Religious music always has a confessional character. One does not write a chorale just for fun, but for the glory of God. And Nigerian Fuji music has less to do with a famous Japanese mountain than with Islam. Strictly speaking, it was probably written as a personal alarm clock for Muslims during Ramadan. This also includes the work of the rather prolific Alhaji Chief Kollington Ayinla, one of the main representatives of this genre. His album »Blessing« from 1988 begins quite expediently with a unison synthesizer melody, whose sounds are rhythmically imitated by the drums. In African music, polyrhythm is usually one of the main fascinations, but here this parallel prelude is also highly effective. Anyone who still sleeps afterwards must be an unbeliever. And of course, the complexly woven drum meshes are not long in coming. Two pieces, one side of each record, in which a highly pulsating beat and call-and-response singing call for the still young day to begin. Definitely works. Or maybe you’ll even dance to it at a later hour. With such a blessing, it seems that this can hardly be avoided.
Claire Rousay
The Bloody Lady
Viernulvier