It’s Not Just All About ‘AfroBeats’ – Here’s New ‘AfroJazz’ Music For You from Shola Emmanuel

Hello Friends,

How is your 2020 going? New Year, New Blessings I pray and I have New Music to share with you.

When you hear the names : Orlando Julius, Manu Dibango, Hugh Masekela and Fela Kuti, what comes to mind? You are correct! Classic and Legendary African Saxophonists whose music has influenced the diaspora and the world at large.

These legends were so widely influential and seriously talented that their music has been sampled and international and western musicians yearned to work with them and some succeeded in collaborating with them, thus spreading the impact of African music globally.

Presenting one of such, for our current generation is:

Shola Emmanuel – Afro Jazz Saxophonist and Music Interpreter

Shola Emmanuel

Carrying this musical torch, Nigerian sax maestro, Atlanta based and world traveling Shola Emmanuel is one of the current wave of afro-musicians in the continuing lineup of legends for the  history books, who is also making a mark in the diaspora. It’s not only about “afrobeats” from Africa which is the rave right now, talents abound in all forms of music (from Africa, in different genres) including and not limited to classical, broadway, folk, pop, folk, rock, soul and Shola Emmanuel represents the Jazz world perfectly.

Following his recently concluded sold out, full house concert ‘Kind of Music’ ( see video) he is releasing a single titled “IFẸ ” which means “Love” in his native Yoruba tongue. IFẸ (pronounced “E-Feh”) is the first single to be released off Shola’s ‘Kind of Music’ album. And guess who the female vocals on the track belong to? Yep, you got it right. Yours Truly. 🙂 The lyrics of the song says “Ife Lo L’aye” which means “Love makes the world go round” and ain’t this the truth.

Shola Emmanuel at his ‘Kind Of Music’ Concert, featuring Tosinger on a piece

Click here to stream the IFẸ song when it comes out on January 31st.  Hope you enjoy it. If you do. Feel free to spread the word and share.

Here is a promo file if you want to groove to it and post on your social media to support good music. Promo link here https://sholaemmanuel.com/ife-promo/ 

Thank you friends!

Love, Peace and Beautiful Music,

Tosinger

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TOSINGER ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF HER DEBUT STUDIO ALBUM ‘ORGANICALLY SINGING’

Mi2N.com – TOSINGER ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF HER DEBUT STUDIO ALBUM ‘ORGANICALLY SINGING’.

Following the release of an EP of 6 tracks titled ‘FINALLY’ in 2012 and the AfroSpire Demo in 2013; Tosinger, Atlanta based, Nigerian AfroSoulFolk Inspirational Singer-Songwriter known for her unique afro eclectic brand image and sublime soulful voice, is set to officially launch her debut album ‘Organically Singing’ on July 27, 2015. Two years in the making and highly anticipated by fans, it will be available to the public on all major digital outlets and physical copies can be purchased at http://www.tosinger.com beginning August 31, 2015. Tosinger has been following a professional music path as a solo artist for more than a decade spanning three different continents (Africa, Europe and currently the USA) supporting other acts, performing at events, churches and theatrical creative productions including being part of vocal ensembles of a few London Broadway shows. Tosinger recently opened for International legendary African artist ‘Lagbaja’ at the notable Variety Playhouse Atlanta, during his 2015 US Tour, doing a couple of her originals from her new, debut album. She will kick off a tour series nationally and internationally, beginning September 2015 to promote the album. Stay tuned to http://www.tosinger.com for dates. Tosinger says the title of the album ‘Organically Singing’ derives its inspiration for her preference for the use of her natural, organic voice and the healthy, lyrical content of her songs to uplift her audience, spirit and soul. Delivered with a soulful vibe with an incorporation of Afro musical flavors and a sprinkle of her Yoruba language; the 16 track album includes original songs written and arranged by Tosinger herself, with a collaborative production effort with various international musicians/producers including (to name a few) Morocco based, Cameroonian Bassist – Arnaud N’Gaza, DC based Nigerian Producer – Lexisugar and the legendary Yoruba Musician/Producer Mr Bola Abimbola who has worked with King Sunny Ade & Giovanni Hidalgo among others. The album, recorded and mixed at Sound Resort Studios & FCR Studios, Atlanta and mastered by Last Drop in California, have the themes – ‘Of Faith, Of Life and Of Africa’ and includes an instrumental prelude and a bonus track, a 360° remix of the current fan favorite; ‘Ile – Home’. Tosinger incorporates a unique interpretation of a few traditional well known Yoruba folk songs on a contemporary musical platform. Her music displays a simple conveyance of heartfelt richness, inspiration, meaningful lyrics and nostalgia. A must have album for lovers of good indie music. The album sampler can be previewed at this link https://soundcloud.com/tosinger/organically-singing-album-sampler. About TOSINGER Atlanta based Afrosoul/Afrofolk Indie Singer-Songwriter has been singing for more than two decades at festivals, intimate music spaces, churches, theatre stages, events during her years in Nigeria and London, respectively. Tosinger comes with a musical flow that’s as soulful and ethnic as it is a sheer loveliness of heavenly inspiration. Her vocal essence and sound has been described as soothing and uplifting and her voice displays a simple conveyance of heartfelt richness. An eclectic artist with a warm personality and matchless passion, she names her African (Nigerian/Yoruba) heritage, Gospel Music, World Music, Soul, Folk & Jazz as influences. She also mentions legendary artistes such as Miriam Makeba, Nina Simone, Angelique Kidjo, Sade Adu and Tracy Chapman among others as creative influences. Tosinger is unique in her creativity as she occasionally incorporates her Yoruba language to the contemporary soul, sometimes jazzy/folksy sound of her music. She released ‘FINALLY’ an EP of 6 tracks early 2012 and in 2013 digitally published – The ‘AfroSpire’ Demo – a collection of songs with African sounds, Yoruba sayings and lyrics on a contemporary musical platform. Her debut album ‘Organically Singing’ will be available July 2015. Tosinger is very much on her way to warming herself into the hearts of lovers of organic music globally as she continues to brand herself in the Afrosoul/world music scene while her message remains consistently inspirational. For more info, please visit http://www.tosinger.com

