The "O le ku" Pattern | Featured Artiste: Mista Seth

No, not the 'Oleku' song.  I am referring to the classic Yoruba movie starring Yemi Sodimu.  If you haven't watched it, you really need to ASAP (both parts).  I watched it for the very first time during acculturation in Ipetumodu (and by saying this I have hopelessly revealed my secondary school *sigh*), Osun State with other class girls from secondary school.  I remember all of us complaining bitterly because of the way the movie ended.  *Enter a movie spoiler*  Sorry guys, but to get the point across, I need to expose the end *dodges tomatoes and agbo jedi-jedi ingredients thrown at her* All in good fun, ba?

[O le ku movie poster]
Anyway, here is the outcome: the main character did not pick any of the ladies vying for his affections.  He picked and married some other lady we were not expecting him to hook up with.  In other words, he did not marry any of the two ladies we were expecting him to choose from.  Rather, he married the 3rd lady, a totally different person.

This same thing happens in real life too.  I have seen this pattern repeated over and over again:

Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl likes boy back, boy and girl fall in  lust love, boy proposes to girl, girl's status on Facebook changes from "in a relationship" to "engaged." Innocent Relentless, in keeping with her New Year's resolution, is minding her own business jejely and not planning to do any "gbeborun" or "aproko."  But Facebook has better plans for her.  Relentless logs into Facebook and sees that fictitious girl, Joy is now "engaged" to Richard.  Relentless then jumps on the "her own don beta" bandwagon and goes on to congratulate Joy, who is now a fiancee, with the obligatory Facebook wall message that reads something like this: "Congratulations on your engagement, Joy!" (What? Were you expecting something else? I don't know what you were expecting o ... this was what I had in mind *displays a set of "not-so-pearly" white teeth*)

Anyhow, back to our scenario, a few weeks or sometimes, months later, Joy's status undergoes a series of unforseen and disturbing transformations:  it starts out with "It's complicated" and then "In a relationship" and then finally, "Single."  Later, it comes to Relentless's attention that Joy is no longer engaged to Richard, but is now dating Chuks (Yes, the indomitable Chuks).  I am not saying this to make jest of people's relationship woes, but to point out that after experiencing this several times, I have adopted a new strategy for dealing with engagement announcements:  I just IGNORE them.  I don't officially congratulate people until they're officially married.

What about you? Do you congratulate people on their engagements or do you like me, wait till they're officially Mr. and Mrs.?  On another note, that "It's Complicated" status just makes me wonder sha.  I guess if you're dating a married man, it IS complicated.  Or if you DISCOVER that your betrothed is actually already someone else's sweetheart, it gats to be complicated. Hmmmm.....

Featured Artiste: Mista Seth

Retyit Seth Maxwell Dayok, better known as "Mista Seth" is a young, talented music producer and gospel music artiste currently based in Abuja.  He has produced several songs for other gospel artistes such as Dach-Mo, who was actually featured on this blog HERE and HERE.

[Mista Seth / Facebook]
From my own observation, Mista Seth's forte is R & B.  He appears to have a solid grasp on that genre, and so I was not surprised to see that when he released his debut album titled "My Everything," virtually all the songs on the 17-track album had that distinct R & B flavor.  I know! you were just as surprised as I was to see that number of tracks (17) on one album.  I think Mista Seth was probably saving some of those songs for a very long time before he finally got a chance to put them all in an album.   But that tends to be pretty common with Nigerian artistes for their debut albums.  I have listened to the album (purchased it on iTunes) and decided to feature one of the songs I liked here today.  It is called "Hallelujah."  Check it out:


THE REVIEW

The Good:  The intro grabs your attention and you immediately get the idea that Mista Seth has experimented with beats to find the one that works. There's a certain recurrent part of the beats that sounds like the clapping of hands and that reminded me of praise and worship songs.   I tend to gravitate towards songs (and music videos) that tell stories, so the story-telling aspect of verses was a good move on his part.  The hook is catchy and memorable and combined with the beats makes the song a happy, dance-worthy song.  I also like the outro because he kept it simple.  I have no problem with Mista Seth's vocals because they work well with this song.  He puts energy and passion into the song in general, but most noticeably in the places where you would expect more emphasis, i.e. towards the end of the verse, just before the chorus/hook.  The background vocals (which sound like Mista Seth's own voice) were good.  No complaints there.

