....before the end of the year. My (free) Christmas gift to you.

I'm usually not a fan of remixes, but I had to give this modern take of "Osondi, Owendi*" by Flavour et. al. a pass since it does pay homage to Chief Osita Osadebe. The beginning skit is cute...the rest of the video - yawn. But then again, this group, while skilled at creating/remixing insanely catchy songs (I find the Anambra dialect used in their songs annoyingly endearing), they are not terribly known for their creativity.

Oh, by the way, my apologies for the screwed up search feature. Something happened when changing the website address. Oh, and yes, you can now find this blog at www.pyoowata.com !!



*It pleases some, it angers others.

...For yet another musical break. Big fan of Celestine Ukwu, who is my respite when I need a bit of a break from the faster-paced, "noisier," classics from the highlife era. Sharing a personal favorite, "Onwu ama eze" (Death Doesn't Recognize Royalty).

Onwu ama eze.

Other songs from Celestine Ukwu can be found here.
I know there is some unwritten code of blogging ethics which prohibits from from posting two musically related posts back to back, but suffering from persistent bouts of blogger's block. Biko, gbaghara m (please forgive me). If you care to know, I am somewhat active on Twitter.

As if October couldn't get any better.

She's back! Asa (Asha) that is. I'm probably late. Excited to see her evolution from her self-titled freshman album, to her forthcoming collection, Beautiful Perfection. The album drops October 25th - but her single, "Be My Man," is up on Youtube (H/T Asa Groupies on Facebook).



Not sure how I feel about her new look (a bit cliche***)...but she still remains incredibly adorable in my book. She recently gave an interview to HiMagazine (never heard of it, personally).

On her new style:

Its fun, I think it is part of finding myself because I spent the most of my life while growing taking care of people. I have been responsible for my siblings and so I had to grow up really fast and that took a lot of attention from me because I didn’t care about myself. So going out to various places and events has influenced me. I’m beginning to really like what I see and I tell myself that I’m beautiful and need to take care of myself. Its fun really because I enjoy the growth, I don’t think I have changed I just added more colour...[I'm] letting go of a lot of unnecessary baggage, so you can feel it because I’m happy.

Chimamanda Adichie comments on a growing sense of Nigerio-centricity that has recently infused itself into several sectors of Nigeria media. Of note, she highlights, is the home-grown hip-hop sector, which is now "mainstream cool" and reflects "...a newly energized self-image that young Nigerians have of themselves."

Looking inward for inspiration, long gone are the days of the 90s and early 2000s where some Nigerian artists merely aped the beats (and sometimes hooks and lyrics) of their American or Caribbean counterparts. Today's Nigerian pop music scene is fresh, original, and fiercely pro-Nigerian (though, at times, critical of it's current state of affairs).

Hat tip to AfricaIsACountry re the Adichie article. Though, I'm not to crazy about the Banky W reference. He's cute and all, but not a big fan of his so-called remixes, which in essence borrows the hooks of others. I gave him a pass on Ebute Metta...but his Naija version of K'Naan's Wavin' Flag...was just about one remix too much. For someone with such a commitment to the rule of law, the copying...I mean...remixing of another artist's creation should not feature as a regular career move.

Over the weekend, I couldn't help but remember the flamboyant Queen of African Pop, Brenda Fassie, who six years ago from Mother's Day, lost her life to a tragic overdose. A more fitting remembrance from MIMI can be found here.



On an unrelated note...I decided against opening my private blog...which was more a notebook of sorts. I will continue to post intermittenly here at pyoo wata...couldn't let go, I guess.

well, i've been meaning to blog about two recent discoveries that I have been all over as of recent. I couldn't choose between the two, so i decided to post both here.

Celebrating Ndi-Igbo: Acclaiming People of Igbo Descent


I am so on this blog...literally a daily post on big things members of the Igbo Diaspora have accomplished both past and present. Kudos to Ababoy for this initiative.

