Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a a two part pancocojams series on Nigeria's Jùjú music.
Part II presents some history of Jùjú music and quotes an excerpt from the 1990 book JuJu: A Social History and Ethnography of an African Popular Music by Christopher Alan Waterman. That excerpt provides information about the mid to late 1950s stylistic branch of Jùjú music called "Toy Motion" and includes two English translated lyrics of songs from that branch of Jùjú music: J. O. Araba and His Rhythm Blues "The Swamp" and
J.O. Oyesiku and His Rainbow Quintette, Excerpt from "This Is The Matter, In Abundance".
Note that J. O. Araba, the composer/performer of one of the songs that is featured in one of the showcased YouTube examples in Part I of this series, is also the composer of one of the songs that is showcased in Part II of this series.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/12/some-information-about-five-youtube.htmlfor Part I of this series. Part I presents some general information about Jùjú music and showcases five YouTube examples of that music.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and entertainment purposes.
Thanks to J. O. Araba and J. O. Oyesiku for the for their musical legacies. Thanks to the founders and all other innovators and performers of Jùjú music. Thanks to Christopher Alan Waterman and all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT JUJU MUSIC
From https://www.allmusic.com/style/juju-ma0000002646/songs
"Juju has been the most consistently popular musical style in Nigeria over the last half of the 20th century, with roots in the traditional, mostly drum-based music of the Yoruba (one of Nigeria's largest ethnic groups). In its fully developed form, juju is a dance music played by large ensembles centered around guitar and percussion: several guitarists play interlocking, complex melodies over a thundering wall of rhythm, led by traditional Yoruba talking drums (whose heads can be tightened or loosened while they're being played, in order to change the drum's pitch and more closely mimic human speech patterns). Lyrics are important as well, drawing upon the large storehouse of Yoruba oral tradition -- poetry, proverbs, praise songs -- and the inherently musical qualities of the language, in which the meaning of some words changes with different pitches.
Early juju music, which emerged as far back as the 1920s, was essentially an intersection between Yoruba drumming and the socially oriented, string-based palm-wine style, which developed in the drinking houses at the time and influenced highlife music as well. Pioneers like Tunde King and Ojoge Daniel made the first juju recordings during the early '30, but while they achieved a measure of popularity, juju didn't really become a sensation until after World War II, with the advent of electric amplification. Tunde Nightingale was the first real juju star, and during the mid-'50s, he was eclipsed by the legendary I.K. Dairo, who greatly expanded the ensemble (from four musicians to around ten) and became the first juju artist to feature talking drums, electric guitars, and accordion -- essentially shaping the sound of the music into its most widely known form.
Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey and King Sunny Ade both began performing around the mid-'60s, and the rivalry that developed between the two during the '70s became a period of intense creative fertility for juju music. Releasing several albums per year, each constantly attempted to outdo the other by expanding their bands, adding new instruments (including keyboards and Hawaiian steel guitars), and increasing the lengths of their songs (each new innovation was dubbed a different "system," spawning hundreds of imitators around Yoruba territory).
At the dawn of the '80s, both Obey and Ade brought their music to the international stage, the former with his 1980 album Current Affairs, and the latter by signing to Island for 1982's Juju Music. In contrast to the more conservative Obey, Island hyped Ade as the inheritor of Bob Marley's populist mantle, but when Ade's follow-ups Synchro System and Aura failed to perform up to commercial expectations, he was dropped from the label. Although Ade and Obey continued to command sizable audiences, the mid-'80s brought a general decline in juju's fortunes. Young Nigerians had begun listening to juju-influenced pop music, and the more percussion-oriented fuji style had begun to capture a share of the market as well. Both Obey and Ade continued to record into the '90s, although on a smaller scale and with less regularity (partly due to an increasingly strict governmental regime)."
-snip-
This complete article was reformatted for this pancocojams post.
****
EXCERPT: "JUJU: A SOCIAL HISTORY AND ETHNOGRAPHY OF AN AFRICAN POPULAR MUSIC"
by Christopher Alan Waterman (The University of Chicago Press, 1990)
[page] 96
"Toy Motion
Toy Motion was another important stylistic branch of juju, popular in the mid-late 1950s. “Toy” (also a term for marijuana) drew upon earlier traditions such as prewar juju and palmwine guitar music. Two Yoruba musicians, members of the skilled African work force established in Lagos during the interwar period, were particularly important in its development. Julius Oredola Araba (born in Lagos, 24 May 1922) and Joseph Olanrewaju Oyesiku (born in Abeokuta, 17 November 1913) were the sons of Christian mission-educated families; and both became skilled technicians for the colonial railway and members of the oldest effective labor union in Nigeria. They were cosmopolitan, educated men approaching middle age, with rich life experiences derived in part from their mobile occupation. Oyesiku served in the Nigerian Forces, traveling to East Africa and Burma, and resided in London for a period in the early 1960s,; Araba’s career included a lightweight boxing title, from which he derived the nickname “Speedy”.
These men didn’t rely upon musical performances for their subsistence. Their musical ideology combined the carefree attitude of the stereotypical palmwine guitarist (“Life is a temporary appointment,” as Araba puts it) and the disciple and refinement of the skilled artisan. Musicians such as Tunde King and Ambrose Campbell, early member of the Jolly Orchestra who left Nigeria for London during the 1940s, and whose songs
[page] 97
are described by Araba as “superb”, functioned as role models for the Toy Motion players. They regarded the juju groups formed by recent Yoruba migrants as technically inept, and composed primarily of illiterates motivated by economic rather than aesthetic considerations.
The juju music produced by an expanding population of “overnight musicians” in Lagos and other Yoruba cities was measured against memories of the clarity and grace of the Jolly Orchestra and the articulate “sermons” of Tunde King. Araba and Oyesiku both appear to have regarded the new juju style as symbolic of undesirable social change.
[...]
Another point of difference between Toy and the dominant large-
[page] 98
ensemble juju style was related to the ambivalent status of praise musicians. While the new juju bands working in Lagos and other cities sang praise lyrics in return for cash donations from their upwardly mobile patrons, Toy musicians regarded the praising of nouveau riche Yoruba patrons as a form of begging. The proper role of the musician, from their perspective, was not to pander to the wealthy, but to provide philosophical commentary on everyday life, and reveal the misdeeds of flawed characters. One Yoruba highlife musician, interviewed in 1967 by Charles Keil, stated that Araba and Oyesiku were “big men with other jobs” who did not have to play at urban hotels and only took a few engagements a year. His admiration for Toy Motion was based upon two criteria: their use of “correct scales”, as opposed to most juju guitarist, who “only tune their guitar to their voice”; and, second, their refined “compositions”, a term associated with Western musical practice (Keil 1966-67: 151-153).
The two following texts illustrate the ethical focus of Toy Motion songs:"
[Pancocojams Editor: In this book these English translations were given after the Yoruba words. I'm showcasing the English translations because I'm unable to properly type the non-English words. Those lyrics -without the accent marks- are given below in the Addendum to this post.]
"J. O. Araba and His Rhythm Blues “Poto Poto” (The Swamp) recorded in Lagos , 1957, Phillips 82911.2
[pages] 98-99
The swamp has crossed the road, anyone who gets splashed
with mud should forgive us , oh
The swamp has crossed the road, anyone who gets splashed
with mud should forgive us , oh
These words are like the proverb of the elders, please forgive us, oh.
If you have money, if you have money
Don’t follow the prostitutes in Lagos town.
If they eat with you, if they drink with you,
If the money runs out, they will say, “Leave, friend!”
If they eat with you, if they drink with you,
If the money runs out, they will say, “Leave, friend!”
If you have money, if you have money
You are a wealthy man in Lagos town, you are the leader of a
Muslim association in Lagos town
If the world eats with you, if the world drinks with you,
If the money runs out they will say, leave, friend”.
If the world eats with you, if the world drinks with you,
If the money runs out they will say, leave, friend”.
The swamp has crossed the road, anyone who gets splashed
with mud should forgive us, oh!"
[pages] 99-100]
"J. O. Oyesiku and His Rainbow Quintette, Excerpt from “Oro Re O Repete: (“This Is The Matter, In Abundance”), Recorded in Lagos, 1958, Phillips 82050
This is the matter [i.e., the topic for discussion], this is the
matter, this is the matter, in abundance
This is the matter, this is the matter, this is the matter, in abundance
As she was gossiping all over the place, as she was gossiping
all over the place
The wind came and carried her head-tie away, the wind came
And carried her head-tie away
The money fell and got lost, then the earrings fell and got lost
The the cloth [tied around the woman’s body] fell and get lost,
the baby fell to the ground.
This is the matter, this is the matter, this is the matter, in
abundance
This is the matter, this is the matter, this is the matter, in
abundance
In gossiping wife, there is no enjoyment at all
It generally brings misfortune.
It generally causes a house to fall into ruins
It generally causes one to be ashamed
It generally spoils the house
This is the matter, this is the matter, this is the matter, in
abundance
This is the matter, this is the matter, this is the matter, in
abundance"
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Notes:
All of the words in this text are as they are found in Christopher Alan Waterman's book, including the author's lyric explanations which he placed in brackets.
According to what I've learned online (in articles, comments, and certain YouTube videos), the Yoruba word "oh" at the end of a sentence is used to emphasize what was said, and doesn't have the same meaning as the English word "oh".
In the second song, the first word that is given as "the" in the line "The the cloth [tied around the woman’s body] fell and get lost" is probably a typo for the word "then".
****
ADDENDUM: THE NON-ENGLISH WORDS TO THESE FEATURED SONGS
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
These words are given without the accent marks etc. as they are given in this book.
I attempted to translate these words using Google translate's feature, but the results were mostly gibberish. I wonder if these words are both Yoruba and Nigerian Pidgin English.
Here are the non-English words as I attempted to copy them from JuJu: A Social History and Ethnography of an African Popular Music by Christopher Alan Waterman.