The Bad:  My major concern with this song is the songwriting.  I get the idea that Mista Seth wants to communicate, i.e. write a song highlighting personal testimonies of individuals and juxtapose it with similar biblical characters.  But it sounded like his desire to share the testimonies trumped any efforts to mould the song into better verses.  In other words, it just sounds like he is reading a set of testimonies to the sound of beats playing, rather than actually singing a song.  To his credit though, the beats keep him on track.  More importantly, the hook balances out the verses and it is actually the hook that MAKES this song a song.

Want to learn more on Mista Seth? The information below should prove helpful:

Artiste's Stage Name: Mista Seth

Artiste's Real Name: Retyit Seth Maxwell Dayok


Featured Album/Song: MY EVERYTHING/Hallelujah

Connect with Mista Seth: FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace 

Purchase Song(s) / Full Album: iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, Holy Culture 

.... And that's all folks! Have a great week ahead!

I remember Oleku, I actually purchased the movie the last time I was home. Cant find it anymore though :(, I am a huge Opomulero productions fan. Lol on the status stuff, hummmm.... Me I just ignore sha, I don't think people should use facebook as their personal diary jor.

Hahaha....you always make me laugh. I understand you on Facebook relationships...I congratulate them and hope for the best. I rarely encounter people who get engaged and then move on back to single, more like relationship with name, to relationship with no name to complicated and then single. However, if it is for the best, it is better than a sham of a marriage. lol

Love that Oleku movie. Can watch it over and over again; buh i didn't really like the ending too........revealing your school is not such a bad thing..Pass on the torch!

Pharmacistcumnovelist

Honestly, I have been looking to purchase an original copy of the movie for a few years now and just haven't found it anywhere to purchase.  You can't go wrong with Mainframe productions.  They clearly take quality seriously and I appreciate that too.  Yes o, ignoring them is my new strategy.  LOL @ personal diary.  Facebook has ceased to be really private anymore.  

AdeOla, I do? Well, I'll take that as a compliment :D

So you also congratulate them?  I used to, but I stopped o, except for weddings sha.  That scenario you painted ehn, I have also encountered it, but the engagement one is the one I found intriguing. A sham of a marriage is never a good thing if you take marriage seriously, but you're right.  A broken engagement is better than that.  

Yes o, that O le ku movie is a classic and I have also watched it more than once.  The ending still fascinates me though.  It just shows you how unpredictable life can be.  

Pass on the torch, still brightly gleaming ... 

You must be somewhat familiar with QC to have decoded the acculturation reference so fast :-)

As for revealing my school, well, it isn't a bad thing like you said.  It is just that I try to leave my personal life off of this blog.  Looks like your first time commenting here.  Welcome o and visit often :D

I only congratulate in marriage, but I can be happy for and admire a ring or photos of the engagement if there are any.

hmmmm.... so you went to ipetu modu. I remember I got admission to join the first set ever to attend that school, but I eventually went to another school

sometimes, we just find out that life has other plans for us than we imagined. Things r not really as straightforward as they seem.

Oh i looooovvvveeee Oleku, its a classic, i really don't take such announcements on FB seriously,iwill congratulate you ater posting the wedding pics, its incredible how your mind works sha how did you connect Oleku with Fb announcements.....thanks for reminding me of Oleku,its been at least ten years since i last saw it !

I like your strategy o (for the rings and photos), but I think I can only do that for folks I am particularly close to.  But like you, I save the congratulations for marriage. 

I went to Ipetumodu for the acculturation only, not for secondary school.  Yes, it was fairly new back then so I can see how you would have been among the first set to attend.  Life can be pretty unpredictable.  I don't think people plan to have failed engagements, but you have to agree that is awkward to find out that the people you congratulated are no longer together.  That's why I decided to kuku wait for marriage.  It is the safer choice :-)

Jemima, I am yet to find anyone who does not at least like that movie. It is just a classic.  To imagine that the folks who acted in it and produced it may not have known just how much it would be esteemed in later years. Yes, I have NOW decided to stick to waiting for wedding announcements first before congratulating anyone.  Honestly, I cannot tell you how I connected O le ku and FB announcements. It just clicked somehow. To God be the glory! LOL! 

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