K'Naan
This guy has been in my head for the longest ever since I picked up his 2009 CD, Troubadour. I thought this CD was incredible, with tracks like Wavin' Flag and Take a Minute, until I checked out his earlier CD, The Dusty Foot Philosopher - a more reflective, somber version of K'Naan.

Excited about Mogadishu and Ndi Igbo.....but as for what I am not excited about....

my zune which decided to die on me like a month after i got it....i guess it's back to Apple (i tried, Bill Gates, i tried....)

just came back from vacation and realized that new england did not receive the memo that spring started days ago....well that is by the way.

while on vacation, a friend pointed me to idols west africa clips on youtube (since youtube, these days, seems to be my main source of free entertainment). these clips are most likely quite old (wikipedia says the show aired two years ago)....but as usual, I am late with everything. i apologize for those who have already laid this show to rest.

amongst these clips was one of a fela kuti imitator who shows up to audition in his undies (pants, tighty whities, briefs, what-have-you). i admit, i laughed hysterically at the clip....



however, i found the comments by judge dede mabiaku to be more than aggravating. about 50seconds into the clip, dede asks the contestant if he had ever seen fela on stage dressed similarly. the contestant answers yes - only to be rebutted by dede accusation that he, the contestant - is a liar. dede later goes on to express how the fela's memory is being insulted by this guy's penchant to appear before the camera in his underpants.

well, dede, apparently, you are not aware that imitation is the the best form of flattery. while dede feigns appreciation toward the legend that was fela, he forgets that fela "death is in his pocket"** kuti was known to dress similarly on stage.

many commenters on that youtube clip expressed their outrage at dede's denigration of the poor guy - outrage that is justifiable. but what i find more aggravating is dede's blatant ignorance of a man he claims to worship. a nigerian man dede's age, especially one judging a musical contest should be at least half-way competent enough to know that fela kuti was on different wavelength from the rest of the country in mannerisms, politics, and music. in fact when dede says that the contestant is on some wrong pills, i couldn't help but think of how dede would have responded if the contestant rolled up into the auditions smoking a marijuana joint in keeping with the fela imitation.

in a show about west african music, none of the judges knew fela kuti (or maybe they confused him with someone else - femi, perhaps?). and i have a feeling that alot of nigerians and lovers of nigerian music (me, included) are quick to idolize fela without really knowing what he was about. when people mention great african musicians, fela is one of the first to come to mind. to think otherwise would be blasphemy. in fact, when i was a bit younger, i was absolutely shocked when i found that my father, who's taste in music i respect, expressed his revulsion at fela kuti. initially i found this unforgiveable - but later realised that my dad's preference was an informed one. he did not care much for his politics and found his lifestyle undesirable.

this post is in no way meant to be a bash on fela kuti. rather, i personally wanted ask us why we respect the fela kutis of the world who have long passed on. i cant help but think that if such people lived amongst us today, they would most likely be shunned by many of the likes of dede and i. our idolatry is, at times, misguided.


**learned from a good source....(cough...atupa....cough) that anikulapo means death is in his pocket....most likely an allusion to his HIV/AIDS diagnosis

oh, in regards to the picture above...i do not endorse smoking of any kind - particularly of joints nearly as large as my arm...

just yesterday, i first noticed my neighbor's old school Simon and Garfunkel record stashed with some of her other "antiques" (in quotes since antiques means different things to different age groups). My mind immediately went to Miriam Makeba, who I had not heard from in such a long time since the unfortunate demise of my first-generation iPod.

Anyway, the first time I encountered Miriam Makeba was at the Paul Simon concert in 1987. No, I am not that old to have personally attended what was dubbed the African concert. My parents taped it when it first came out on Public Television and then years after, when I was seven, my brothers and I spent an evening with my parents watching our homemade copy (back when most people had VCRs). The concert took place in Zimbabwe due to apartheid restrictions in South Africa. My parents took the time to explain to us the horrors of apartheid which then led to our first primer on African-European relations over the past decades and centuries. At the young age, after watching my parents' again homemade copy of Sarafina on Broadway and then the moving performances by Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, I began to appreciate the role of that performers had in highlighting the ills of their society. (Note that I said "began"...at this age, I was still very much picking snot out of my nose and playing with barbies...not engaging in activism and the like).

