Hello fellow music lovers, it's yet another Tuesday and a time to share our different tunes courtesy of . As I was reflecting on the songs I would use for today, an artist came to mind. From childhood, I always loved this artist's song. Not only because she is a Nigerian from the Yoruba tribe but because her lyrics hold a lot of truth. She is one of the few artists that speak truth without mincing words. You must be wondering who she is?
Artist: Asa pronounced as "ai.sah"
Genre: pop indie, pop afro beats.
Instruments: guitar, piano.
Asa has a lovely and powerful voice. I got to know about her from my dad. He was a big time fan of hers and we were always forced to listen to her songs whenever we went on a family trip. The lyrics of her songs didn't really make sense to me that time as I was more concerned with the instruments. Fast forward to years later, I heard her song over the radio and the feeling of nostalgia engulfed me. For today, I'd be sharing with you three of her songs.
Fire on The Mountain
This was the first song of hers that I listened to. The beats are second to none. The song tells us about the "circumstances" faced in the country at the time.
There is fire on the mountain and nobody seems to be on the run
I wake up in the morning, tell you what I see on my TV screen. I see the blood of an innocent child and everybody's watching
Like I mentioned earlier, she sings the truth without mincing words. One other thing I love about this song is the music video. The music thoroughly explains each line of her lyrics. What could be better than that?
Mr. Jailer
This has got to be my favourite song of hers. I remember singing along– word for word– whenever this song was played.
This piece basically describes the police force as a whole.
I'm in chains, you're in chains too
I wear uniforms and, you wear uniforms too
I'm a prisoner, you're a prisoner too, Mr jailer
Her logic is just amazing. Policemen are basically prisoners too. The prisoners wear uniforms and the policemen wear uniforms too. The prisoners are locked up and the policemen keep guard, it's safe to say they are prisoners too.
I like the way she ended this piece. She said;
" if you're walking down the marketplace, don't throw stones. Even if you do, you just might hit one of your own".
There is no lie in that. We sometimes act as if our actions don't affect other people, forgetting that we live in a small world and that our actions would affect us in the long run.
Satan Be Gone (SBG)
The last piece for today. She starts this piece with her mother tongue –Yoruba, then goes ahead to sing in English.
The chorus: Satan be gone, get on
Satan, Satan be gone.
As the name implies, the song is about her wading away the 'devil'.
I personally love her outfit in this music video. The video is simple but precise.
Asa has a powerful voice and she uses her voice to speak the truth and bring you a step closer to the "African society". There are many things we tend to overlook but she doesn't, her music doesn't!. If you take time to listen to the wording of her songs, you'd learn a lot.
With that, I'm going to wrap it up here. Above are three amazing music videos of Asa, gotten from YouTube. This is my response to the threetunetuesday initiative by . Thank you so much for reading.
With love, wongi ✨