Ayodele's 'I Am Yours': Soulfully Inspiring

I was at a colleague’s desk when I saw this music album lying on one corner of his desk. My curiosity got the better of me and I had to borrow it from him to listen to it. I wanted to see what the face printed on its sleeve was capable of belting out. Trust me for being the music critic. I wanted to see if another new Naija musician had added to the quagmire of crap already playing on air.

I listened to the album and was stupefied.

This lady was GOOOD!

Her name is simply Ayodele and her music is in the gospel genre.

Now I’ve always categorized gospel music into the meaningfully spiritual and the commercially crapped categories. Ayodele’s Album ‘I Am Yours’ falls into the Meaningfully Spiritual category. I was so thrilled listening to her songs that I had to load them on my phone to listen to while strolling home from work.

Ayodele’s type of music is Soul and what amazes me is the way she waxes indigenous lyrics with the genre. She immediately reminded me of Modele, another female gospel artiste who seemed to be off the radar since her last album. But Ayodele is clearly differentiable.

Nigerian Gospel artistes that sing in the soul genre are rare; the only popular ones being Modele and T.Y Bello. Ayodele brings another flavor into this category.

Everything about this album was just on key; the lyrics, the sound engineering, the arrangement and sequencing of instrumentation all topped by Ayodele’s powerful soulful voice. Her singing pulls at the strings of your heart such that I could only arrive at an obvious conclusion – she is not just talented but most definitely anointed to sing. The lyrics of her songs actually minister to you and not just pass by your ears like a number of pointless so-called gospel songs out there; the tracks that worship are pure, selfless and you could feel the spirit and anointing in the delivery.

That’s what strikes me about Ayodele’s singing – her voice is subtle yet powerful, piercing yet humble.

The Album is a 10 tracker. It’s actually hard saying which is my favorite among the tracks because each time I listen to the album, I’m forced to change my mind again and again (a similar occurrence that happened with Lara George’s ‘Higher’ Album). 

However, I had to make one of the tracks my present ringtone because I just loved the way she sang that song. The song on my ringtone is titled ‘Shilekun’ which is a song that actually beckons to people to open up their hearts to Christ. The Album was produced by Cobhams Asuquo and Flo.

The Album was released last year November and is still very fresh. I’m hoping I hear a lot of it on air because Ayodele is one gifted singer that you just can’t ignore. In an industry that has been saturated with copycats and profaned gospel music, Ayodele's ‘I Am Yours’ is a breath of fresh air and definitely worth having in your collection.

Rihanna's Weird Commercial; Its Consequencies

Celebrities launching their own clothing line, perfumes etc. seems to be the usual step for people in showbiz to take. Though I wonder at times if the whole thing is not a set-up against consumers  to actually sell a product that's not really owned by the artist but just has the artiste's name on it and equally masqueraded as the owner. No doubt, fans will purchase it like there's no tomorrow.

Much buzz has gone around about songstress Rihanna's debut of perfume range called Reb'l Fleur. Nothing bad about launching a perfume range. However there's something weird about the way its been sold in its TV commercial.

Unfortunately, many may see it as creativity at play but all I saw was just disturbing subliminal messaging. While some of these hidden messages may not be fully understood because of its use of symbolism, there is one glaring one that even a dim-witted person should understand. I won't dabble into the other subliminals in the commercial. If you want to read more on that you can click this link to read further.

As the commercial begins from where Rihanna rises from lying down inside this huge flower, we see her catching sight of strange suited men in the distance (also symbolic) who she runs from. Then she comes face to face with a mirror that reflects her bad side. And as she passes through the mirror this disturbing text is displayed:

"BAD FEELS SO GOOD"

She appears on the other side of the mirror now wearing a black version of a initial peach-colored dress. Then she encounters the black suited men who's act of blind folding her with their hands looks more sexual than blinding.

The next thing we see is Rihanna bringing out the perfume and syncing it in a sexual movement around her crotch area as though it were a dildo.

When the act is satisfactorily done, everything disturbingly goes into reverse; from visual to music. When she gets to the mirror again in reverse the text now shows as:

"GOOD FEELS SO BAD"

And actually, that's not what it would read backwards so it is quite clear that the message is deliberate. Saying that 'Bad' is 'Good' is disturbing on a lot of levels. Just thinking about it alone is scary because there are gazillions of stuff that are bad but the entertainment circuit is trying to showcase them as the cool trend to follow. 

