Issue 43 | December 2017 | Complimentary Copy
FRONT COVER
Issue 43 | December 2017
EDITOR’S NOTE It’s hard to believe that we have reached the of 2017. It feels like only yesterday that Ade Bantu and I decided on major changes to Afropolitan Vibes that saw us make the move to a bigger venue at Muri Okunola Park and to a show schedule that runs every three months instead of monthly. It was a big risk, but thankfully one that has paid off. In March 2018, we will stage the second Afropolitan Vibes Music Festival, in line with our vision to create the biggest live music festival in Africa within five years. We hope you enjoy our last show of the year and we wish you a very happy Christmas and New Year! We love feedback, so please do get in touch with any ideas or comments you may have about the show.
IN THIS EDITION
MAGAZINE CREDITS
We profile our guest artists: Shina Peters, Danfo Drivers, Ajebutter, D-Flame and Teni Entertainer.
Editor: Abby Ogunsanya Guest artist profiles: Wale Adeosun, IféOluwa Nihinlola, Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, Kolade Arogundade Graphic Design: Ayomidotun Freeborn Cover Photo: Dohdohndawa Photography Show photos: Dohdohndawa Photography Guest artists’ pictures: Courtesy of artists
We feature some of our favourite pictures from our September 2017 edition. CONTACT US
Contact and advertising enquiries: info@afropolitanvibes.com Tel: + 234-803-4937094
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. 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 43 | December 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 was 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.
B.A.N.T.U
BANTU aka Brotherhood Alliance Navigating Towards Unity is a 13-piece Afro-funk Afro-hip-hop Afro-beat musical collective founded by Nigerian-German brothers AdĂŠ Bantu and Abiodun. The band features multiinstrumentalists 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 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 THE ANNUAL AFROPOLITAN VIBES MUSIC FESTIVAL WHICH WILL BE HELD ON MARCH 16-17th 2018 ENJOY THE SHOW! 4
Issue 43 | December 2017
Shinamania Ijo Shina By Kolade Arogundade
Kolade Arogundade is a South Africa based Academic.
“Ohun tán sọ pé kò dùn n’íjọsí rèé o, yègèdè Olúwa ti f ’oyin si O”
F
toured the country, visited the Universities and got everyone dancing.
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
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 6
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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.
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.
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.
He called his music Afro Juju but it could have been anything. Fast tempo synthesised beats with lyrics 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. 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.
But Shina did come back, and what a comeback! 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.
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.
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).
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”.
It was an innovation, a reinvention of Shina and Juju music. Instead of the traditional guitar as lead 7
Issue 43 | December 2017
Ajebutter22
Working Artist Hustling in Style By IfeOluwa Nihinola
IfeOluwa Nihinlola is a writer and editor from Lagos. He writes about music for Musicinafrica.net.
“I
’m lucky I’m a rapper,” Ajebutter22 says on ‘Good place to start’, the first song on his debut album What Happens in Lagos. Gratitude for the success and status music brings is not unusual for hip hop artists. But this theme feels ill-fitting for an artist whose name and style is characterised by the good life. This isn’t a grass-to-grace story.
Lagos-born Akitoye Balogun departed for the UK in 2007. There he earned two engineering degrees from the University of Leeds and University of Manchester. He started to write songs circa 2005 and by 2009 became part of the group Soyinka’s Afro with his sister, Taymi B. Her return to Nigeria - she’s now a TV producer and on air personality with Cool FM - inadvertently turned Ajebutter22 to a solo artist in 2013. 8
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Balogun chose the moniker Ajebutter when he started writing songs. “Everybody was forming street,” he said in an interview, “but I’m not about that life. It’s just not my image. It’s not what I’m going for.” He added 22 to make it unique—he’s the second child of his parents, born on the second day of June. Ajebutter (one who eats butter) connotes middle class comfort and luxurious upbringing. And for Ajebutter22, name suits musical style. If the streets are defined by hardness of hustling, Ajebutter 22’s music is soft, supple, and insouciant.
artists, proof that they recognise his hard work and respect his hustle. His collaborators include Naeto C, Show Dem Camp, Dr Sid, Ruby Gyang and Boj. But courting attention and seeking out random features isn’t Ajebutter’s style. He just wants to make and perform good music. His uber-cool image may not reveal the grind he goes through to make songs—not with his signature crisp prints, dark shades and blazers—but work never stops for Butter. “When I go on leave from work, I go on tour,” he said during a recent appearance at Techpoint.ng’s Inspired conference.
