Music response

I thoroughly enjoyed listening along to pop star King Sunny Adé as he performed two of his hits, “Ja Funmi” and “Merciful God”. It felt as if I had traveled back in time to see this performance with clear influences from the jazz genre. The two words I’d use to describe the performance are “calm and smooth”. The high-pitched strums of the guitar, the low, consistent beat of the drums, and the fluid vocals come together to create quite the musical experience. It’s not hard to believe “Ja Funmi” is his most famous song. There is a clear example of interlocking at (2:50) and throughout most of the song as the vocals fade out, the guitar chimes in to fill the gaps. They sped things up with “Merciful God”, but definitely didn’t lose the consistent beat. With the quicker tempo, the dancers picking it up was just natural.

After reading interpretations of the lyrics, I learned that “Ja Funmi” is about fighting for what you believe in. In an interview King Sunny Adé said the theme of the song is “You use your head to represent your God.” I believe he’s trying to get listeners to realize the injustices that are occurring around them. The song is a great example of artists expressing hope in the face of oppression. The calm nature of the song is atypical of songs with similar themes. Usually songs about recognizing oppression have an angry tone, but not Adé’s. I believe his approach can have an even bigger effect on listeners.

References:

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/10/arts/past-and-present-fuse-in-african-pop.html (Links to an external site.)

https://www.britannica.com/biography/King-Sunny-Ade (Links to an external site.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/02/arts/pop-review-it-s-always-time-to-dance-when-sunny-ade-revs-up.html (Links to an external site.)