BOKOBOKO (SLOWLY) BY GALLAXY IS NOT A NIGERIAN SONG

Few months after Ghana’s  music duo Gallaxy released their Afrobeat single ‘BokoBoko’ which is locally translated in Twi has ‘slowly’ .A cross section of the Ghanaian music community  has expressed their satisfaction over the song. 

In the same vein others have also express their doubt in whether it is Ghanaian production.

Gallaxy in most of their radio and television interviews have explained the concept. They explain why people should not think they are doing Nigerian music. Can we explain what Nigerian music is?

However I took my time and listen to the song in question.

Sincerely my ears swayed me to believe what some section of the public were debating that it’s a Nigerian music. But few lines and minutes into it, I refused it. And call it creativity. Split the beat  from the lyrics and conclude for yourself.

Let do this review;

Gallaxy is an Afrobeat and Highlife duo. They have made that known to the public prior to the released of the song in November last year. The Highlife side of their brand served us with an authentic Highlife song ‘Wodo Nti’ which enjoyed massive airplay countrywide and has equally been on most chart shows as against Castro’s ‘Odo pa’. They were hailed for that production because it projected and represented Ghana’s indigenous highlife genre perfectly .Their latest, ‘Highlife Agogo’ is just another mouth watering highlife some playing in clubs and every corner.

The bone of contention at the moment is whether ‘BokoBoko’(slowly) is a Nigeria song.

Afrobeat is coined from the word ‘African beat’. A genre known for Africans. But it is worth nothing that Nigerians pioneered the movement. On the global stage, Afrobeat is seen as a genre for the Nigerians than .Africa at large. Fela Kuti and many others have sampled beats and rhythms from other countries and roll the Pidgin English and their local language on it and there it goes. It becomes a hit and sells very well. Evolution is a natural phenomenon that no man can prevent.

PRODUCTION: Harbour city Recordz’s official sound engineer shottoh blinqx single handled the making of the beat, arrangement and mixing of the masterpiece. The beat has elements from Anglophone and francophone jurisdiction. This is a perfect element of the kind of song. So in a nutshell, it satisfies the majority. Music is all about your target population.

Afrobeat has gone through changes and the young professional beat makers know the rudiments and what it takes to prepare a perfect meal.

LYRICS: Kwesi Dav the vocalist who was also the lead singer was very selective about the kind of words he used to lure his mistress who was expected to ride him ‘slowly’. Pidgin English was the dominant language used in his case. In his first verse he used Nigerian tone ‘You’re healing me, with your touching’.

Should that be the bases of the argument? Let me play the devil’s advocate by asking ‘How can you compose dancehall   music if you don’t dominate your piece with Jamaican patois?

Music has a style and attitude.  Afrobeat is not exceptional. It is an evolving trend and Gallaxy needs to be praised for their level of creativity. Years back when R2bees released a song ‘Someone like you’ which features J’Martins, they faced a similar backlash. Meanwhile that song really shot them internationally. Are we working towards going global with our music?

Bra Chiky the rapper on the other hand, has proved that, he has total control over his choice of words and felt very comfortable in the delivery .He spewed out his wicked ‘punch lines’ as the rap emcees will say.

SONG WRITING: Gallaxy is very young in the industry but well known behind the scene as good song writers. They have always defended themselves as song writers with a unique style and very selective not to abusive their listeners with their songs .The pedigree can be traced from their previous releases.

ATTITUDE: If you have ever watched the ‘BokoBoko’ video and compare it to their ‘Wodo Nti’ video .You can see the disparity. The gab is clear. Versatility and swag comes to play. Their body language tells the story.

Let me conclude that Gallaxy as a new music group who was only projecting Ghana and Africa through their music.  At least every musician must have a foresight. Music is a tool you can use to appeal to your global audience. This is the future.