While he’s no Rakim, Ajebutter22’s laidback rap is reminiscent of hip-hop’s origins, especially end-rhyming MCs of the 1980s. Slow rap often results in an amplification of words, meaning you can scarcely get away with nonsense like you would while mumble-rapping on rapid beats. Ajebutter22 favours comical punch lines that depend on wordplay. His rap is filled with Yoruba expressions that reveal a love of American pop culture and basketball.
“Work” is a job at IT firm Cisco, in Lagos. When he’s done solving networking problems by day, he sits by a microphone and laptop at home, records, and sends the result to collaborators via email—a habit he has sustained from those early days of his career. Perhaps, combining the demands of a nine to five with being an artist is why his success doesn’t seem accompanied by visible hard work in the form of constant self-promotion and media appearances.
Butter, as his friends often call him, doesn’t like eating the dairy source of his name—“Ajebutter tí ò kí n je butter”—and this apparent irony applies to his musical practice too. His slow-mo flow has caused many pundits to dub him as lazy, but his craft reflects hard work and devotion. He’s been putting out music since 2011, broke into the Nigerian scene in 2012 with the release of ‘Senrere’, and hasn't stopped releasing records on a languid, but consistent basis. A 2014 collaborative album with his perennial producers Studio Magic ‘Anytime Soon’ became number one iTunes Nigeria under 24 hours of its release. ‘Bad Gang’ featuring Falz has a catchy chorus that went viral in 2016. When surprise hits become regular, it can’t be the product of laziness or luck.
What Happens in Lagos, his long-awaited debut, projects the smooth, suave nature Ajebutter22 has cultivated. Songs like ‘Rich Friends’, ‘We Are Bad Boys’, and ‘Lagos Big Boy’ reveal a life of comfort. But the album is also filled with stories of what it takes to live and work in Lagos, as evinced in songs like ‘4am’. Lagos is harsh on artists and downright evil to working artists. But don’t look at Ajebutter22; he’s just a lucky rapper hustling with style and a sense of humour.
While still an outsider living in the UK, the internet was Ajebutter22’s sole means getting his music airplay in Nigeria. He emailed radio stations, mentioned artists on Twitter and posted links on file sharing websites. His music found its audience, and now he enjoys support from fellow
Twitter & Instagram: @Ajebutter22
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Issue 43 | December 2017
Teni Entertainer
More than an Internet sensation By Wale Adeosun
Wale Adeosun is a pop culture enthusiast, tweets via @waledash 11
Issue 43 | December 2017
I
n this era of social media ubiquity, a new group of celebrities have emerged, following their consistent or one-time upload of musical performances, comedy skits or outrageous pranks that go ‘viral’. Only a minute number of these Internet sensations transition successfully into mainstream media.
beautiful mix of fuji-styled delivery on an Igbo highlife beat, produced by Mystro. Although yet to release a collective body of work, she is signed to Dr. Dolor Entertainment and her EP, which is scheduled for release in 2018, is rumored to feature artists like M.I, Maleek Berry and Runtown. In her tweet on the 23rd of November, Teni claims songwriting credit for Davido’s single – ‘Like Dat’
Tenientertainer, as she is known on the Internet, gained online popularity through her comedy skits and covers of popular songs by adding her own unique twist, as seen in the Yoruba girl version of Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ and ‘Tonight’ by John Legend. Her 130,000 followers on Instagram attest to the success of her originality.
The 24 year-old native of Ekiti state recently graduated from the American Intercontinental University.
Like her sister, the Afro-house sensation Niniola, Teniola Apata has always had a passion for music; singing and playing drums from as early as 5 years old with her primary school music band. According to Teni, her musical influences include Fuji music legend - King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal (KWAM 1) and Femi Kuti.
