Dami Ajayi
Cultural Critic at Freelance
Writer at London Listening Sessions
Lagos nostalgist. Author. Poet. Essayist. Aspiring Juju band boy. Psychiatrist. Musicophile. Subscribe to London Listening Sessions, on Substack.
Articles
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1 month ago |
damiajayi.substack.com | Dami Ajayi
1. A stray tweet has haunted me all week. I do not remember the tweet verbatim, but it was something like…the music of our father stays with us forever. Like most social media maxims, this tweet demands some introspection. Naturally, it called up the music of my father—his JVC deck connected to his Kenwood amplifier routed to the wooden Akai speakers from which his favourite music spewed. We are back to our flat in Ado-Ekiti, which smells of boiling beans and locust beans.
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1 month ago |
damiajayi.substack.com | Dami Ajayi
Late last year, Jazzhole Records, with the support of Studio Monkey Shoulder, released two LPs: Eroya and Asiko Tito. Both records are anthologies of music drawn from diverse African and Afrodiasporic genres, Jazzhole Records’ speciality. The release of both records, particularly Eroya, is timely. Eroya was released by Faaji Agba, a collective of twelve musicians. Most of these musicians were elderly and have passed on, but this does not diminish the importance of their music.
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2 months ago |
damiajayi.substack.com | Dami Ajayi
Naming love songs after girls is the gift that keeps giving. The old timers—highlifers and Juju exponents—knew this. Mention a girl’s name on wax, sing sonorously about her geographical location, croon in the same breath that you have dispatched yourself in her direction—and you are half-way to her heart. Taxi drivers were a regular fixture in highlife love songs in the 1960s, when vehicular transport was a miracle.
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2 months ago |
damiajayi.substack.com | Dami Ajayi
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2 months ago |
damiajayi.substack.com | Dami Ajayi
A working man’s weekend is sacred. Every 9 to 5 man who leans too deeply into the arts learns the restraint and pragmatism of that counsel ringing from childhood: stay in school, stay off drugs. But staying in school and off drugs does not kill the affliction of the incessant earworm. There is a tune in my head every time. Sometimes, this rhythm betrays my most well-meaning intentions in the most inappropriate places. This rhythm assures me I would have been a songwriter in another life.
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Twenty years old pounded yam do be hot
Following ‘Woju’ his breakthrough song with the similar sounding highlife ditty ‘Laye’, it was clear to fans of Daniel Tobiloba Anidugbe that G-Worldwide’s wunderkind knew one or two things about penning songs. This notwithstanding, the jury was still out on social media with https://t.co/4vyCxwMqXa
This 9 year old review first published on OlisaTV seems to have aged quite well. Until today the review existed only in my drive bcause OlisaTV 1.0 was wiped of the surface of the internet. @mazinwonwu remember?