J. O. Araba and His Rhythm Blues “Poto Poto” (The Swamp) recorded in Lagos , 1957, Phillips 82911.2
[pages] 98-99
"Poto-poto daanon l’abata, enti da si l’ara k’o forijin wa-o-e
Poto-poto daanon l’abata, enti da si l’ara k’o forijin wa-o-e
Oro yii wa dabi owe eyin agabagba, e jowo e forijin wa-o-e
B’o ba l’owo l;owo, b;o l’owo l’owo
Ma tel asewo ilu Eko
Ti won b aba e je, ti won b aba e mu
T owo ba ton won a ni ki-o “jade pre!”
Ti won b aba e je, ti won b aba e mu
Ti owo ba ton won a ni ki-o “jade ore!”
B’o ba l’ owo l;owo, b’o ba l;owo l;owo
Olola ni e ni igboro Eko, saraki ni e ni igboro Eko
B’aye b aba e je, b aye b aba e mu
T’ owo ba ton won a ni ki-o “jade ore!”
B aye ba ba e je, b aye b ba e mu
T owo ba ton won a ni ki-o “jade ore!”
Poto-poto daanon l’abata, enit aa si l’ara k o forijin wa-o-e"
****
[pages] 99-100
J.O. Oyesiku and His Rainbow Quintette, Excerpt from “Oro Re O Repete: (“This Is The Matter, In Abundance”), Recorded in Lagos, 1958, Phillips 82050
"Oro re o, oro re o. oro re o repete
Oro re o, oro re o. oro re o repete
Nibi t o gbe nse ofofo kiri, nibi t o gbe nse ofofo kiri
tegun wa fe gele lo, ategun wa fe gele lo
Owo ba ja bo sonun, yeri wa ja bo sonun
Aso waa ja bo sonun, omo ba ja s’ ile
Oro re o, oro re o. oro re o repete
Oro re o, oro re o. oro re o repete
Ninu ofofo sise iyawo ko si igbadun rara
Ibi lo maa nkoba ni
O ma nso ile di ahoro
Oju lo maa nda ti ni
O maa nba ike je-o
Oro re o, oro re o. oro re o repete
Oro re o, oro re o. oro re o repete"
****
This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Showing posts with label juju music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label juju music. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Some Information About Nigeria's Jùjú Music & Five YouTube Examples Of Jùjú Music
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a a two part pancocojams series on Nigeria's Jùjú music.
This post presents some general information about Jùjú music and showcases five YouTube examples of that music.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/12/english-lyrics-for-two-late-1950s.html for Part II of this series. Part II quotes an excerpt from the 1990 book JuJu: A Social History and Ethnography of an African Popular Music by Christopher Alan Waterman. That excerpt provides information about the mid to late 1950s stylistic branch of Jùjú music called "Toy Motion" and includes two English translated lyrics of songs from that branch of Jùjú music: J. O. Araba and His Rhythm Blues "The Swamp" and
J.O. Oyeshiku and His Rainbow Quintette, Excerpt from "This Is The Matter, In Abundance".
Note that J. O. Araba, the composer/performer of one of the songs that is featured in one of the showcased YouTube examples in Part I of this series, is also the composer of one of the songs that is showcased in Part II of this series.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and entertainment purposes.
Thanks to the founders and innovators of Jùjú music. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT JUJU MUSIC
These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1:
From http://thenationonlineng.net/juju-music-eye-history/ Juju music in the eye of history
Posted By: Juju music On: July 17, 2016 In: Arts & Life
..."In a newspaper interview, Queen Ayo Balogun who was then the president of the Juju Musician Association at time of the interview corrects some notion about the perceived fetishness of juju music ascribed to its name. Juju, to the layman, is voodoo or jazz. The mere mention of juju may bring to the mind, frenzied incantations, craven images as well as other fetish paraphernalia. Ayo Balogun opined that Juju music had nothing to do with voodoo or black magic; that it rather had everything to do with making music that speaks to social conscience and good citizenry.
The origin of the name juju is an interesting one. Early juju musicians played an array of instruments majorly drums, guitars and their voices. It was not unusual for singers to sing and beat the tambourine. And sometimes in the heat of the groove, they would throw their tambourines high in the air and catch. The translation of the verb throw in Yoruba is “ju” and Yoruba, being a tonal language, repetition is often used to lay emphasis, hence the doubling of the verb throw which is “juju”. This brand of music derived its name from the showmanship of performers who beyond singing throws the tambourine with the view to catch and thrill the crowd. Although the tambourine is not much a consequential instrument tied to the sound of juju music as a whole, it also gives insight to the roots of juju music especially in the early African church.
[...]
Forty plus years after the Nigerian civil war and the boom of Juju music (along with oil sales in Nigeria), the juju superstars that linger on our lips are King Sunny Ade(KSA) and Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, both one-time apprentices of Moses Olaiya, the musician/comedian, and Fatai Rolling Dollar, the agidigbo music maestro respectively.
[...]
As time would have it, the rise of juju music coincided with the oil boom of the 70s, so that praise singing became a prominent aspect of the music. This ensured that KSA as well as Chief Commander, honey-tongued griots, became not only superstar musicians but millionaires. Hugely talented and prolific, it is best to imagine them as the ying-yang of juju music. Whilst KSA is the graceful entertainer with nimble feet, Obey’s music is more reflective and philosophical—both are accomplished guitarists. As one would expect of music made for dance, KSA’s music is sometimes fast-paced and suffused with innuendoes that conflate dancing prowess with sexual activities. Obey’s closest attempt to a booty call was from his early numbers and his most successful love song, Paulina is at once a sultry appeal and a lover’s prayer.
If the 70s was for oil boom and mirth-making, the 80s was a very unsettling period in Nigeria’s politics and economy, fraught with coups and countercoups. Music and precisely juju music was one of the casualties of this era, the tune of the music moved away from merriment to more reflective and meditative themes, however this was after KSA signed a deal with Island Records. In the wake of Bob Marley’s death, Island Record’s attempted to raise yet another global superstar and the easy charm and charisma of KSA had drawn them to his sound which they re-engineered into a sonic masterpiece which became characteristic of King Sunny Ade’s music...
Names like Dayo Kujore, Mico Ade, Dele Taiwo cluttered the juju musicsape in the 90s, a draconian period of economic austerity occasioned by military rule. In the face of unrestrained hunger and hardship, by all means, culture is one of the early casualties. In this period ironically, juju music enjoyed the fresh breath of Sir Shina Peters(SSP). His triad albums Ace, Shinamania and Dancing Time were so successful in southwestern Nigeria that the widespread popularity trekked to Midwestern states and dared to cross the River Niger!
Shina Peter’s strategy to the juju of his forebears was quite enthralling. As with every genre of art, individual talent and insight was important and what Mr Peters did differently was to quicken the pace of juju music with a column of heavy percussion like the music had never had. His nimble feet and love for sexual innuendo was very reminiscent of King Sunny Ade but his percussion pattern was deliberately different. Even his snare drummer brought a distinctive sound that juju had never known.
Since SSP, juju music has seemingly remained stagnant as a genre. The entire 90s did not produce one single enduring juju artist. By the mid-80s, fuji music was already growing in prominence. Fuji music finding its early origin in the wake-up music of the ajisaari amongst moslem Yorubas wrestled the baton of popularity with juju music. Interestingly, fuji music is the closest in equivalence to American hip-hop music. For one, fuji music was bereft of that subservience to forebears that juju embraced so tightly; young fuji turks were more Faulkerian in their attitude to the reigning masters and even though fuji was not as sophisticated as juju in sound, it was widely embraced across South Western Nigeria.
That juju music has not produced a single influential practitioner since SSP is a reason to assume that the genre has remained stagnant for about two decades. This does not take away from the continual practice of this style of music by local bands and even by its former practitioners, or the thousands of LPs of the albums churned out still enjoying its fanatic audience till date, or that new school practitioners of afrobeats are pinching from the music and taking the substrate to their sonic laboratories to develop something which is at best referential.”
****
Excerpt #2:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B9j%C3%BA_music
"Jùjú is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name comes from a Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "throwing" or "something being thrown." Juju music did not derive its name from juju, which "is a form of magic and the use of magic objects or witchcraft common in West Africa, Haiti, Cuba and other South American nations." It evolved in the 1920s in urban clubs across the countries, and was believed to have been created by AbdulRafiu Babatunde King, popularly known as Tunde King. The first jùjú recordings were by Tunde King and Ojoge Daniel from the same era of the 1920s when Tunde King pioneered it.
[…]
Performance
Jùjú music is performed primarily by artists from the southwestern region of Nigeria, where the Yoruba are the most numerous ethnic group. In performance, audience members commonly shower jùjú musicians with paper money; this tradition is known as "spraying".
One of the centers of the performance of jùjú music is in Ibadan. Most jùjú musicians are based in the zone of market forces, and most of these are in an area of immigrant neighborhoods. There are several contexts in which jùjú music is performed. One of these contexts is ‘the Hotels’. The Hotels are concentrated in the immigrant areas and they serve as taverns, dance halls and brothels….
The jùjú music performed is not the focus of the venue but most patrons prefer live music to records. The bands that perform do not have a guaranteed wage; instead they rely upon donations from patrons. Most bands will only perform during the weeknights, leaving the weekends free for more lucrative gigs.
Another context in which jùjú music is played is at celebrations called àríyá. These celebrations are parties which celebrate the naming of a baby, weddings, birthdays, funerals, title-taking, ceremonies and the launching of new property or business enterprises. These events are sponsored so the musicians are guaranteed payment. The wealth of the hosts and the guests is shown through their reward to the entertainers. It is customary to press the contribution to the musician’s forehead so that everyone can see how wealthy they are. The musicians will often return good payment with praise songs to the donors. Live music is crucial to the proper functioning of an àríyá.”
