Can you feel that? The scintillating sway
of their drums, the sensual echoes of stories
gathered in the strings infiltrating your psyche?
Can you hear that? Past and present generations
stringing together our glorious past to a promise
of a rich future? These musicians with their
lyrics spell possibilities, wonder: their musical
notes rise like the sun in the Savanna, golden,
full of life, painting our symphonies on the pages
of life. A deep impressionable mark, their tunes.
As fingers dance on those piano keys their voices
rise along their instruments raising the ‘dead’ and
their forgotten dreams.These notes weave excitement
in broken minds releasing them from their spell.
Their tunes serenade hopeless souls, harmonize
our dreams. This is our ecstasy: dreams coming
to life as we vigorously dance away to Fela Kuti,
a revolution brewing on the dancefloor.
Hearts are soothed when we slow whine to Ric
Hassani, souls are reignited as we swallow ‘Rita
Riaku’, a song bearing Erica Wainaina’s soul.
We drop away the anxieties of ‘what ifs’ along
with regrets of ‘I wish I knew’ when Papa Wemba
belts away his notey heart. We slip in their aura
and our dark phantoms sleep, no longer holding
us hostage. Afrika’s music syncs our hearts with
rhythms that ignite. Together, we dance to the
drum beats of Afrika; it’s harmonious chorus of
hope waltzing to our steps.
From the Afrobeats of the west to the Bongo
beats of the east. Lingala, Zouk, Ama piano…
diverse dialects, shared beats, one message:
unity, change, growth, freedom harmonizes
us into a breathtaking acapella charged with
potential. Oh this music, instruments of love.
Bless this music, for it’s an instrument of life
guiding us toward a brighter dawn.
This thread binds us, this music speaks for us,
this music talks about us in loud susurration
of rhymes and hymns. These tones tune our
times and notes us into a coherent whole.
A universal language, our music, for even
foreign souls can tap into its power. Oh this
music, a beacon of hope, forever patching
us into one whole.
Oh Music in Afrika… a wholesome playlist.
Empress of Bookingham 