Nowadays when people say 'I'm bad' it means saying 'I'm good'. In the Nigerian lingo circuit, people say stuff like 'Bobo to badt' (I don't know how the 't' is supposed to resonate in the line. As far as I'm concerned, its as pointless as substituting 'KK' for 'Ok'). We've heard Nigerian artistes like BankyW and his crew sing songs about the coolness of being a 'very good bad guy'. Foreign artistes are very deep in it to the extent that we had representations of badness being seen as cool; we even had some using it as names of their labels.

But seriously we have to say the truth; what is bad is bad and what is good is good. It seems its only God that maintains that simplicity because man has totally distorted the view. The scriptures says in 1st Corinthians 14:33 that God is not an author of confusion. He has laid it all out simply. The devil who has no plan but to steal, kill and destroy is an author of confusion. That is why man will forever keep asking questions that will never have answers.

Commercials like this one by Rihanna are designed to brainwash viewers into buying into the idea that 'Bad is good'. By the time you see it again and again, you begin to accept it till it becomes normal. My advise to anyone who watches TV is to watch with an objective mind, when you mentally question all you see, you'll be shocked what you'll discover just as the thousands of shocking discoveries I've made.

Let he or she who has a mind take heed!

The Oily Faced Anchor of Video Wheels

The show is Video Wheels which airs on Thursday evenings around 6.00pm. The Anchor is simply Anjola. Its not the first time that they've got one thing wrong in the production of their show. There was one show where the Anchor (I'm not sure whether it was also Anjola) was in a dark room and the lighting was poor making it look like she was presenting from a photography dark room.

Oily faced and bodied Anjola

Subsequently, they seemed to get better but today as the show aired again, I couldn't but notice the oily face and body of the Anchor, Anjola. When I first noticed it, I wasn't sure whether I was seeing right until a colleague also saw it and mentioned it. It's as if the make-up artiste decided to empty a bottle of oil all over Anjola. It was just too much; she was shining too much on screen. Despite her pretty face and the fact that she was not sweating, the oiliness made her look as though she was sweating.

Goldmyne Entertainment, the owners of the show should please take note. Too bad the make-up person dropped phone number and BB PIN on screen...I hope it doesn't make people to doubt them.

Goldie: The Autopsy Report

And the autopsy on Goldie's death which was carried out at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital on Goldie has revealed that she died of hypertension. 

The autopsy was conducted on February 19th and signed by Dr. O. Oyewole, states that she had a “terminal hypertensive heart disease” which resulted in “intracerebellar haemorrhage “ which lead to her death.

-Source: www.ladunliadi.blogspot.com

If people are now dying of hypertension at this age then God help us. 

Wikipedia defines intracerebral hemorrhage as a subtype of intracranial hemorrhage that occurs within the brain tissue itself. Intracerebral hemorrhage can be caused by brain trauma, Non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage is a spontaneous bleeding into the brain tissue.

Symptoms include a rise in intracranial pressure which causes a severe headache followed by vomiting. Some patients may go into coma shortly after the symptoms arise.

This would explain why Goldie complained of severe headache before slumping and dying. 

It is also a warning to young people of today to watch how they manage their stress levels. I was once informed by another celebrity that Wizkid at one time had too many engagements at some time that stressed him and affected his performance. 

This is just one out of many.

Late Esiri: The Legend & The Father

Justus Esiri
1942 - 2013
RIP

The rate at which the grim reaper is harvesting lives is becoming alarming by the day. This February alone has seen the passage of three personalities of the entertainment industry; Goldie Harvey, Lugard Onoyemu and Collins Ifeanyi Chukwu (Goldie and Lugard passed on, on Feb. 14th while Collins passed on Feb. 15th). Now Veteran actor Justus Esiri, mostly known for his role as the Village Headmaster in the popular television series, has joined the bandwagon of the beyond.

Esiri as The Village Headmaster in the 1980s

With Balogun (Wole Amele) on the Village Headmaster. 

The Oria, Abraka, Delta State born actor passed away on Monday night after a battle with an undisclosed ailment at the age of 71. The family had kept his battle with the ailment hidden until now. An excerpt from a tribute to him from Nigerian Entertainment Today:

"Esiri, Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), was for many years, a leading man in drama and movies, and one of the few in his category to have successfully crossed over from stage and TV, into the home video industry now popularly called Nollywood.

He attended Urhobo College Effurun in the then Bendel State, Warri.

He also attended the Maximillan University, Munich, German, 1964, Prof. Weners Institute of Engineering, West Berlin, 1967 and the Ahrens School of Performing Arts, 1968.