Twitter and Instagram - @TeniEntertainer
Her freestyle collaboration with Adekunle Gold, who is also influenced by Fuji music, is my personal favourite; not only does it show her as a talented, extremely confident and witty musician, the video, like most of the others on her page reveals her free-spirited personality. Her ability to comfortably switch styles and genres to deliver her covers, creative freestyles and her own songs seamlessly, and her strategic collaborations with successful contemporary acts such as Adekunle Gold and Runtown have paved the way for her transition from Internet sensation to one of the hottest new artists on the entertainment scene. This transition began in 2016 with the release of a number of singles, which includes ‘Boluwatife’ a tribute to her late father, Rtd. Brigadier Olaosebikan Apata, who was assassinated in 1995. Another notable single ‘Fargin’ was released after the success of a viral freestyle calling out perverted uncles. ‘Fargin’ is a conversation between a virgin and her relentless suitor who is determined to have his wicked way with her. The track is a 12
Issue 43 | December 2017
Danfo Drivers Back In The Driver's Seat By Oris Aigbokhaevbolo
Oris lives in Lagos and tweets from @catchoris
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ew chants in Nigerian pop music are as inimitable as “Iye me!”—a chant familiar to a large number of Nigerians. The word is an exclamation from Edo state, but in the mouths of the duo making up Danfo Drivers, it became an extended melodious lament.
Drivers Records. The 2008 video for ‘Kpolongo’ states clearly at the end: Copyright Owners: J. J. Olotu and E.O. Mairo. Not long after, stories about a split of the group spread. Asked if this was true, they agreed they had a quarrel but said the group was intact. “What actually happened was that we went to school to further our education because we believe education is the key to ultimate success,” they said. In 2009, they released New Chapter. The group followed that album with Back 2 Sender in 2011. The albums were made under two different record labels; both declined to promote the album for some unclear reason. According to Mad Melon, a video for a song from New Chapter was shot but not promoted. “Both albums were not successful and it prompted our fans to believe we were out of music,” he said.
Jimoh Olotu and Azubuike Henry Oghenemairo grew up in the Ajegunle area of Lagos. As children they listened to Don Carlos and the reggae great became their key influence. “We started imitating and infused some of our own style to have what you know as ‘Danfo Drivers’,” the group told Vanguard. “His music is deep in sound and meaning.” As adults, Olotu and Oghenemairo took to the state-wide commuter buses in Lagos to earn a living. The job might have provided a wage daily but it later gave them their collective stage-name when they got signed by Cornerstone Records. Individually, Olotu was Mountain Black and Oghene adopted the name Mad Melon.
Mad Melon recorded the solo album Back in d Days, but the group never really broke up. All the better, fans might say, because for Nigerians of a certain age, Danfo Drivers cannot be less than a duo. And perhaps not just for fans in Nigeria. In 2006, ‘Danfo Drivers’ was included in the official soundtrack for the Mo’Nique vehicle Phat Girlz. For anyone who likes her lessons simple, it might be helpful to consider that this pair of performers is quite a motivating entity: When they get onstage at the last Afropolitan Vibes event for 2017, the two men of Danfo Drivers will embody an easy aphorism: though they were raised in the slums of Lagos, mad Melon and Mountain Black prove it is possible to go far with some drive.
The duo’s public bus also gave them their first hit, 2003’s ‘Danfo Driver’. They transferred the noisy sing-song of conductors in Lagos to the studio and produced a record. It became a hit. If autobiography gave the men of Danfo Drivers a hit song, the song itself gave more Nigerians a glimpse the dance step suo. The dance went viral. Some three years later, the duo returned with a sophomore album titled Danfo Travel: Success Story. The album had the hit song ‘Kpolongo’, which had the “Iye me!” chant. The popularity of their songs meant the men could go on a tour, which they did. Mali, Greece, Spain and Italy were some of the countries to host the former danfo men. Unfortunately, while on tour, the men learnt their music was making a profit for other persons illegally. “When we got back to Lagos we confronted the marketer, who explained to us that it was our record label who gave the goahead,” they said. The situation led to the group leaving Cornerstone. They then established Danfo
Twitter: @itsdanfodrivers
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Issue 43 | December 2017
D-Flame
D
aniel Kretschmar (b. September 19, 1971), better known by his stagename D-Flame, is an Afro-German hip-hop and reggae musician of Jamaican origin. He grew up in Frankfurt where he encountered racism at an early age, often witnessing how his mother was insulted in a spiteful manner. His childhood experiences alongside his literary encounters with Black Power icons like Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, shaped his outlook on life. He grew up listening to Jamaican reggae and African American soul
music and encountered hip-hop music in the early 1980s when he first heard the Sugarhill Gang's Rapper’s Delight at a party. From then he was captivated and began participating in the mid-1980s breakdance movement in Germany. D-Flame spent many years rapping in the rough Frankfurt underground scene, where he flourished, thanks to the support of his mentor, Rebel X of the Black Angel Music. In 1991, he was named best rapper of the city. He was a member of two noteworthy Frankfurt groups, namely Foreign Accent and Asiatic Warriors. The latter, aside 15
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from D-Flame, comprised Azanin (aka Azad), Combad and A-Bomb. They released an EP called Told Ya, which was to remain the only one, as the group split up in 1994. That year he travelled to Jamaica, where he came in contact with the local reggae and dancehall scene, inspiring him to work with established German reggae soundsystems Soundquake from Bielefeld and the renowned Pow Pow Movement from Cologne.