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Excerpt #3:
From http://honestjons.com/shop/preview/28321
Lagos All Routes
Juju And Highlife, Apala And Fuji
HONEST JON'S RECORDS
..."Unlike the pan-ethnic styles of highlife and afrobeat, juju music is strongly associated with the Yoruba ethnic group, natives of Nigeria’s southwestern region. Juju is a variant on the pan-West African tradition of palmwine finger-picked guitar playing, and is typically performed by Christian Yoruba musicians. The style has origins in the 1920s as an urban folk music. Its modern foundations were put into place by I.K. Dairo, from the late 1950s. Within a decade King Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey emerged to dominate the more recent development of juju music. Juju song lyrics typically encompass traditional Yoruba proverbs and aphorisms, excerpted Christian hymns, prayers, and Biblical verses, and verses of praise. Ensembles usually consist of guitars (and sometimes keyboards) supported by various percussion instruments. As with most Yoruba popular music, the hourglass tension drums (‘talking drums) are prominent. In the development of juju music since the 1960s, Sunny Ade has generally been considered the innovator, while Obey has positioned himself as the traditionalist...
‘Sir Shina Adewale’ is not actually the name of an individual — rather it is a combination of the names of juju musicians Sir Shina Peters and Segun Adewale, who formed a band together after leaving the more established juju singer Prince Adekunle. Like a lot of juju from the 1970s on, the minor-key sound of Awa Ni Superstars (We Are Superstars) reflects the influence of Fela Kuti’s afrobeat, while its quick tempo also hints at the fuji-infused direction Sir Shina would take when he eventually formed his own band in 1980."...
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Excerpt #4
From https://www.britannica.com/art/juju-music
Juju WRITTEN BY: Virginia Gorlinski
"Juju, Nigerian popular music that developed from the comingling of Christian congregational singing, Yoruba vocal and percussion traditions, and assorted African and Western popular genres. The music gained a significant international following in the 1980s largely owing to its adoption and promotion by the world-music industry.
The principal progenitor of juju was palm-wine music, a syncretic genre that arose in the drinking establishments of the culturally diverse port cities of West Africa in the early decades of the 20th century. In Nigeria’s port of Lagos, palm-wine music was foremost a song tradition. Roughly, it was a coupling of the melodic and rhythmic contours of European hymn singing with the textual aesthetics of Yoruba proverb- and praise-singing, all performed to the accompaniment of a banjo or guitar (or a similar stringed instrument) and a gourd shaker. As the music grew in popularity, so too did its celebrities, most notably Tunde King and Ayinde Bakare. King is credited not only with coining the term juju—in reference to the sound of a small, Brazilian tambourine-like drum that was used in his ensemble—but also with making the first recording of juju music in 1936. A year later Bakare went a step further by signing a recording contract with the British label His Master’s Voice.
From the mid-1930s to the late 1940s, juju was performed as dance music—in taverns as well as at assorted family festivities, such as naming ceremonies and weddings—without any significant shifts in instrumentation or musical style. In 1948, however, the Yoruba talking drum was added to the ensemble. With its ability to "talk" by imitating the tones and rhythms of Yoruba language, the drum brought with it an instrumental repertoire of traditional proverbs and praise-names (short descriptions of the honourable characteristics of a person) that were inserted into juju performances, often as commentaries on the song texts. Call-and-response choruses (a feature of much traditional West African music) and electric guitars were introduced within the next few years, as was additional amplification to insure the maintenance of a sonic balance between voices and instruments within the expanding juju ensemble.
These developments were largely indicative of a re-Africanization of juju music that paralleled a mid-century rise in nationalistic sentiment. In the years surrounding Nigeria’s achievement of independence in 1960, I.K. Dairo was the country’s most prominent and influential juju musician. Although he added an accordion to the ensemble, Dairo ultimately strengthened juju’s ties to Yoruba culture, primarily through emphasizing the use of Yoruba talking drums and traditional song repertoire. With his band the Morning Star Orchestra (later the Blue Spots), Dairo released many hit recordings in the late 1950s and early ’60s.
Although Dairo retained a following until his death in the mid-1990s, his popularity was rivaled in the mid-1960s and indeed surpassed in the 1970s by younger juju artists and innovators Ebenezer Obey and King Sunny Ade. Obey, most significantly, increased the number of guitars in the ensemble, injected the repertoire with Christian religious messages and social commentary, and pitched his music primarily to the urban upper class. Ade, who had a more populist appeal, further expanded the ensemble to include five or more guitars, an enlarged percussion section, and an electronic synthesizer, in addition to several vocalists. From the late ’60s to the mid-’80s, Obey and Ade volleyed for the largest and most novel ensemble. In the process much of juju’s Yoruba character yielded to a style more heavily influenced by rock and other international popular music genres.
The effect of Obey’s and Ade’s work was the modernization and popularization of juju, as well as its transformation into a veritable commercial genre. It was Ade, however, who was most responsible for garnering for juju a truly global audience. Propelled by the growing interest in world music—an industry concerned primarily with syncretic popular forms—Ade made a tremendous international impact, particularly with the release of his monumentally successful album Juju Music (1982).
As the genre matured, it spawned musical offspring through the work of enterprising musicians who fused it with other African popular styles, such as Afro-beat, fuji, and the Yoruba-based music known as Yo-pop. Such fusions ultimately became juju’s competitors in the marketplace. By about 1990 the juju craze had subsided in the international arena, but the music continued to thrive in its Nigerian homeland. Ade, like many others, recalibrated his style to increase its local appeal, and he played to enormous and enthusiastic audiences into the 21st century."
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SHOWCASE YOUTUBE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Sunny Ade & his African Beats - Syncro System Movement
groovemonzter, Published on Jan 27, 2011
artist: Sunny Ade & his African Beats
song: Syncro System Movement
album: Syncro System Movement (side one
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Example #2: Julius.O. Araba and His Rhythm Blues - Kelegbe Megbe / Yabonsa / Turaka
Planetolusola, Published on Apr 17, 2012
60's juju performance from the legendary J.O. Araba. (RIP)
Video source: Konkombe 2/6 Nigeria Music Documentary (Youtube)
****
Example #3: Fatai Rolling Dollar Wan Kere Si Nomba Wa
Wintv 247, Published on Sep 6, 2013
Prince Olayiwola Fatai Olagungu, known as Fatai Rolling Dollar (22 July 1927 -- 12 June 2013) was a Nigerian musician, described by the BBC as a "nationally celebrated performer."[1] He died on 12 June 2013, at the age of 85 or 87, and was praised by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.[1][2][3]
He started his musical career in 1953 and mentored a number of musicians including Ebenezer Obey and the late Orlando Owoh, among others. He was known for his dexterity at playing the guitar, Rolling Dollar's last major hit was Won Kere Si Number Wa.
****
Example #4: Admiral Dele Abiodun & His Top Hiters Band - Awa o ni Legba (Audio)
planetolusola, Published on May 5, 2014
1 Awa o ni legba
- Adawa lofi agba han won
- Ajanaku koja eran a mupa leya
- Aba teni je
- Kekerenke
- Ajuwa ye ye o
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Example #5: Juju Music Documentary with King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Shina Peters, I.K. Dairo
hitmann83, Published on Jul 29, 2016
Concert Documentary at Tafawa Balewa Square Lagos Nigeria 1987.
****
This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams post.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part I of a a two part pancocojams series on Nigeria's Jùjú music.
This post presents some general information about Jùjú music and showcases five YouTube examples of that music.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/12/english-lyrics-for-two-late-1950s.html for Part II of this series. Part II quotes an excerpt from the 1990 book JuJu: A Social History and Ethnography of an African Popular Music by Christopher Alan Waterman. That excerpt provides information about the mid to late 1950s stylistic branch of Jùjú music called "Toy Motion" and includes two English translated lyrics of songs from that branch of Jùjú music: J. O. Araba and His Rhythm Blues "The Swamp" and
J.O. Oyeshiku and His Rainbow Quintette, Excerpt from "This Is The Matter, In Abundance".
Note that J. O. Araba, the composer/performer of one of the songs that is featured in one of the showcased YouTube examples in Part I of this series, is also the composer of one of the songs that is showcased in Part II of this series.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and entertainment purposes.
Thanks to the founders and innovators of Jùjú music. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT JUJU MUSIC
These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1:
From http://thenationonlineng.net/juju-music-eye-history/ Juju music in the eye of history
Posted By: Juju music On: July 17, 2016 In: Arts & Life
..."In a newspaper interview, Queen Ayo Balogun who was then the president of the Juju Musician Association at time of the interview corrects some notion about the perceived fetishness of juju music ascribed to its name. Juju, to the layman, is voodoo or jazz. The mere mention of juju may bring to the mind, frenzied incantations, craven images as well as other fetish paraphernalia. Ayo Balogun opined that Juju music had nothing to do with voodoo or black magic; that it rather had everything to do with making music that speaks to social conscience and good citizenry.
The origin of the name juju is an interesting one. Early juju musicians played an array of instruments majorly drums, guitars and their voices. It was not unusual for singers to sing and beat the tambourine. And sometimes in the heat of the groove, they would throw their tambourines high in the air and catch. The translation of the verb throw in Yoruba is “ju” and Yoruba, being a tonal language, repetition is often used to lay emphasis, hence the doubling of the verb throw which is “juju”. This brand of music derived its name from the showmanship of performers who beyond singing throws the tambourine with the view to catch and thrill the crowd. Although the tambourine is not much a consequential instrument tied to the sound of juju music as a whole, it also gives insight to the roots of juju music especially in the early African church.
[...]
Forty plus years after the Nigerian civil war and the boom of Juju music (along with oil sales in Nigeria), the juju superstars that linger on our lips are King Sunny Ade(KSA) and Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, both one-time apprentices of Moses Olaiya, the musician/comedian, and Fatai Rolling Dollar, the agidigbo music maestro respectively.
[...]
