Music Review: Èko Ilé – Muyiwa & Riversongz

One Man In The Middle brings you regular, unbiased and honest reviews of music albums and EPs from Christian artists and musicians in the UK and worldwide. Here we have Èko Ilé by Muyiwa & Riversongz with an overall review score of 8.5 out of 10.

Album Information:

Britain’s biggest gospel artist Muyiwa has announced the release of his first all-African album Èko Ilé out on October 30, 2015. The dynamic 10-track offering follows the success of his last studio album with Riversongz, Declaring His Name All Around the World (2011) which was produced by Grammy winning producer Kevin Bond (Donnie McClurkin, Kirk Franklin, Yolanda Adams) and Live at the Apollo (2012), the live CD and DVD recorded at his sold-out Hammersmith Apollo show with Riversongz, his charismatic Afro-gospel band. Eko Ile is a return to his roots. Translating to ‘Lagos my home’ which harks to a Nigerian folk song of the same name- Muyiwa channels a myriad of African music styles via gospel

Written alongside Kwame Yeboah (Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Ms. Dynamite) and Eddie Martin (Whitney Houston, Neyo, Chris Brown) and produced by the former, the album is a journey from east to west of the continent, stopping off at highlife reminiscent of fellow countryman Fela Kuti, refreshed takes on traditional African praise, and African reggae. It makes sense then, that the album was predominantly recorded in Ghana, that it frequently features Muyiwa’s native Nigerian tongue of Yoruba and that it’s peppered with Swahili, Zulu, and Pidgin English. The ode to Africa sidesteps the tried and tested formula of ‘all-big, all-bright’ gospel and instead takes the listener on an emotional journey of highs and lows that’s God-inspired, but everyone can relate to. Muyiwa’s songs and spoken-word stories recount his search for freedom, identity and hints at his own loss. Nigeria – and Africa as a whole – is painted as a land of civil wars, corruption and crime and more personally, it’s the country of his father’s unfortunate assassination and his mother’s untimely death six years later. Despite this, his faith overrides them with themes of hope, gratitude, solidarity and colourful celebration. It’s the African way.

Review:

“Èko Ilé” is the 2015 release from Muyiwa and Riversongz and is something brilliantly different in it’s approach and scope. Recorded mainly in Ghana there is an incredible authenticity to the styles that are presented here.

The album starts off with “Gbalan, Gbalan” which looks at our response to things around us. Based off the passage of 1 Corinthians 13 v 1 which talks about needing love, otherwise our Spiritual gifts are like an empty ringing bell. This track is finished off with some spoken word from Muyiwa and this is something that is consistent throughout the album. “Freedom” takes it’s inspiration from John 8 v 36 and considers how Christ has set us free. “Freedom” features plucked guitars, piano and more spoken word as initially Muyiwa quotes the verse before it is repeated in an almost choral style. Clocking in at just over 7 minutes this is quite a long track and features a bit more exposition on the nature of freedom. It’s a distinctive track that will appeal to some, but it’s one that I would probably skip on future listens. Much more on-song is the reggae style “Raindrops” which looks at how people see you. They may see you as a failure, bankrupt or worse, but when the singer sees himself he see’s his assurance of salvation. This song has a great feel moving along to a traditional reggae beat and the depth of the vocals makes this a rich track.

There are so many changes of style on this album, each one feeling distinctive that you are never quite sure what is going to happen next. Things aren’t just in English, as well as brushes with different African cultures through the musical style there are also elements of language too such as “Jambo” which is a Swahili greeting. The second half of the album seems to be more replete with these references. “You Are Good” gives a brilliant idea of the goodness of God in our lives and his kindness even in the dark moments we can still cry out to God because of His goodness. “Modimo” refers to God in the Sotho language and this track mixes that language with English in song and the spoken word reminding the listener of confidence in Christ. This is another track that is over 7 minutes long but is a great experience which will be a blessing to you, because it contains one as part of the track!

The title track of the album “Èko Ilé” (literally Lagos Home) is about culture, colour, race and how all this matters to a young guy growing up, not just with the UK culture clash but even with kids slightly lighter in skin tone than him. This taught him to dislike his heritage but over time he has come to identify with his culture and his faith. This song is the story and culmination of this.

The album has a lot of fresh sounds that are rarely captured and released to the UK market. It’s a great journey around many of the cultures of Africa and brings a real spirit of joy and praise. It is rare to have something this different and diverse to listen to, it makes a nice change to have those organic sounds that are rooted in tradition. As I listened to this album I realised there is a reason for the large amount of spoken word on this album, again it’s cultural. The spoken word combined with the drum beats are the traditional way of passing on the oral stories of the culture – so here Muyiwa has gone right back to cultural roots to develop this recording. The album doesn’t sit comfortably amongst the EDM, worship or even the Gospel sounds that we are used to, it’s a reminder of something older, a way of life that we are not used to and I feel my life is richer for this release.

For track listing & snippets, ranking breakdown and more, check out onemaninthemiddle.com

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