("Daniel X – A German Story"). On it, he confronts his life in Germany in classic storytelling rap, revealing much entrenched racism in German society. Many hip hop fans rejected what they perceived to be a pseudo-black power pose and the record was not particularly successful, but was critically acclaimed and welcomed as a more mature work than Basstard.
His first commercial success was with Bremerhaven's DJ Stylewarz, appearing on his classic 12"-track Heiß wie Feuer ("Hot as Fire"). In 1999 he met Beginner rapper/producer Jan Eißfeldt who inspired him with his upstart label Eimsbusch, to which he signed. His first single was a small-release track with dancehall MC Tolga, called Highsgeliebtes Gras ("'highly' loved weed"), a love song about marijuana. His first larger scale release was the bombastic Heißer ("hotter") which was made its mark in the German charts. His name recognition increased in hip hop circles through features on Eimsbusch affiliated B-sides and remixes and an appearance as a support acts on Dynamite Deluxe’s and Ferris MC’s tours. The album Basstard ("base-tard") was accordingly a major success with its blend of hip hop and ragga and features like long-time associate Guru, Elephant Man, Samy Deluxe and Jan Eißfeldt. Flame's duet with the latter, entitled Sorry was released as a single.
Stoically, D-Flame continued touring Germany while preparing his next album. While Daniel X was purely a hip-hop album, D-Flame decided to explore his dancehall roots, which had also become commercially viable since the success of Eißfeldt’s reggae album (as Jan Delay), the Berlin ensemble Seeed and Gentleman from Cologne and due to the growth of a reggae underground. In late 2003, he released the purely reggae/dancehall album Unaufhaltsam ("Unstoppable") and toured with his band, the KP Crew. The album was much more successful and catapulted D-Flame back into Germany’s musical mainstream with his single Stopp. Music: D-Flame's trademark voice is incredibly deep and sonorous. His famous sound "aaaaoooooo", with which he begins almost every song has become a favourite among fans. His lyrics are intensely political, addressing racism, life in Germany, hiphop & reggae lifestyle, marijuana laws etc.
In 2001, Flame toured with Eißfeldt who had released a reggae album himself, Denyo and Illo77 on the 60 Hertz-tour after having released his first single of reggae-proper, Sie macht mich glücklich ("She Makes Me Happy"). Afterwards he participated in the anti-Nazi Brothers Keepers project, rapping interchangeably with Samy Deluxe on the single Adriano. His text expressed much of his anger at German culture, saying: "Ich hörte schon im Kindergarten Weiße zu mir Nigger sagen". ("Already in kindergarten I heard Whites calling me a nigger"). He continued in this vein with his 2002 autobiographical album, tellingly entitled Daniel X – eine deutsche Geschichte
Even his hip hop tracks clearly reveal Flame's dancehall roots, his beats are very deep and vibrant and he often exhibits dancehall style double-beats in his tracks, which was unusual when he first became successful. He also sports more relaxed reggae tracks on which Flame even sings. On stage he usually performs with his live band, the KP Crew. His performance with BANTU on the Afropolitan Vibes stage will be his first in Nigeria. 16
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Sept 2017
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