As time would have it, the rise of juju music coincided with the oil boom of the 70s, so that praise singing became a prominent aspect of the music. This ensured that KSA as well as Chief Commander, honey-tongued griots, became not only superstar musicians but millionaires. Hugely talented and prolific, it is best to imagine them as the ying-yang of juju music. Whilst KSA is the graceful entertainer with nimble feet, Obey’s music is more reflective and philosophical—both are accomplished guitarists. As one would expect of music made for dance, KSA’s music is sometimes fast-paced and suffused with innuendoes that conflate dancing prowess with sexual activities. Obey’s closest attempt to a booty call was from his early numbers and his most successful love song, Paulina is at once a sultry appeal and a lover’s prayer.
If the 70s was for oil boom and mirth-making, the 80s was a very unsettling period in Nigeria’s politics and economy, fraught with coups and countercoups. Music and precisely juju music was one of the casualties of this era, the tune of the music moved away from merriment to more reflective and meditative themes, however this was after KSA signed a deal with Island Records. In the wake of Bob Marley’s death, Island Record’s attempted to raise yet another global superstar and the easy charm and charisma of KSA had drawn them to his sound which they re-engineered into a sonic masterpiece which became characteristic of King Sunny Ade’s music...
Names like Dayo Kujore, Mico Ade, Dele Taiwo cluttered the juju musicsape in the 90s, a draconian period of economic austerity occasioned by military rule. In the face of unrestrained hunger and hardship, by all means, culture is one of the early casualties. In this period ironically, juju music enjoyed the fresh breath of Sir Shina Peters(SSP). His triad albums Ace, Shinamania and Dancing Time were so successful in southwestern Nigeria that the widespread popularity trekked to Midwestern states and dared to cross the River Niger!
Shina Peter’s strategy to the juju of his forebears was quite enthralling. As with every genre of art, individual talent and insight was important and what Mr Peters did differently was to quicken the pace of juju music with a column of heavy percussion like the music had never had. His nimble feet and love for sexual innuendo was very reminiscent of King Sunny Ade but his percussion pattern was deliberately different. Even his snare drummer brought a distinctive sound that juju had never known.
Since SSP, juju music has seemingly remained stagnant as a genre. The entire 90s did not produce one single enduring juju artist. By the mid-80s, fuji music was already growing in prominence. Fuji music finding its early origin in the wake-up music of the ajisaari amongst moslem Yorubas wrestled the baton of popularity with juju music. Interestingly, fuji music is the closest in equivalence to American hip-hop music. For one, fuji music was bereft of that subservience to forebears that juju embraced so tightly; young fuji turks were more Faulkerian in their attitude to the reigning masters and even though fuji was not as sophisticated as juju in sound, it was widely embraced across South Western Nigeria.
That juju music has not produced a single influential practitioner since SSP is a reason to assume that the genre has remained stagnant for about two decades. This does not take away from the continual practice of this style of music by local bands and even by its former practitioners, or the thousands of LPs of the albums churned out still enjoying its fanatic audience till date, or that new school practitioners of afrobeats are pinching from the music and taking the substrate to their sonic laboratories to develop something which is at best referential.”
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Excerpt #2:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B9j%C3%BA_music
"Jùjú is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name comes from a Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "throwing" or "something being thrown." Juju music did not derive its name from juju, which "is a form of magic and the use of magic objects or witchcraft common in West Africa, Haiti, Cuba and other South American nations." It evolved in the 1920s in urban clubs across the countries, and was believed to have been created by AbdulRafiu Babatunde King, popularly known as Tunde King. The first jùjú recordings were by Tunde King and Ojoge Daniel from the same era of the 1920s when Tunde King pioneered it.
[…]
Performance
Jùjú music is performed primarily by artists from the southwestern region of Nigeria, where the Yoruba are the most numerous ethnic group. In performance, audience members commonly shower jùjú musicians with paper money; this tradition is known as "spraying".
One of the centers of the performance of jùjú music is in Ibadan. Most jùjú musicians are based in the zone of market forces, and most of these are in an area of immigrant neighborhoods. There are several contexts in which jùjú music is performed. One of these contexts is ‘the Hotels’. The Hotels are concentrated in the immigrant areas and they serve as taverns, dance halls and brothels….
The jùjú music performed is not the focus of the venue but most patrons prefer live music to records. The bands that perform do not have a guaranteed wage; instead they rely upon donations from patrons. Most bands will only perform during the weeknights, leaving the weekends free for more lucrative gigs.
Another context in which jùjú music is played is at celebrations called àríyá. These celebrations are parties which celebrate the naming of a baby, weddings, birthdays, funerals, title-taking, ceremonies and the launching of new property or business enterprises. These events are sponsored so the musicians are guaranteed payment. The wealth of the hosts and the guests is shown through their reward to the entertainers. It is customary to press the contribution to the musician’s forehead so that everyone can see how wealthy they are. The musicians will often return good payment with praise songs to the donors. Live music is crucial to the proper functioning of an àríyá.”
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Excerpt #3:
From http://honestjons.com/shop/preview/28321
Lagos All Routes
Juju And Highlife, Apala And Fuji
HONEST JON'S RECORDS
..."Unlike the pan-ethnic styles of highlife and afrobeat, juju music is strongly associated with the Yoruba ethnic group, natives of Nigeria’s southwestern region. Juju is a variant on the pan-West African tradition of palmwine finger-picked guitar playing, and is typically performed by Christian Yoruba musicians. The style has origins in the 1920s as an urban folk music. Its modern foundations were put into place by I.K. Dairo, from the late 1950s. Within a decade King Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey emerged to dominate the more recent development of juju music. Juju song lyrics typically encompass traditional Yoruba proverbs and aphorisms, excerpted Christian hymns, prayers, and Biblical verses, and verses of praise. Ensembles usually consist of guitars (and sometimes keyboards) supported by various percussion instruments. As with most Yoruba popular music, the hourglass tension drums (‘talking drums) are prominent. In the development of juju music since the 1960s, Sunny Ade has generally been considered the innovator, while Obey has positioned himself as the traditionalist...
‘Sir Shina Adewale’ is not actually the name of an individual — rather it is a combination of the names of juju musicians Sir Shina Peters and Segun Adewale, who formed a band together after leaving the more established juju singer Prince Adekunle. Like a lot of juju from the 1970s on, the minor-key sound of Awa Ni Superstars (We Are Superstars) reflects the influence of Fela Kuti’s afrobeat, while its quick tempo also hints at the fuji-infused direction Sir Shina would take when he eventually formed his own band in 1980."...
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Excerpt #4
From https://www.britannica.com/art/juju-music
Juju WRITTEN BY: Virginia Gorlinski
"Juju, Nigerian popular music that developed from the comingling of Christian congregational singing, Yoruba vocal and percussion traditions, and assorted African and Western popular genres. The music gained a significant international following in the 1980s largely owing to its adoption and promotion by the world-music industry.
The principal progenitor of juju was palm-wine music, a syncretic genre that arose in the drinking establishments of the culturally diverse port cities of West Africa in the early decades of the 20th century. In Nigeria’s port of Lagos, palm-wine music was foremost a song tradition. Roughly, it was a coupling of the melodic and rhythmic contours of European hymn singing with the textual aesthetics of Yoruba proverb- and praise-singing, all performed to the accompaniment of a banjo or guitar (or a similar stringed instrument) and a gourd shaker. As the music grew in popularity, so too did its celebrities, most notably Tunde King and Ayinde Bakare. King is credited not only with coining the term juju—in reference to the sound of a small, Brazilian tambourine-like drum that was used in his ensemble—but also with making the first recording of juju music in 1936. A year later Bakare went a step further by signing a recording contract with the British label His Master’s Voice.
From the mid-1930s to the late 1940s, juju was performed as dance music—in taverns as well as at assorted family festivities, such as naming ceremonies and weddings—without any significant shifts in instrumentation or musical style. In 1948, however, the Yoruba talking drum was added to the ensemble. With its ability to "talk" by imitating the tones and rhythms of Yoruba language, the drum brought with it an instrumental repertoire of traditional proverbs and praise-names (short descriptions of the honourable characteristics of a person) that were inserted into juju performances, often as commentaries on the song texts. Call-and-response choruses (a feature of much traditional West African music) and electric guitars were introduced within the next few years, as was additional amplification to insure the maintenance of a sonic balance between voices and instruments within the expanding juju ensemble.
These developments were largely indicative of a re-Africanization of juju music that paralleled a mid-century rise in nationalistic sentiment. In the years surrounding Nigeria’s achievement of independence in 1960, I.K. Dairo was the country’s most prominent and influential juju musician. Although he added an accordion to the ensemble, Dairo ultimately strengthened juju’s ties to Yoruba culture, primarily through emphasizing the use of Yoruba talking drums and traditional song repertoire. With his band the Morning Star Orchestra (later the Blue Spots), Dairo released many hit recordings in the late 1950s and early ’60s.
Although Dairo retained a following until his death in the mid-1990s, his popularity was rivaled in the mid-1960s and indeed surpassed in the 1970s by younger juju artists and innovators Ebenezer Obey and King Sunny Ade. Obey, most significantly, increased the number of guitars in the ensemble, injected the repertoire with Christian religious messages and social commentary, and pitched his music primarily to the urban upper class. Ade, who had a more populist appeal, further expanded the ensemble to include five or more guitars, an enlarged percussion section, and an electronic synthesizer, in addition to several vocalists. From the late ’60s to the mid-’80s, Obey and Ade volleyed for the largest and most novel ensemble. In the process much of juju’s Yoruba character yielded to a style more heavily influenced by rock and other international popular music genres.
The effect of Obey’s and Ade’s work was the modernization and popularization of juju, as well as its transformation into a veritable commercial genre. It was Ade, however, who was most responsible for garnering for juju a truly global audience. Propelled by the growing interest in world music—an industry concerned primarily with syncretic popular forms—Ade made a tremendous international impact, particularly with the release of his monumentally successful album Juju Music (1982).