It is believed he started his acting career in Germany. He was the only Nigerian male performing on stage between 1968 and 1969.

According to reports, he also worked for Voice of Nigeria, German Service as a translator; and it was while  performing on stage in Germany that a delegation from Nigeria invited him home to perform in a government sponsored programme. He never returned to Germany."

I remember watching Mr. Esiri being interviewed by Helen Paul on Jara, an entertainment program that airs periodically on Africa Magic sometime last year. It was actually in this program that I got to know that he was also father to one of Mavin record's artistes - Dr. Sid.

Dr Sid (Onoriode Esiri) and Father, Justus Esiri 

Mr. Esiri shared at length with Helen Paul how he was at first bothered when he learnt from his son, Onoriode Esiri (Dr. Sid) that he wanted to pursue music as a career despite his training to become a Dentist. 

He eventually let the young man do what he wanted and avidly supported him. He even claimed to be a fan too. He did a small rendition and dance step of Dr. Sid's songs to prove to Helen that he was in sync with his son's dreams. 

Jara show anchors; Uti Nwanchukwu and Helen Paul
Image courtesy www.africamagic.dstv.com

It was a heartwarming interview that left a message for any parent watching. Sometimes its hard agreeing with a child's passion but its most important that one let's go and let God. 

The soft-spoken but firm Esiri was a fun-loving and scandal-free actor; a reciepient of THEMA Awards, NTA Honours Awards and AMAA Awards amongst many others. 

He was married to one wife with six children.

May his soul rest in peace.

The Curious Case of a Crushing Student

I embarked on a comparism research after an incident that happened to Funmi, a member of the family who also babysits Timi and A.Y. She’s the same lady in that post entry titled ‘The Rally Incident’ whom A.Y. was defending from a dude that approached her. Funmi’s a Junior Secondary School teacher at a boys-only high school and one of the few pretty young female teachers in the school. No doubt about it, she and her female colleagues are bound to have admirers from the men folk.  What she didn’t bargain for was the fact that one of them who would take a desperate step would also turn out to be one of her students.

Funmi with A.Y. and Timi

The student in question was from the Senior Secondary section where Funmi had been temporarily posted to stand-in for another teacher who was on maternity leave. This young fellow had been crushing madly after her and couldn’t afford to sit down and pine away in love.  He literarily stalked his teacher on her way home so as to know where she stayed. She had caught sight of him following her but she had thought it was just a coincidence; she was even disappointed that he had not offered the courtesy to help her carry the extra bag she held. Unknown to her, he just wanted to know where she lived.

Later he came up to our flat and asked to see her.

When she showed up, he told her that his Mum would want her to do private lessons for him and that he would like to have Funmi’s number to give to her to call and make arrangements. 

Smart Funmi refused and rather asked for his Mum’s number instead.

After he left, she called the number only to discover that it was a fake.

Days later he stepped into the staffroom to inform her that it was her period to take their class and she seized this opportunity to punish him for what he did – dropping a fake number.

It was in the course of being punished that the boy confessed that his friends had pushed him to it. His friends were called to also face punishment as accomplices. When his friends joined the punishment, they spilled the beans about their friend’s crush for Funmi.

The boys were punished by teachers in the staffroom for the ‘misdemeanor ‘; one of the male teachers as a matter of fact registered his jealousy because he had been eyeing Funmi. He couldn’t believe a schoolboy got to her Funmi before him.

Unknown to Funmi, the boy had dropped a love letter for her at our door the day before and was thinking she might have seen it and would respond amorously to him the following day when he called her for her teaching period.

The Love Letter

Unfortunately, none of us including Funmi had seen the letter until when she got home that day. It was by chance that we saw the envelope tucked somewhere near the door. 

When Funmi saw the content of the letter, she was enraged and decided that she would drag the boy out during the morning assembly and make him read what he had written.

At this point wifey and I decided to step in and advice her not to.

One thing that I’ve come to understand about student crush on teachers is that it’s something that’s definitely bound to happen in any school where students are within their stages of puberty. These are children experiencing changes and flow of hormones within their bodies; there’s tendency to have that feeling towards anybody, even if it’s a teacher.

I advised Funmi to let the boy be since he had already been punished and made to understand where to draw the line in a teacher-student relationship. He had already been humiliated in the staff room. To further read his ‘love letter’ to the whole school at the morning assembly would ‘kill’ him inside and birth some form of bitterness that could build into something catastrophic in the future.

