Lessons from Kuye, a Yoruba novel by J.F. Odunjo | Featured Artiste: Faith Yebo

Lessons from Kuye, a Yoruba novel by J.F. Odunjo | Featured Artiste: Faith Yebo

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Sometime last week, I suddenly remembered this book we had to read in JSS something (1 or 2). It was for our Yoruba class (No, don't tune out yet;  Just wait) and it was called KUYE by J. F. Odunjo (the same man who wrote Alawiye). For all you academic types, the full name of the book is Kuye: Itan omo odi ti eda ro pin / lati owo.

Apart from the intriguing story line (which I cannot remember clearly), I learnt 2 things from that book:

1.  Yoruba Curse Words:   Yes, you read that correctly.  I learnt how to curse in Yoruba.  Not that I didn't know some curse words already (Remember I mentioned that people learn the bad things first when learning a language).  However, the curse words in Kuye were very ... DEEP! They were some real 'ijinle' curse words.  I decided against sharing the specific words because I do NOT recommend repeating them.



Ask me the names of the other characters in Kuye and you'll hear "Emm, errrr ..." *covers face*

2.  Snails eat paper:  This one I learnt the hard way.  Here's the story:  I had caught some small, garden snails (not those big juicy ones;  You go waka reach market to "source" those ones).  I don't know if these garden snails are edible (Have you tried eating them before? *casts a suspicious glance at whoever is reading this*) It just didn't cross my mind back then.  I put the snails in a bowl/cup along with some leaves (you know they gotta get their veggies).  But, I also used my Kuye book, front cover facing up, to cover the top of the cup/bowl to keep them from escaping.  And then, I did the unthinkable: I left them unattended *gasp of horror*

Alas! I came back to find that the snails haff chop and clean mouth with my book.  They decided it was stick meat.  Or maybe they wanted to learn Yoruba.  I strongly suspect that they desperately wanted to learn how to put the amin correctly on each word (Do, Re, Mi) *straight face* Seriously, they ate some parts of the back cover as they tried to escape and left a visible hole there.  I suppose they could have eaten their way into the Preface or Table of Contents if I hadn't arrived on time.  I am pretty sure they ate the ISBN though.  If there was a bar code, they would have eaten that too.  *irritated hiss*

Where is the book today?  Clueless. I probably gave it out.  So, if you ever come across a used Kuye book with a strange looking hole on the back cover, complete with bite marks, it probably belonged to Relentless, once upon a time.

Featured Artiste: Faith Yebo

You want to hear a not-so-funny story? I had seen Faith Yebo's ReverbNation profile a little over a year ago and hadn't thought much about it.  Then, I went back to visit again around the same time that I reviewed Solomon Lange's "Na gode."

Faith Yebo / ReverbNation

This time, she had changed her profile picture and I now recognized her.  She was one of the ladies who made cameo appearances in his Na gode video.  Both the 1st video and the 2nd video.  Small world, ba?  Would you believe that the new song she put up is actually a collabo between them?  That's the one I am reviewing today, and it's called "Daukaka."  I still don't know what Daukaka means, but I can certainly share it with you:

THE REVIEW

Likes:  One of the most obvious aspects of this song is the instrumentation: it actually matches the lyrics.   I am not just referring to the glaringly obvious flute (or similar woodwind instrument) that you hear in the intro.  Nor am I just referring to the fact that this is a song written in Hausa (this is Hausa,right?)  The light, airy feel of this song goes hand in hand with, and is in fact accentuated by the instruments (includes percussion, of course).  Add to that Faith Yebo's vocals and you have a song that says "Worship" without ever using that particular word.  I like the fact that the song starts with Faith's soft voice singing in Hausa and her presence is felt throughout the song.

Another sweet aspect of this song is the division of labor that is incorporated into the song structure.  Faith sings almost exclusively in English, except for the tail ends of the verses and the parts where she sings with Solomon.  Solomon, on the other hand sings exclusively in Hausa and it's actually the part he sings (in the middle or thereabout) that marks where the song "picks up" and enters another dimension.  If I didn't know better, I would have thought his voice was an instrument in its own right.  It is the highlight of this song, in other words.  The harmony/duet part is just sweet, abeg, and so are the background vocals.  I have no idea what they're saying, but the passion in their voices makes it a worthwhile experience. Plus the parts sung in English make sure you're not completely clueless.

The outro was just .... Ah! I wanted more of it, I won't even lie.  If you listen to that last few seconds at the tail end of the song, where Faith sings 'Seriki, etc' and then 'Eh, Eh, Eh, Eh, Eh ..." Yes, that part.  That adlib (or whatever you want to call it) was perfect and I just wish she hadn't left it till the last minute.  The music was quiet enough for us to savour those juicy bits (Wait, are we reviewing music or food here? *smh*).  I don't know about you, but I wanted more of that.  The songwriting was fine, but could be better.  Although this song is 5:02, I didn't feel like it dragged on or needed to be reduced because of the fact that each section was different, not just mere repitition.  That took some of the monotony out of it, in my opinion.  You've just got to love Hausa language! I know I do.

Dislikes:  I was not sure how to say this without hurting Faith Yebo's feelings, but here's what I truly feel:  Solomon Lange TOOK OVER this song.  I mean, from the very beginning and most especially in the part where he features prominently, he "owns" this song and leaves you with that "I came, I saw, I conquered" impression.  The problem though is that he is the "featured" artiste and not the main artiste, and that's why I put it under the "Dislike" section, i.e. I don't dislike this aspect of this song.  It's just that in terms of performance, the song runs contrary to what was advertised.  Have I succeeded in confusing you even more? LOL! Please let me know your thoughts on this one because that's the singular thing that struck me about this song.

In all fairness to Faith though, I have 3 possible reasons for this: (1) That part was right smack in the middle, i.e. it was the climax of the song, so I suppose it had to go up several notches  (2) Solomon has a stronger voice than Faith (3) That's just about the only place Solomon sings (apart from his brief debut in the intro), so can we agree that it was his time to shine? LOL! Okay Relentless, that's enough.

Recommendations:  (1) The background vocals need to be toned down a bit because they were drowning out Faith's voice in some parts (2) More adlibs (in Hausa, please) from Faith Yebo from the very beginning, not just towards the end.

More information on Faith follows:

Artiste's Stage Name:  Faith Yebo

Artiste's Real Name:  Faith Yebo

ReverbNation Page:  http://www.reverbnation.com/faithyebo

Connect with Faith:  Facebook, Twitter

That's it from me.  See y'all later!