As the genre matured, it spawned musical offspring through the work of enterprising musicians who fused it with other African popular styles, such as Afro-beat, fuji, and the Yoruba-based music known as Yo-pop. Such fusions ultimately became juju’s competitors in the marketplace. By about 1990 the juju craze had subsided in the international arena, but the music continued to thrive in its Nigerian homeland. Ade, like many others, recalibrated his style to increase its local appeal, and he played to enormous and enthusiastic audiences into the 21st century."
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SHOWCASE YOUTUBE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Sunny Ade & his African Beats - Syncro System Movement
groovemonzter, Published on Jan 27, 2011
artist: Sunny Ade & his African Beats
song: Syncro System Movement
album: Syncro System Movement (side one
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Example #2: Julius.O. Araba and His Rhythm Blues - Kelegbe Megbe / Yabonsa / Turaka
Planetolusola, Published on Apr 17, 2012
60's juju performance from the legendary J.O. Araba. (RIP)
Video source: Konkombe 2/6 Nigeria Music Documentary (Youtube)
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Example #3: Fatai Rolling Dollar Wan Kere Si Nomba Wa
Wintv 247, Published on Sep 6, 2013
Prince Olayiwola Fatai Olagungu, known as Fatai Rolling Dollar (22 July 1927 -- 12 June 2013) was a Nigerian musician, described by the BBC as a "nationally celebrated performer."[1] He died on 12 June 2013, at the age of 85 or 87, and was praised by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.[1][2][3]
He started his musical career in 1953 and mentored a number of musicians including Ebenezer Obey and the late Orlando Owoh, among others. He was known for his dexterity at playing the guitar, Rolling Dollar's last major hit was Won Kere Si Number Wa.
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Example #4: Admiral Dele Abiodun & His Top Hiters Band - Awa o ni Legba (Audio)
planetolusola, Published on May 5, 2014
1 Awa o ni legba
- Adawa lofi agba han won
- Ajanaku koja eran a mupa leya
- Aba teni je
- Kekerenke
- Ajuwa ye ye o
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Example #5: Juju Music Documentary with King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Shina Peters, I.K. Dairo
hitmann83, Published on Jul 29, 2016
Concert Documentary at Tafawa Balewa Square Lagos Nigeria 1987.
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This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams post.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
What Do "Juju On That Beat" And "TZ Anthem" Mean? (information, comments, videos)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This post provides information about the latest viral Hip Hop dance record "Juju On The Beat" (also known as TZ Anthem), with special emphasis on what the term "juju on the beat" means.
The content of this post is presented for etymological, cultural, and entertainment purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Zay Hilfiger and Zayion McCall, the creators of the song "Juju On The Beat". Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post, and those who are featured in these embedded videos. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE RECORD "JUJU ON THE BEAT"
"Juju On That Beat" (TZ Anthem) is the currently viral Hip Hop dance routine (from August 2016 to date). Like "Hit The Quan", dancers pantomime what the rapper says and perform certain Hip Hop dance moves that the rapper calls out. (In this post, I refer to these dance moves as "calls"). For example, when the rapper says "walked in this party", the dancers imitate walking and when the rapper says "you know my hair nappy", the dancers gesture to their hair -regardless of whether their hair is nappy or not.* Also, for example, the dancers do their version of the old school (1986/1987) Hip Hop dance "The Running Man" when the rapper calls out that dance in that record.
-snip-
*The lyrics "you know my hair nappy" are part of the rapper's "getting his swag on" (bragging about how good he looks) at a party. That comment inspired me to do some online research about African Americans 9and other Black people's) changing attitudes about the word "nappy". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/changing-attitudes-among-african.html for Part I of a four part pancocojams post about this subject. The other links to those posts will be included in each post in that series.
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WHAT DOES "JUJU ON THE BEAT" MEAN? [Revised July 10, 2017]
In the context of this Hip Hop record, I believe that there are two possible definitions for the term "juju on the beat":
1. "Juju on the beat" means to do a certain Hip Hop dance move (or do certain Hip Hop dance moves) on the beat (to the record's beat)
I'm not sure whether there's any firm agreement on what dance move or moves are called "the juju" (or "juju on the beat").
Just as there's a specific dance that is done when the rapper says "Do the Running Man" - there may be a specific dance move or series of dance moves that dancers are supposed to do when the rapper says "juju on the beat".
2. Juju on the beat means to "be or act "turnt up" (i.e. to really give something all you’ve got, to go “all in”, to really go all out, to really get down, to "go wild" with just a few or with no inhibitions).
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EXPLANATIONS FOR DEFINITION #1 AND DEFINITION #2
From watching a number of those videos and from reading many of the comments in those video's discussion threads, it seems to me that many of the dancers who post challenge dance videos for "Juju On The Beat (TZ Anthem) base their dance moves on those performed by the Fresh The Clown duo*. But those dancers and others still tend to substitute their own pantomime and dance moves for some of those that the Fresh The Clown duo perform. In the beginning of the routine for the command" (call to) "juju on the beat", the duo leaned forward and then leaned back while moving their shoulders up and down to the beat.
However, Zay Hilfiger's comment (given in Excerpt #3 below) indicates that he "started saying “JuJu” in 2014. Also read my transcription of Zay Hilfiger's response to television host Kelly Ripa's question "What does Juju On The Beat mean?". Zay said that ["juju on the beat" is] "my arch ego. It’s like I’m the height... turned up...I don’t care." That transcription is found after the video given as Example #5.
I believe those comments support the second definition that is given in this post for the term "juju on the beat". However, I think that this is an earlier meaning that Zay Hilfiger had for "juju" and not most often used definition for that word in the context of that Hip Hop record.
-snip-
If Fresh The Clown's video actually is the prototype for "juju on the beat" routines, the way that dance move appears to be performed isn't the say way that Zay Hilfiger, the primary creator of this record, performed it in a video that he published on YouTube on August 15, 2016. That video shows him and a female friend performing a dance routine to his record.
**
More comments about Definition #2
Here are two definitions for the African American Vernacular English term "turnt up" ("turned up):
WARNING: urbandictionary.com pages often include profanity, sexually explicit content, forms of the n word, and racist content.
From http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Turnt+Up&page=2
"Turnt Up
ADJ.
1. A state of euphoria brought about by having an extremely good time
2. the act of dancing excitedly to popular music
3. an energetic feeling brought on by upbeat music, highly felt emotions, or positive events
When Young Thug's new song came on, the crowd became turnt up!
by Writeordiechick May 07, 2016
**
"turnt up
phrase coined by Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa that basically means to go HAM at a party, usually while intoxicated.
Brian: "What's up? Did you go to Dave's party last night?"
Zack: "Hell yeah, man I was so turnt up!"
#turnt #up #turn #party #go #ham"
by mr1o3 June 23, 2013
-snip-
Note that there are other-much older meanings- for the word "juju". Here's a brief excerpt of that Wikipedia article:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B9j%C3%BA_music
"Jùjú is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name comes from a Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "throwing" or "something being thrown." Juju music did not derive its name from juju, which "is a form of magic and the use of magic objects or witchcraft common in West Africa, Haiti, Cuba and other South American nations."....
-snip-
It's possible that Zay Hilfiger came up with the term "juju" to refer to being "turnt on" or having a heighten sense of himself from the definition that "juju" means a fetish, or an amulet for magic.
*Read the transcription for the portion of the video of Zay and Zayion on the American television show Live With Kelly (given as Example #5 below).
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WHAT DOES "TZ ANTHEM" MEAN?
My guess is that "TZ Anthem" means two Z's ("Zay Hilfiger and Zayion McCall)'s anthem. Or "t" might stand for "the" Z's (Zay and Zayion) anthem.
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ARTICLE EXCERPTS ABOUT "JUJU ON THE BEAT" (TZ ANTHEM)
These two excerpts are given in no particular order. The excerpts are numbered for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juju_on_that_Beat_(TZ_Anthem)
" "Juju on that Beat (TZ Anthem)" (also known simply as "Juju on that Beat",[1] "Juju on the Beat"[2] and "Juju on dat Beat"[3]) is a song by American rappers Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall. The song and the music video on McCall's YouTube channel* went viral and has attracted more than 17 million views and resulted in a number of fan-made versions of the music video.[2][3] The song is a freestyle over the beat of the song "Knuck If You Buck" by American hip hop group Crime Mob featuring Lil' Scrappy.[4]
The single charted on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 11.[5]
The duo appeared on Live with Kelly on October 19, 2016, performing the song and giving an instruction of its dance moves.[2]...
Single by Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall from the album Why So Serious? Released September 30, 2016"...
-snip-
The "Juju on the Beat" sound file was posted to Zayion McCall's YouTube channel on August 11, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSMpXARQYbg. That sound file has 21,203,173 total views as of 10/25/2016 at 2:41 PM.
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Excerpt #2:
From http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/09/what-is-the-tz-anthem-dance-challenge.html
"Everything You Need to Know About the TZ Anthem Challenge and the 15-Year-Old Who Created the Viral Dance That Took Over the Teenage Internet" by Madison Malone Kircher, September 12, 2016 6:31 p.m.
"Zay Hilfiger....[is the] 15-year-old .... behind the #TZAnthemChallenge, in which participants undertake the entire sequence of dance moves performed by Hilfiger in the official video. Dance challenges are the frequent and popular subject of YouTube videos, but TZ Anthem seems to have some particularly limber legs: It’s currently taking over living rooms, cafeterias, locker rooms, high-school parking lots — which means it’s also taken over Vine, Snapchat, and Twitter. Just ask the nearest teenager you can find.”...
Hilfiger’s song has taken off online over the past month, but the Detroit teen explains the song’s origins date back a few years. “I made the song during summer 2014, but it wasn’t even a real song then,” Hilfiger told me. “I was just with my friends playing around, you know. This is when dances like the Nae Nae and the Whip were hot, so we just started saying ‘juju,’” (The Juju is one of several moves in the corresponding dance to “TZ Anthem.”) “As the summer [2016] went over, I came up and was like, I want to make this a real song,” Hilfiger said. “I didn’t really expect it to do what it did.”