When a student crushes on his/her teacher, it should be seen as one of those puberty moments which should be wisely managed and strategically handled. Beating up the student and embarrassing him or her before other teachers or the whole school would only backfire on the student’s psyche. Such students need more of counseling than punishment.

If you’re a teacher and you find yourself in such a case, please handle it likewise, you could just be saving that child’s self esteem and psychological development.And if you're a parent and you find out such is happening to your kid, have a heart-to-heart talk with your kid, don't embarrass him or her.

Well...that's if you ever find out. 

The Last Meeting with Goldie [Video]

I just loaded the video as a sort of tribute to Goldie.

Susan Oluwabimpe Harvey

1982 - 2013

RIP

Goldie's Death: Chilling Account by Namdy Nwabasili

Twitter was ablaze last night of the chilling news on Goldie's tragic death. I was online till late in the night gathering the info. At first it was believed to be a rumour or publicity stunt, There was even this false news (click link) that festered a bit of confusion. The best info came from people who were at the scene where Goldie was rushed to Redignton Hospital around about 7.55pm and pronounced dead. She was even said to be dead on arrival.

Namdy Nwabasili of Cool FM, tweeted live accounts of all that happened yesterday as Goldie was brought to the hospital.

What a day (Valentine Day!) for such a tragic thing to happen. I still can't believe the same Goldie whom I saw last week with Denrele and had talks with has passed on. I still remember things she said during that meeting - 'Please keep in touch oh' and when she and Denrele were about to see the CEO and I had to turn back to head to my office she said, 'Are you leaving us already?'. Little did I know that I would be the one saying this two weeks later...'Goldie did you have to leave so soon?'

RIP Susan Oluwabimpe Harvey

And its Valentine...

Hearts Are Red

Oceans Are Blue

The Perfect Day

Is Being With You

A Day Of Love

A Basket Of Flowers

Barefoot On The Beach

With You For Hours

Tossing A Blanket

Down On The Sand

Enjoying The View

While Holding Your Hand

It's All About

Simplicity

You & Me For

Eternity.

(©Brandy Fenner)

Muuuaaahhh!

Happy Vals Day Honey.

Love you lots!

AND A HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO YOU ALL

Consequencies of Dissing Goldie's Make-up

You know how painful it is when you've gone through so much to look and feel good and someone comes along and disses it? I guess that's the way Goldie felt when a girl 'misyarned' and got fired back by a 'butt slamming' reply from Goldie. It was so amusing it got 104 retweets and 40 favourites as at the time of this entry.

So what's the lesson to be learned here?

Never address a celeb directly about flaws in their outfit or make-ups. Keep it to yourself or just retweet it without including their mention so that they don't get the memo directly.

Unless you just love to brew tweetfights...

Super Keshi, Super Eagles!

I just love it when someone who has been unnecessarily criticized, castigated and labeled as arrogant simply for believing in his own competence gets the last laugh. Its amazing how people suddenly chew their words and suddenly embraced the person they once crucified once the glory becomes his.

Coach Stephen Keshi  and team captain Joseph Yobo
at press briefing after the match.

Stephen Keshi, the Nigerian Coach who led our Super Eagles to winning the African Cup of Nations yesterday had gone through so much as people rubbished his competency and strategies of the game. But I admire the man for his doggedness and refusal to be influenced by anybody. Football in Nigeria has really been a mess as politics has crept into it and factions here and there are trying to make things work their own way for selfish reasons. People did not believe in Keshi and his boys at the beginning  

Even right from the very first game where the performance was not impressive, many had started 'disowning' the team and telling them to pack their bags and get ready to be coming home. 

People called the Super Eagles names; 'Super Chickens' and 'Super Pigeons'.

After yesterday's final where we won the cup, people started mouthing their support for the eagles; some started screaming that FC Barcelona should bring their team to come and contend with the Super Eagles!

Not only have the Super Eagles Team won the AFCON cup after 19 years but they have equally set some records. Stephen Keshi has set a record as a player who once lifted the cup years back and is now lifting the cup as a coach to a winning team. Also, he sets the record as the first black coach to lead a team to winning AFCON. 

Again, this team was quite an unusual one because it consisted of a number of indigenous players, one of them being Sunday Mba who scored the winning goal of yesterday's match. Also everybody assisting the coach were Nigerian, no foreign input was included. 

Amazing.