Now, with the death of Miriam Makeba at the age of 76, I have revisited that footage of the African concert in which she details the plight of South African blacks under apartheid. Listening to her that evening with my family was probably one of my more transformative moments in childhood. Miriam possessed an indescribably soulful voice that challenged and soothed the heart in manner that could only be accomplished by a mother. Mama Africa, our mother, you will be missed.

I couldn't choose between these two performances at the African concert. Hope you will enjoy both though. After hearing the news of her death I have not had the courage to finish the entire clips without breaking down into tears. So please enjoy them for me. The first is entitled Soweto Blues, written by Hugh Masekela and the second, Under African Skies is a duet with Paul Simon. Memories.

so, I got tired of seeing the image below of the Ghana Black Stars fan whenever I visited my blog and thought that it is high time I put up another post. since this is the month of love and US black history month - i would like to speak to a topic that has affected american black females for centuries and as i am starting to witness, african females as well.

last night, after simultaneously studying and keeping my eye out for the wisconsin and hawaii primaries (more of the latter than the former), I caught the last half or so of BET's "25 Events that (mis)shaped Black America." Under normal circumstances, I would not be caught dead watching late night BET, but my brother was watching it, the show seemed to have some usefulness, and I am a big Michael Eric Dyson fan.

One of the (mis)shaping events that caught my attention was the the hyper-sexualization of the black female or the misogyny of the black female as portrayed by hip-hop. First, I found it interesting that BET should admit that the negative effects of the portrayal of african american females as b****es and hos since they are one of the major exporters of these images. But I started to think that the hypersexualization of the black female is not limited to hip-hop music as well.

Earlier in the week (or maybe last week), I was put off a bit by cover story on the BBC news website, "Ivory Coast's 'big-bottom' Craze." Initially, my annoyance stemmed from the fact there are other more pressing concerns in Ivory Coast other than bum and breast enhancement creams and some song's tribute to big bottoms. But after this BET special, I began to wonder whether the African continent also exports this idea of a hypersexualized black female thru its music in similar ways to Nelly and Ludacris. Granted the history of the black female in the US, especially in light of forced sexual relations with white slavers and the simultaneous systemic emasculization of American black men during slavery stands in stark contrast to the situation on the continent (or I may be wrong here)...but how different is Meiway's call to shake our lolo's from Baby Huey's insistence that the bum should be popped, locked, then dropped? The videos are strikingly similar. I also wonder, is this an anomaly amongst blacks - I mean, are there other people groups that dissect and exploit intimate parts of the black female physique in order to sell records or initiate dance crazes? Africans have also had their own share of exploiting female sexuality by colonial masters (remember Hottentot Venus).

Of course, before I close, I must admit, that although I hate the images of half-naked black women on BET and Awilo's soft porn music videos, I can't help but play some of these catchy tunes on my iPod during a workout. I'm a huge fan of soukous music - HUGE. Additionally, I never leave the house without making sure that my jeans properly "fit" and accentuate what needs to be accentuated. I have struggled alot with the issues I just raised - especially the added dimension of African music turning towards lurid depictions of black women. A part of me says, its just music - not only that, but it's music with an irresistible beat that I cannot find in other genres. And perhaps, in some cases, there is a genuine appreciation for the black female physique. But then another part of me, the one that started this post, wonders if I am contributing to the degradation of black women by espousing any such music. I am slowly leaning towards the latter....

I would really really really like to get your opinions on this topic (also, let me know if I should clarify a bit). Let me know if you think it is "just music" or whether we have allowed the hypersexualization of black women to go too far or whether I have approached this topic incorrectly in comparing the African American situation with that of the continent.

just happened to find out that Patty Obassey is also on youtube.com. here is one of my personal favorites. enjoy!