He posted the track to SoundCloud, but says since he didn’t promote the song, he wasn’t anticipating a wide audience. “I just made it, put it out there, and it was alright,” Hilfiger explained. “People would say, This is a good song, and take it to their friends.” But when a performing group he belongs to, called Fresh the Clowns, shared a choreographed dance to the song to their over 100,000 Instagram followers, the viral lift began.”....
-snip-
Italics are added here to highlight this sentence.
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Excerpt #3:
From http://genius.com/Zay-hilfigerrr-juju-on-that-beat-tz-anthem-lyrics verified Commentary by Zay Hilfiger and Zayion McCall
"About Juju On That Beat - Created by WriteNProppa September 2016
A breakout hit for Detroit rappers Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall, “TZ Anthem” is a viral song in the same vein of previous tracks like “Hit The Quan,” with lyrics centering around various dance moves.
Zay and Zayion rap over the beat to Crime Mob’s 2004 classic “Knuck If You Buck,” and interpolate a portion of that record.
“TZ Anthem,” or “JuJu on That Beat,” went viral after the dance troupe Fresh the Clowns posted their #TZAnthemChallenge video. That led others to make their own clips, and the dance craze blew up.
Why is this song popular?
The success of “TZ Anthem” is largely a product of social media. Dance videos synced to the song were virally shared on Twitter, causing the song to sky-rocket in popularity.
What inspired them to make the song
ZAY HILFIGERRR :
It actually started when I came to Zayion’s house and I was just playing around. I kind of made the song in 2014, I started saying “JuJu” in 2014. I didn’t have no lyrics, it was just a thing.
And then I just wanted to do it and I went to Zayion house and told him to turn on the “Knuck If You Buck” beat and I just freestyled.
All of this was random.”…
How did the #TZAnthemChallenge take off?
ZAY HILFIGERRR :
The Co-CEO of Fresh the Clowns called me like “Zay your track hot, I saw the dance and I want to start a trend.”
At the moment the song wasn’t poppin’, but we shot a video and the next day it blew up. It had like 18,000 views in one day and then it hit 100,000 and it was on all these dance pages. After a week it was popular.
As far as the #TZAnthemChallenge that came from everybody doing it, Fresh the Clowns, little kids.
The main three people were Fresh the Clowns, Hannah and then this 9-year-old little caucasian girl.
Then we started seeing cheerleaders doing it, then IG celebrities and then actors. After LeBron’s son did it, we knew we had something."
-snip-
"Hannah" may be the young woman who is dancing with Zay Hilfiger in the video given as Example #2 below.
"The 9 year old Caucasian girl" may be the girl that is dancing in the video given as Example #3 below.
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
These videos are given in chronological order based on their publishing date on YouTube, with the oldest dated video given first.
Example #1: Fresh the clowns tzanthem 🔥🔥🔥
DAEDAY Fresh Published on Aug 7, 2016
Follow our ig pages @freshboyira
@daedayfresh_ @zayhilfigerrr
-snip-
The flames icon means that the video publisher considers this video to be "fire" ("on fire", "hot", "very very good".)
-snip-
Here's the portion of this record's lyrics that is usually used for the dance challenges:
...
"[Verse 1: Zay Hilfiger]
Walked in this party
And these girls lookin' at me
Skinny jeans on and you know my hair nappy
Hey, hey, hey
Okay, okay
I want y'all do it, do this dance now
[Hook: Zay Hilfiger]
JuJu on the beat
JuJu on that beat
JuJu on that, JuJu on that, JuJu on that beat
Now slide, drop
Hit dem folks, don't stop, aye
Don't stop, aye
Don't stop, aye
Running man on that beat, aye
Running man on that beat, aye
Running man on that beat, aye
Running man on that beat
Now do your dance, do your dance, do your dance, aye
You ugly
You your daddy's son"...
Source: http://genius.com/Zay-hilfigerrr-juju-on-that-beat-tz-anthem-lyrics Zay Hilfigerrr, Featuring Zayion McCall, Produced By Lil Jay (Crime Mob), Album Why So Serious?
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Example #2: The Creator : JuJu On Dat Beat : #TZAnthemChallenge ( Official Dance Video ) @ZayHillfigerrr
Zay Hilfiger, Published on Aug 15, 2016
Download JuJu On That Beat - http://smarturl.it/DownloadJuJu
Stream JuJu On That Beat - http://smarturl.it/StreamJuJu
****
Example #3: little white Girl dances on juju on that beat song, black dance moves :D
3896841, views Published on Aug 23, 2016
amazing
****
Example #4: Juju On That Beat Dance Challenge [TZ Athem] #jujuonthatbeat #tzathem
One Challenge, Published on Sep 24, 2016
Juju On That Beat Dance Challenge [TZ Athem] #jujuonthatbeat #tzathem #tzathemchallenge
Best musical.ly, dubsmash, instagram and flipagram Juju On That Beat Dance Challenge Compilation or TZ Athem, urban dance, hip hop dance and lit dance.
****
Example #5: "Juju on That Beat" Dance Lesson
LIVE with Kelly Published on Oct 19, 2016
Hip hop duo Zay teach Kelly and Ciara how to do the "Juju on The Beat" dance.
-snip-
Here's the transcription when Kelly asks Zay Hilfiger what "juju on the beat" means: (.045-.054 of this video)
Kelly- “What does it mean? Is it dirty? Are we…[Zay interrupts her and she says] okay…
Zay- No Juju is like me.
Kelly – Okay
Zay -It’s my....it’s my arch ego. It’s like I’m the height (said while repeatedly mimicking lifting something up with both hands], turned up...I don’t care...
Kelly – Oh okay.
Zay – That’s the type. It’s like my beads. That’s me.
-snip-
I wrote these words in italic font to indicated that I’m not sure of this transcription. “It’s like my beads” refers to the fact that Zay is wearing his short natural hair in a hairstyle that isn’t worn by other males – i.e. braids with pink beads at the end. This hairstyle signifies (represents) his uniqueness.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This post provides information about the latest viral Hip Hop dance record "Juju On The Beat" (also known as TZ Anthem), with special emphasis on what the term "juju on the beat" means.
The content of this post is presented for etymological, cultural, and entertainment purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Zay Hilfiger and Zayion McCall, the creators of the song "Juju On The Beat". Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post, and those who are featured in these embedded videos. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT THE RECORD "JUJU ON THE BEAT"
"Juju On That Beat" (TZ Anthem) is the currently viral Hip Hop dance routine (from August 2016 to date). Like "Hit The Quan", dancers pantomime what the rapper says and perform certain Hip Hop dance moves that the rapper calls out. (In this post, I refer to these dance moves as "calls"). For example, when the rapper says "walked in this party", the dancers imitate walking and when the rapper says "you know my hair nappy", the dancers gesture to their hair -regardless of whether their hair is nappy or not.* Also, for example, the dancers do their version of the old school (1986/1987) Hip Hop dance "The Running Man" when the rapper calls out that dance in that record.
-snip-
*The lyrics "you know my hair nappy" are part of the rapper's "getting his swag on" (bragging about how good he looks) at a party. That comment inspired me to do some online research about African Americans 9and other Black people's) changing attitudes about the word "nappy". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/changing-attitudes-among-african.html for Part I of a four part pancocojams post about this subject. The other links to those posts will be included in each post in that series.
****
WHAT DOES "JUJU ON THE BEAT" MEAN? [Revised July 10, 2017]
In the context of this Hip Hop record, I believe that there are two possible definitions for the term "juju on the beat":
1. "Juju on the beat" means to do a certain Hip Hop dance move (or do certain Hip Hop dance moves) on the beat (to the record's beat)
I'm not sure whether there's any firm agreement on what dance move or moves are called "the juju" (or "juju on the beat").
Just as there's a specific dance that is done when the rapper says "Do the Running Man" - there may be a specific dance move or series of dance moves that dancers are supposed to do when the rapper says "juju on the beat".
2. Juju on the beat means to "be or act "turnt up" (i.e. to really give something all you’ve got, to go “all in”, to really go all out, to really get down, to "go wild" with just a few or with no inhibitions).
****
EXPLANATIONS FOR DEFINITION #1 AND DEFINITION #2
From watching a number of those videos and from reading many of the comments in those video's discussion threads, it seems to me that many of the dancers who post challenge dance videos for "Juju On The Beat (TZ Anthem) base their dance moves on those performed by the Fresh The Clown duo*. But those dancers and others still tend to substitute their own pantomime and dance moves for some of those that the Fresh The Clown duo perform. In the beginning of the routine for the command" (call to) "juju on the beat", the duo leaned forward and then leaned back while moving their shoulders up and down to the beat.
However, Zay Hilfiger's comment (given in Excerpt #3 below) indicates that he "started saying “JuJu” in 2014. Also read my transcription of Zay Hilfiger's response to television host Kelly Ripa's question "What does Juju On The Beat mean?". Zay said that ["juju on the beat" is] "my arch ego. It’s like I’m the height... turned up...I don’t care." That transcription is found after the video given as Example #5.
I believe those comments support the second definition that is given in this post for the term "juju on the beat". However, I think that this is an earlier meaning that Zay Hilfiger had for "juju" and not most often used definition for that word in the context of that Hip Hop record.
-snip-
If Fresh The Clown's video actually is the prototype for "juju on the beat" routines, the way that dance move appears to be performed isn't the say way that Zay Hilfiger, the primary creator of this record, performed it in a video that he published on YouTube on August 15, 2016. That video shows him and a female friend performing a dance routine to his record.
**
More comments about Definition #2
Here are two definitions for the African American Vernacular English term "turnt up" ("turned up):
WARNING: urbandictionary.com pages often include profanity, sexually explicit content, forms of the n word, and racist content.
From http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Turnt+Up&page=2
"Turnt Up
ADJ.
