By Dafe Ivwurie
Finally, we have the album by Yinka Davies. It’s titled Black Chiffon. I am, sure that all of you would want to know how she arrived at that name. I think it is appropriate to leave that story entirely to her during the interactive session.
I will also not attempt to introduce Yinka Davies to you because there is nothing that I would say here that you do not already know.
I will, however, make an attempt to introduce you to this 17-track double CD collector’s item that we have all waited for with baited breath. Black Chiffon is vintage Yinka Davies in the fullness of her vocal power, in the vastness of her musical experiences and influences, in her playful cheekiness, in her soulful glow and delivery; it is Yinka Davies just being herself and dragging you into her world of sheer musical joy.
If you like the African drums, if you like structured brass or wind instrument arrangement, if you like good harmony with a twist of the occasional minor notes, if you like the elements of surprise in your music, then you would love Black Chiffon.
As Buki (Bukola Izeogu) of Classic FM would put, ‘this music is not for the faint hearted, Yinka will blow your mind.’
Well, I doubt if she actually set out to blow anybody’s mind, but it just turns out that she takes you on a whirlwind expedition of sound with African and Diaspora African roots; the apala, the afro beat, the jazz, the highlife, the soul, the blues and the fuji. She appends her signature on all these genres the way only Yinka Davies can. Talking about fuji, you may want to listen to the father/daughter collabo on ‘Owo’, that classic by the undisputed king of fuji music, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister of blessed memory.
I have had a hard time choosing a favourite from the 17 songs, but I swing between ‘won ngbe bo’ a mid-tempo grove about unrequited love, ‘for example’, a richly didactic song, ‘ori mi o’, a song about destiny and ‘dedicate’.
‘Gaamoingede’ is a collaboration by two siblings, Yinka Davies and her brother, Bode Davies. It is a fusion of apala and jazz recounting the story that Yinka’s grandmother told her about her father. Little wonder she had to get her Bode to lend a voice on this one.
The recurring themes in Black Chiffon are faith, fate, love and nation building. Let me warn you not to ask Yinka what her music is called. The answer you’ll get is ‘there is no single name for my kind of music… I fuse all sorts of ideas together to get an original one…. So, I call my music Sound’.
But I’ll tell you to listen out for the drums, the horns and the harmonies, three distinct elements that draw you into deeper listening. The horns arrangements and percussion elevate her art, providing a soothing African joie de vivre. But it is her voice that ‘kills’ you – it erupts in your ears one minute and dissolves into a whisper the next, it tickles you, you follow the softness and firmness; it is playfully rapturous.
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