The same Keshi that was ridiculed and bad mouthed, is now flying high with his boys; all over the place people are singing his praises and raising him in esteem; even on screen, the fans waved his name in the air. All across Nigeria, he's been seen as a hero.

Sunday Mba

Even Sunday Mba was also ridiculed and believed to be a player who had nothing to offer. But his heroic feat at the final is enough to change his status from indigenous to international player. He had on another ocassion almost scored another goal which was deflected by the Burkinabes.

I listened with chuckles to this early morning's radio broadcast on different stations as humbled commentators and on-air personalities who had lambasted Keshi ate their words, swallowed their commentary arrogance and congratulated him. Nigerians sha!

There's been a heavy debate that Burkina Faso star player Bance
may be related to Yoruba actor Mr. Latin...lol

There are lessons to be learned from what Stephen Keshi and his boys have been through.

• Never listen to people, only listen to your own heart.
• When the going gets tough and all is looking lost, keep going because its not over yet.
• Anytime people bad-mouth you over your hard work, just ignore them and take it that they are ignorant.
• Treat your team like family and keep up their morale when the world outside is deflating it (I got to know that Keshi knew how to always  sweet-talk his boys before every match).
• Nothing is impossible, even when you stick to your guts and ignore your detractors.

Goal Keeper Enyeama, out of joy of winning attempts to carry the referee
and ends up just ramming his head in the man's butt...lol

The Burkina Faso team with their assortment of 'blonde-haired' dudes gave Keshi and his boys a tough time. I made note of their love for dyeing their hair and beards blonde on twitter and asked the question why and was told that it was 'Babalawo behaviour' (Thanks to Coy-Introvert for that!). I later got to understand that Burkinabes sabi 'jazz' well well.

Our Report sheet

Well, if they applied jazz, we applied God, chikena!

And so to end this I'll say; 'To God Be The Glory' 

*Roll credits!*

Only in Naija 3 [Photos]

Yeah! Welcome to Naija, the only country where harsh situations, circumstances and ignorance are inevitable comic relief. This series just won't stop as long as these insane scenarios litter Naija and the internet. I had to add the Nigerian president doing the Gnamgam style. Can we ever get him to actually do that? I mean....if Michelle Obama could appear on an iCarly episode and Governor Fashola of Lagos State could play football; GEJ should be able to throw some steps shey? I guess the country's problems would never allow for that.

And so the photo list goes thus::

Only in Naija will you come across a car kept under burglary proof.
I guess the owner hasn't finished paying for the car loan and
couldn't afford to build a garage in his face-me-I-slap-you apartment.

Yeah...in Naija we also recycle...check out these Eva bottle slippers

Everybody wanna be sporting Beats by Dr. dre by all means.

Oyinbo folks are not spared when it comes to paying Naija bride price.

Only in Naija do people take photo inside flood.
Show your swag inside water.

I don't know whether  the DSTV with basket worked at all but I know
that first one was just to made by somebody desperate to 'feel among'.

Owning a DSTV is both a status thing and a football ticket.
Nobody better pass him neighbour!

Only in Naija can you find fashion by Facebook.

Or jeans by iPhone and iPod....

Also Vuitton in Naija is actually lousy.

Chicken jollof Pizza? Only in Naija!

Only in Naija do ignorant people name Satchet water after cats
Okay...the name on that Satchet is just wrong and ambiguous

And only in Naija do you find loaves of bread named after Honda accord.
*See The Funny names Nigerian give cars' to understand the 'Discussion'

*Jaw dropping to the floor*
Igbo traders will not kill person. Only in Naija!

Yeah...this is very true. We honor our past military dictators
by making. TVs in their honor. Abi na Chinko error?

Yes...The Avengers, Naija Package. Only in Naija!

You can't blame him. He thought Spiderman's costume
was one massive tattoo.

Yeah...we got Twilight: New moon,.Edo version. Lord have mercy.

Only in Naija do celebrities turn their cars into Taxis.
Don't ask me who!

Only in Naija does shit make good money.

Onlly in Naija. Graves also double as swimming pools.

Only in Naija can an International Airport look like dugbe market.
We like travelling too much!

Naija fashion sense...nylon bag recycled for use as singlet.

In Naija, some people think a US prison uniform is swaggalicious. 

Our power supply company can't even supply themselves power..

I wonder who designed this house....a meat seller?

In Naija our Cinemas have 'attachments'

Ghana-must-go fabric - recycled fashion.

Only in Naija do you find Beyounce endorsing a Bukateria

Have an awesome weekend y'all!