1. A state of euphoria brought about by having an extremely good time
2. the act of dancing excitedly to popular music
3. an energetic feeling brought on by upbeat music, highly felt emotions, or positive events
When Young Thug's new song came on, the crowd became turnt up!
by Writeordiechick May 07, 2016
**
"turnt up
phrase coined by Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa that basically means to go HAM at a party, usually while intoxicated.
Brian: "What's up? Did you go to Dave's party last night?"
Zack: "Hell yeah, man I was so turnt up!"
#turnt #up #turn #party #go #ham"
by mr1o3 June 23, 2013
-snip-
Note that there are other-much older meanings- for the word "juju". Here's a brief excerpt of that Wikipedia article:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B9j%C3%BA_music
"Jùjú is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name comes from a Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "throwing" or "something being thrown." Juju music did not derive its name from juju, which "is a form of magic and the use of magic objects or witchcraft common in West Africa, Haiti, Cuba and other South American nations."....
-snip-
It's possible that Zay Hilfiger came up with the term "juju" to refer to being "turnt on" or having a heighten sense of himself from the definition that "juju" means a fetish, or an amulet for magic.
*Read the transcription for the portion of the video of Zay and Zayion on the American television show Live With Kelly (given as Example #5 below).
****
WHAT DOES "TZ ANTHEM" MEAN?
My guess is that "TZ Anthem" means two Z's ("Zay Hilfiger and Zayion McCall)'s anthem. Or "t" might stand for "the" Z's (Zay and Zayion) anthem.
****
ARTICLE EXCERPTS ABOUT "JUJU ON THE BEAT" (TZ ANTHEM)
These two excerpts are given in no particular order. The excerpts are numbered for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juju_on_that_Beat_(TZ_Anthem)
" "Juju on that Beat (TZ Anthem)" (also known simply as "Juju on that Beat",[1] "Juju on the Beat"[2] and "Juju on dat Beat"[3]) is a song by American rappers Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall. The song and the music video on McCall's YouTube channel* went viral and has attracted more than 17 million views and resulted in a number of fan-made versions of the music video.[2][3] The song is a freestyle over the beat of the song "Knuck If You Buck" by American hip hop group Crime Mob featuring Lil' Scrappy.[4]
The single charted on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 11.[5]
The duo appeared on Live with Kelly on October 19, 2016, performing the song and giving an instruction of its dance moves.[2]...
Single by Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall from the album Why So Serious? Released September 30, 2016"...
-snip-
The "Juju on the Beat" sound file was posted to Zayion McCall's YouTube channel on August 11, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSMpXARQYbg. That sound file has 21,203,173 total views as of 10/25/2016 at 2:41 PM.
****
Excerpt #2:
From http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/09/what-is-the-tz-anthem-dance-challenge.html
"Everything You Need to Know About the TZ Anthem Challenge and the 15-Year-Old Who Created the Viral Dance That Took Over the Teenage Internet" by Madison Malone Kircher, September 12, 2016 6:31 p.m.
"Zay Hilfiger....[is the] 15-year-old .... behind the #TZAnthemChallenge, in which participants undertake the entire sequence of dance moves performed by Hilfiger in the official video. Dance challenges are the frequent and popular subject of YouTube videos, but TZ Anthem seems to have some particularly limber legs: It’s currently taking over living rooms, cafeterias, locker rooms, high-school parking lots — which means it’s also taken over Vine, Snapchat, and Twitter. Just ask the nearest teenager you can find.”...
Hilfiger’s song has taken off online over the past month, but the Detroit teen explains the song’s origins date back a few years. “I made the song during summer 2014, but it wasn’t even a real song then,” Hilfiger told me. “I was just with my friends playing around, you know. This is when dances like the Nae Nae and the Whip were hot, so we just started saying ‘juju,’” (The Juju is one of several moves in the corresponding dance to “TZ Anthem.”) “As the summer [2016] went over, I came up and was like, I want to make this a real song,” Hilfiger said. “I didn’t really expect it to do what it did.”
He posted the track to SoundCloud, but says since he didn’t promote the song, he wasn’t anticipating a wide audience. “I just made it, put it out there, and it was alright,” Hilfiger explained. “People would say, This is a good song, and take it to their friends.” But when a performing group he belongs to, called Fresh the Clowns, shared a choreographed dance to the song to their over 100,000 Instagram followers, the viral lift began.”....
-snip-
Italics are added here to highlight this sentence.
****
Excerpt #3:
From http://genius.com/Zay-hilfigerrr-juju-on-that-beat-tz-anthem-lyrics verified Commentary by Zay Hilfiger and Zayion McCall
"About Juju On That Beat - Created by WriteNProppa September 2016
A breakout hit for Detroit rappers Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall, “TZ Anthem” is a viral song in the same vein of previous tracks like “Hit The Quan,” with lyrics centering around various dance moves.
Zay and Zayion rap over the beat to Crime Mob’s 2004 classic “Knuck If You Buck,” and interpolate a portion of that record.
“TZ Anthem,” or “JuJu on That Beat,” went viral after the dance troupe Fresh the Clowns posted their #TZAnthemChallenge video. That led others to make their own clips, and the dance craze blew up.
Why is this song popular?
The success of “TZ Anthem” is largely a product of social media. Dance videos synced to the song were virally shared on Twitter, causing the song to sky-rocket in popularity.
What inspired them to make the song
ZAY HILFIGERRR :
It actually started when I came to Zayion’s house and I was just playing around. I kind of made the song in 2014, I started saying “JuJu” in 2014. I didn’t have no lyrics, it was just a thing.
And then I just wanted to do it and I went to Zayion house and told him to turn on the “Knuck If You Buck” beat and I just freestyled.
All of this was random.”…
How did the #TZAnthemChallenge take off?
ZAY HILFIGERRR :
The Co-CEO of Fresh the Clowns called me like “Zay your track hot, I saw the dance and I want to start a trend.”
At the moment the song wasn’t poppin’, but we shot a video and the next day it blew up. It had like 18,000 views in one day and then it hit 100,000 and it was on all these dance pages. After a week it was popular.
As far as the #TZAnthemChallenge that came from everybody doing it, Fresh the Clowns, little kids.
The main three people were Fresh the Clowns, Hannah and then this 9-year-old little caucasian girl.
Then we started seeing cheerleaders doing it, then IG celebrities and then actors. After LeBron’s son did it, we knew we had something."
-snip-
"Hannah" may be the young woman who is dancing with Zay Hilfiger in the video given as Example #2 below.
"The 9 year old Caucasian girl" may be the girl that is dancing in the video given as Example #3 below.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
These videos are given in chronological order based on their publishing date on YouTube, with the oldest dated video given first.
Example #1: Fresh the clowns tzanthem 🔥🔥🔥
DAEDAY Fresh Published on Aug 7, 2016
Follow our ig pages @freshboyira
@daedayfresh_ @zayhilfigerrr
-snip-
The flames icon means that the video publisher considers this video to be "fire" ("on fire", "hot", "very very good".)
-snip-
Here's the portion of this record's lyrics that is usually used for the dance challenges:
...
"[Verse 1: Zay Hilfiger]
Walked in this party
And these girls lookin' at me
Skinny jeans on and you know my hair nappy
Hey, hey, hey
Okay, okay
I want y'all do it, do this dance now
[Hook: Zay Hilfiger]
JuJu on the beat
JuJu on that beat
JuJu on that, JuJu on that, JuJu on that beat
Now slide, drop
Hit dem folks, don't stop, aye
Don't stop, aye
Don't stop, aye
Running man on that beat, aye
Running man on that beat, aye
Running man on that beat, aye
Running man on that beat
Now do your dance, do your dance, do your dance, aye
You ugly
You your daddy's son"...
Source: http://genius.com/Zay-hilfigerrr-juju-on-that-beat-tz-anthem-lyrics Zay Hilfigerrr, Featuring Zayion McCall, Produced By Lil Jay (Crime Mob), Album Why So Serious?
****
Example #2: The Creator : JuJu On Dat Beat : #TZAnthemChallenge ( Official Dance Video ) @ZayHillfigerrr
Zay Hilfiger, Published on Aug 15, 2016
Download JuJu On That Beat - http://smarturl.it/DownloadJuJu
Stream JuJu On That Beat - http://smarturl.it/StreamJuJu
****
Example #3: little white Girl dances on juju on that beat song, black dance moves :D
3896841, views Published on Aug 23, 2016
amazing
****
Example #4: Juju On That Beat Dance Challenge [TZ Athem] #jujuonthatbeat #tzathem
One Challenge, Published on Sep 24, 2016
Juju On That Beat Dance Challenge [TZ Athem] #jujuonthatbeat #tzathem #tzathemchallenge
Best musical.ly, dubsmash, instagram and flipagram Juju On That Beat Dance Challenge Compilation or TZ Athem, urban dance, hip hop dance and lit dance.
****
Example #5: "Juju on That Beat" Dance Lesson
LIVE with Kelly Published on Oct 19, 2016
Hip hop duo Zay teach Kelly and Ciara how to do the "Juju on The Beat" dance.
-snip-
Here's the transcription when Kelly asks Zay Hilfiger what "juju on the beat" means: (.045-.054 of this video)
Kelly- “What does it mean? Is it dirty? Are we…[Zay interrupts her and she says] okay…
Zay- No Juju is like me.
Kelly – Okay
Zay -It’s my....it’s my arch ego. It’s like I’m the height (said while repeatedly mimicking lifting something up with both hands], turned up...I don’t care...
Kelly – Oh okay.
Zay – That’s the type. It’s like my beads. That’s me.
-snip-
I wrote these words in italic font to indicated that I’m not sure of this transcription. “It’s like my beads” refers to the fact that Zay is wearing his short natural hair in a hairstyle that isn’t worn by other males – i.e. braids with pink beads at the end. This hairstyle signifies (represents) his uniqueness.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
King Sunny Ade - Suku Suku Bam Bam (sound file, information, & comments)
Edited by Azizi Powell
Update: December 31, 2018
This pancocojams post showcases two sound files of King Sunny Ade performing "Suku Suku Bam Bam".
