 2016, it was announced that Iyanya had joined Don Jazzy’s Mavin Records. The union saw the release of the Signature EP in 2017. The very first fruit of the union was however a song somewhat in the mode of the R&B Iyanya grew up on. The title? ‘Up 2 Sumthing’.
The sophomore album showed up two years after the release of the ‘Kukere’ single. Named Desire, and with several songs produced by D’Tunes who produced ‘Kukere’, it was a completely Nigerian pop album, featuring sounds from just about every genre. Rap, reggae, soukous, R&B—all showed up on the album. The album was well received by the public. Songs like ‘Ur Waist’, ‘Flavour’ and ‘Jombo’ were fan favourites. The fear of becoming a popstar was unfounded. At the 2013 Headies, he was named Artiste of the Year.
Indeed, in a career with as many turns as Iyanya’s, it is difficult to say what happens next. All anyone can say with certainty is that Iyanya is working, reworking his sound. He might sing, stoking your desire. He might go pop, making you dance. Whatever he does, you won’t be indifferent.
Ahead of his third album, Applaudise, Iyanya released the title track and a colourful video with a traditional wedding setting. The album, released in 2015, celebrated various kinds of love, with one song about his mother, who passed on same year as his father in 2008. Iyanya has declined speaking about the deaths in public.
Twitter: @iyanya Instagram: @iyanya
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Issue 41 | June 2017
RAP SHOWMAN 9
Issue 41 | June 2017
L
eeroy is a founding member of Saïan Supa Crew, one of the first French hip-hop acts to achieve international fame, with hundreds of worldwide tours, records sales numbering hundreds of thousands, and a French music award in 2002 for their “X raisons” album in the “Best Rap / Groove album” category. Leeroy is widely acknowledged for his ability to deliver outstanding performances, a skill he has honed since he started in the music industry in 1997. After Saïan disbanded, Leeroy launched his first album ‘Open Bar’ and remained at the forefront of the French hip-hop movement, with collaborations with fellow artists Idir, Zaho, Molécule, and DJ Zebra. He then launched a new album “Noir Fluo” and went on tour to promote his solo career. Leeroy tirelessly explores new territories to improve his craft- he writes and refines new lyrics, composes all his own music, and constantly adjusts beats and works on his vocal flow. Some say he is the missing link between rap and French song, adding street credibility. Leeroy now mixes genres and music, inspired by his Hip-Hop and 70s pop background. On stage, he offers a urban song show, in which images, melodies and rhymes are intertwined. A second Act just begun and it is happening live on stage, Where the fiery performer takes on a new dimension. Twitter: @Leeroytweets facebook: www.facebook.com/Leeroy
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Issue 41 | June 2017
RAP’S NEW QUEEN 11
Issue 41 | June 2017
M
z. Kiss, born Akindele Justina Omowunmi on 1st September 1992, started off her music career in 2010 with the release of her debut song ‘You Go Craze’, which was quickly followed by her ‘Holla At Me’ freestyle. Both songs were independently released and promoted. The songs received positive nods from the media and paved the way for her subsequent hit singles ‘Figure 8’ and ‘Spatacuz’. The videos for both singles were conceptualised by acclaimed video director Paul Gambit and this marked the beginning of his enduring working relationship with Mz. Kiss.
She was nominated for NIGERIA ENTERTAINMENT AWARD (NEA) 2016, in New York,USA as Best New Act and also received nods for SCREAM AWARD 2016 as Best New Act, Youth Favourite Artist and Rookie Of the Year At THE HEADIES. ACIA AWARDS in Atlanta Georgia, USA nominated her as Best Indigenous Music Act 2016 and City people Awards as Best New Act 2016. Wins in 2016 were Industry Cynosure Of the year at the MAYA AWARDS 2016 and All Funnab student Awards (AFSA) as student Favourite female rapper.
Under GAMBIT Music, Mz.Kiss was able to experience a great degree of artistic growth and cut her teeth as an act to be reckoned with in the music industry.
Twitter: @OfficialMzKiss
She eventually parted amicably with Paul Gambit to sign to CAPITAL HILL MUSIC owned by the ace cinematographer, Clarence Peters. There, she released her first single ‘Owo Meta’ (Produced by Tunex) in 2015. This was followed by her second single, ‘Stoopid’ produced by Young D and featuring Falz D Bhad Guy. The videos for both songs were shot by label boss, Clarence Peters. In that same year, the label released a project -called CAPITAL HILL MUSIC PROJECT, for which every act signed under the record label (Ill Bliss, Chidinma, Suspekt, Fefe together with MzKiss) performed in a song collaboration titled ‘Finally’. Mz Kiss released another single titled ‘’Last Year’’ towards the end of 2015, the same year in which she won Best New Act at SCREAM AWARD 2015. In 2016, she surprised her fans and released an ‘’EP’’ (Online Album) titled “Street On The Loose” with the video of her songs ‘’Last Year’’ and ‘’Enemy of Progress’’ which were part of her ‘’EP’’ project. The release of the videos thrilled her fans and positioned her as one of Nigeria’s foremost indigenous female rappers.
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Issue 41 | June 2017
STILL HERE, STILL INNOVATING By Kola Tubosun
Kola lives in Lagos and tweets from @KolaTubosun 13
Issue 41 | June 2017
In 1999, when he released through Kennis Music a remixed version of an old classic Mo Ṣ’oríire, followed by a number of other equally enduring hits, the name Paul Play suddenly shot into the Nigeria’s national consciousness as a bright and enduring star.
H
is voice was svelte and his style was innovative in its familiarity. He combined the deep traditionality of juju and all its local language beauty with the slow and soulful craft of modern RnB. His musical videos were mostly modern.
from his highly anticipated “Luxury” album. The singles included Delicious (2009), Tell it to Me (2013), Best Thing (2013), Fool in Love (2014). He hasn’t stopped producing songs since then, showing up in collaborations with contemporary acts like Niyola, Alabai, and Túndé from Styl-Plus, and surprising his fans. But no matter what new surprises that his impressive career springs on the expectant world, the distinct tune of his evergreen hits will continue to define him wherever he goes, perhaps along with his trademark fedora hat.
His inventiveness and skill were not much of the surprise though. His father, the late I.K. Dáìró, a giant in the Nigerian musical scene, had helped define juju and highlife music a few generations earlier, and paved a way for generations of musicians willing to do the work. A combination of that impressive pedigree with a modern and dynamic feel, mixing sounds and images from contemporary hip-hop to the Jazz of the African diaspora, brought Paul Play into a unique space of his own.
Twitter: @PaulPlay_Dairo Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulplay. dairo
Born Paul Babátúndé Dáìró, the musician now known as Paul Play eventually grew into this pioneering role in the Nigerian musical scene of the early 2000s, with presence and style. But the road wasn’t always as rosy. He started out as a producer, songwriter, and back-up vocalist, joining an RnB group “le griffe” in the late eighties. He was later part of different other groups like “De Klan”, “Oxygen” and “Pure Heart Impression” etc, most of which no longer exist. His first big break came with the release of the single Angel of My Life (2000) which fielded a romantic lyric laid over a deeply memorable tune. The track dominated the airwaves for many weeks, and took its crooner into many billboard charts. Other songs he came to be known for include You and Me, Forever, Mo Wá Dúpẹ́, and Spaced Out. Paul went on a seven-year hiatus after this period, fueling speculations about health issues that threatened his musical career. In 2009, he returned with a series of singles speculated to be 14
Issue 41 | June 2017
March 2017 Fourth Anniverary Edition
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Issue 41 | June 2017
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BACK COVER