Information about JuJu music and information about King Sunny Ade is also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT JUJU MUSIC
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B9j%C3%BA_music
"Jùjú is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name comes from a Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "throwing" or "something being thrown." Juju music did not derive its name from juju, which "is a form of magic and the use of magic objects or witchcraft common in West Africa, Haiti, Cuba and other South American nations." It evolved in the 1920s in urban clubs across the countries, and was believed to have been created by AbdulRafiu Babatunde King, popularly known as Tunde King. The first jùjú recordings were by Tunde King and Ojoge Daniel from the same era of the 1920s when Tunde King pioneered it. The lead and predominant instrument of Jùjú is the Iya Ilu,"' talking drum. Some Jùjú musicians were itinerant, including early pioneers Ojoge Daniel, Irewole Denge and the "blind minstrel" Kokoro...
Jùjú music is performed primarily by artists from the southwestern region of Nigeria, where the Yoruba are the most numerous ethnic group. In performance, audience members commonly shower jùjú musicians with paper money; this tradition is known as "spraying."
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-african-custom-of-spraying-money.html for one pancocojams post on the custom of "spraying". Links to other pancocojams posts on that subject are included in that post.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT KING SUNNY ADE
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Sunny_Ad%C3%A9
" "King" Sunny Adé (born Sunday Adeniyi, September 22, 1946) is a popular performer of Yoruba Nigerian jùjú music and a pioneer of modern world music. He has been classed as one of the most influential musicians of all time.[1]
Adé was born to a Nigerian royal family in Ondo, thus making him an Omoba of the Yoruba people.[2][3] His father was a church organist, while his mother was a trader. Adé left grammar school in Ondo under the pretense of going to the University of Lagos. There, in Lagos, his mercurial musical career started…
Sunny Adé's music is characterised by, among other instruments, the talking drum - an instrument indigenous to his Yoruba roots, the guitar and his peculiar application to jùjú music,[6][7] that would easily put him in the same class as guitar musicians like Santana. His music is in the age old tradition of singing poetic lyrics ("ewi" in Yoruba) and praise of dignitaries as well components of Juju (traditional African belief) called the Ogede (casting a spell). Hence, Adé's music constitutes a record of the oral tradition of his people for posterity.
Sunny Adé was the first to introduce the pedal steel guitar to Nigerian pop music. He was the first to introduce the use of synthesizers, clavinet, vibraphone, tenor guitar into the jùjú music repertoire such as dub and wah-wah guitar licks.
...[The] seminal recording [Juju Music in 1982] is often acclaimed as one of the most important records from Africa. Adé gained a wide following with this album and was soon billed as "the African Bob Marley".
****
FEATURED SOUND FILE
King Sunny Ade - Suku Suku Bam Bam
walizono2002, Published on Jul 27, 2015
Sunny Ade & His African Beats - Suku Suku Bam Bam
Album; Sunny Alade SALPS 5 - Vol. 3
Year; 1976
-snip-
This sound file replaces the one that was previously embedded in this post. Here are the comments that I added after that previous sound file:
"Suku suku" is pronounced “shoo-koo” “shoo-koo”.
I wonder if there's any connection between the phrase "Suku Suku" and the name for the Cuban "sucu sucu" genre of music, if not the music itself. Click http://www.cubanow.net/articles/what-was-sucu-sucu-cuban-music for information about that Latin musical genre.
-snip-
Here are some comments from another sound file of King Sunny Ade - Suku Suku Bam Bam that is no longer available.
Outreachat, 2009
"Good new version; but the true collector's item is the 1976 original, from where this excerpt, "Oro Igbagbo" (Matters of Faith) comes. Sunny Ade's reprises of his earlier music are tending toward a more stable orchestral tempo, in contrast to the raw energy of his old self; the original "Suku suku bam bam" was unique in its extremely tight control, so early in his career, at age 30. Only "E kilo fomo ode", 1974, could boast the same orchestral discipline at the time. Hollywood Walk of Fame? Wow!"
**
Agogoja Ti ndun kango kango, 2010
Guys/Gals
This is not the original Suku Suku bamu bamu. This was remix for international market not for 9ja version.
Please, I plead to anyone with original to post it and I will donate handy some of money to your favorite high school in Yorubaland
-snip-
“9ja” = naija (a contemporary way of saying & writing “Nigeria”.
**
planetolusola, 2010
"Good translation temiwale88. KSA also said:
"Oro Igbago lo mumi gori oke lo
Mobo lowo ota, tomi se bi ore simi"
"It is the words of faith that send me into high retreat, I'm finally free from my enemies who appears as friends to me"
KSA is the ultimate Yoruba linguist, always using verbs and proverbs to instruct. He is the ultimate 'Afilu komo lede'
-snip-
Unfortunately, the comment that this is in reply to no longer exists.
****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to King Sunny Ade for his musical legacy. Thanks to the other musicians in these recordings. Thanks also to the YouTube publishers of these sound files.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Update: December 31, 2018
This pancocojams post showcases two sound files of King Sunny Ade performing "Suku Suku Bam Bam".
Information about JuJu music and information about King Sunny Ade is also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT JUJU MUSIC
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B9j%C3%BA_music
"Jùjú is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name comes from a Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "throwing" or "something being thrown." Juju music did not derive its name from juju, which "is a form of magic and the use of magic objects or witchcraft common in West Africa, Haiti, Cuba and other South American nations." It evolved in the 1920s in urban clubs across the countries, and was believed to have been created by AbdulRafiu Babatunde King, popularly known as Tunde King. The first jùjú recordings were by Tunde King and Ojoge Daniel from the same era of the 1920s when Tunde King pioneered it. The lead and predominant instrument of Jùjú is the Iya Ilu,"' talking drum. Some Jùjú musicians were itinerant, including early pioneers Ojoge Daniel, Irewole Denge and the "blind minstrel" Kokoro...
Jùjú music is performed primarily by artists from the southwestern region of Nigeria, where the Yoruba are the most numerous ethnic group. In performance, audience members commonly shower jùjú musicians with paper money; this tradition is known as "spraying."
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-african-custom-of-spraying-money.html for one pancocojams post on the custom of "spraying". Links to other pancocojams posts on that subject are included in that post.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT KING SUNNY ADE
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Sunny_Ad%C3%A9
" "King" Sunny Adé (born Sunday Adeniyi, September 22, 1946) is a popular performer of Yoruba Nigerian jùjú music and a pioneer of modern world music. He has been classed as one of the most influential musicians of all time.[1]
Adé was born to a Nigerian royal family in Ondo, thus making him an Omoba of the Yoruba people.[2][3] His father was a church organist, while his mother was a trader. Adé left grammar school in Ondo under the pretense of going to the University of Lagos. There, in Lagos, his mercurial musical career started…
Sunny Adé's music is characterised by, among other instruments, the talking drum - an instrument indigenous to his Yoruba roots, the guitar and his peculiar application to jùjú music,[6][7] that would easily put him in the same class as guitar musicians like Santana. His music is in the age old tradition of singing poetic lyrics ("ewi" in Yoruba) and praise of dignitaries as well components of Juju (traditional African belief) called the Ogede (casting a spell). Hence, Adé's music constitutes a record of the oral tradition of his people for posterity.
Sunny Adé was the first to introduce the pedal steel guitar to Nigerian pop music. He was the first to introduce the use of synthesizers, clavinet, vibraphone, tenor guitar into the jùjú music repertoire such as dub and wah-wah guitar licks.
...[The] seminal recording [Juju Music in 1982] is often acclaimed as one of the most important records from Africa. Adé gained a wide following with this album and was soon billed as "the African Bob Marley".
****
FEATURED SOUND FILE
King Sunny Ade - Suku Suku Bam Bam
walizono2002, Published on Jul 27, 2015
Sunny Ade & His African Beats - Suku Suku Bam Bam
Album; Sunny Alade SALPS 5 - Vol. 3
Year; 1976
-snip-
This sound file replaces the one that was previously embedded in this post. Here are the comments that I added after that previous sound file:
"Suku suku" is pronounced “shoo-koo” “shoo-koo”.
I wonder if there's any connection between the phrase "Suku Suku" and the name for the Cuban "sucu sucu" genre of music, if not the music itself. Click http://www.cubanow.net/articles/what-was-sucu-sucu-cuban-music for information about that Latin musical genre.
-snip-
Here are some comments from another sound file of King Sunny Ade - Suku Suku Bam Bam that is no longer available.
Outreachat, 2009
"Good new version; but the true collector's item is the 1976 original, from where this excerpt, "Oro Igbagbo" (Matters of Faith) comes. Sunny Ade's reprises of his earlier music are tending toward a more stable orchestral tempo, in contrast to the raw energy of his old self; the original "Suku suku bam bam" was unique in its extremely tight control, so early in his career, at age 30. Only "E kilo fomo ode", 1974, could boast the same orchestral discipline at the time. Hollywood Walk of Fame? Wow!"
**
Agogoja Ti ndun kango kango, 2010
Guys/Gals
This is not the original Suku Suku bamu bamu. This was remix for international market not for 9ja version.
Please, I plead to anyone with original to post it and I will donate handy some of money to your favorite high school in Yorubaland
-snip-
“9ja” = naija (a contemporary way of saying & writing “Nigeria”.
**
planetolusola, 2010
"Good translation temiwale88. KSA also said:
"Oro Igbago lo mumi gori oke lo
Mobo lowo ota, tomi se bi ore simi"
"It is the words of faith that send me into high retreat, I'm finally free from my enemies who appears as friends to me"
KSA is the ultimate Yoruba linguist, always using verbs and proverbs to instruct. He is the ultimate 'Afilu komo lede'
-snip-
Unfortunately, the comment that this is in reply to no longer exists.
****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to King Sunny Ade for his musical legacy. Thanks to the other musicians in these recordings. Thanks also to the YouTube publishers of these sound files.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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