 

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT : New Music + Short Film by @BlitzAmbassador Out in April

Juju Girl is a Short Film/Music Video set in 1960s Ghana  from the latest project titled D I A S P O R A D I C A L the EP by the eclectic Afrocentric hip hop artist, Blitz the Ambassador coming out this April.  I have for a while now, admired Blitz’s brand and music and the way he so effortlessly fuses and delivers his talent in a musically  idiosyncratic manner. You can tell he knows and cares not just about the chops but also the message.  Lyrically and musically on point. Excellence. And his passion for the continent is infectious. Tops in my books. Here’s two of my favorites from him.

About Blitz 

Blitz is the conveyor of the Afrotronic-hop. A hip hop ambassador of African culture in the diaspora.

Samuel Bazawule known by the stage name Blitz the Ambassador, is a Ghanaian-American hip-hop artist and visual artist based in Brooklyn, USA. Samuel Bazawule was born in Accra, Ghana in April 1982. He is the third of four children and attended the renowned Achimota School. While in school he amassed awards for his visual art, but later developed an obsession with hip hop music after hearing his older brother play the classic Public Enemy album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Drawing on his love for history and social observation, he began to research and write historically-loaded rhymes for which he became famous in school.

Blitz (as he had come to be known) was first recognized by Ghanaian Ace producer Hammer of The Last Two. Blitz was asked to come to the studio the next day after delivering an impressive eight bars upon meeting Hammer, who wasted no time in putting him on wax. He recorded a verse on the song Deeba and – in the fashion of one of his idols, Nas, gained instant notoriety and received an award for best new artist at the 2000 Ghana Music Awards. Soon after, in 2001, he moved to the USA to study at Kent State University in Ohio. It was while studying for his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration that he developed his skills as a live artist, performing at several live shows and opening for iconic rappers such as Rakim as well as recording a self-released album, Soul Rebel (2004), under the moniker Blitz.

After graduation, Blitz moved to New York City to pursue his dream. In NYC, Blitz recorded another album, Double Consciousness (2005), discography after this includes 2009: StereoLive EP and in 2013: The Warm Up EP. Studio Albums: 2009: Stereotype, 2011: Native Sun, 2014: Afropolitan Dreams and more recently a 2015: Diasporadical EP. Drawing from his diverse musical background, he immersed himself in the project with explicit intent of changing Hip Hop forever. …via wiki

Blitz the Ambassador live in Switzerland (Full Show)

With a vision that embraces his personal West African past and a revolutionary future of Afropolitan cross-pollination, Blitz the Ambassador meshes African popular sounds, American vintage soul, and hard-hitting beats and lyrics with the help of an international cast of collaborators, including the elegant Angelique Kidjo and Afrobeat firebrand Seun Kuti.
But as always with Blitz, the album is about far more than the music. It’s about the Immigrants who made America, who shaped and molded it. Each person, each generation, each bearer of culture arriving on a boat or airplane has made an impression. Immigration is the chain that links the past to the present, the near to the seemingly far…Via his site for more info. 

#JujuGirl shots + storyboards. #Ghana1960s #BlitzTheAmbassador

Stay tuned for more news on the forthcoming Diasporadical EP (released on Jakarta Records) on Blitz The Ambassador’s page.

Beautifully Dreaming…Positively Doing..

Tosinger

JOY IKE – ‘ALL OR NOTHING’ – Download Free, Today Only!

Hiya Good People,

I know the internet comes with the good, the bad and the ugly. I choose to embrace and amplify the good, the ugly can slip by, the bad I run away from. One good is the wonderful social (& for me especially) value adding, creative connections I make online, the ones that want to make you look forward to meeting them on-ground, in REAL life. Positive energy, beautiful spirit and light ( yes, you can tell these things on screen too). One of such good connections is a fellow creative (of Nigerian origin also) Joy Ike who I’d reviewed her music on We Plug Good Music. Love her folk-pop sound and endearing persona. We started following each other on social media and when my music video for ‘Ile’ came out, she also blogged about it here. How sweet.

Joy Ike

Well today, marks the one year anniversary of her latest album ‘All or Nothing’  and to celebrate she is giving it all out today only. A gift from her to you. Enjoy. It’s worth it!

Download here – http://noisetrade.com/joyike/everything-you-have-single

and while you are it please vote for her, she has been nominated as the singer/vocalist of the year in the Philadelphia, Central PA, NY, NJ, DE, MD, and DC area for the 3rd annual Tri State Indie Music Awards! Click here to vote –  http://awards.tristateindie.com/vote-2/ Thank you!

Beautifully Dreaming.. Positively Doing..

xoxo

Tosinger

Beyoncé (& Chimamanda?!) – A Flawless Release

Happy Friday…

So Beyoncé shocked the world with a surprise ‘overnight’ iTunes release of a new 14-track self-titled ‘visual’ album (as she calls it) while breaking a few known traditions of the music industry 1. released without promotion 2.  you cannot get the singles, you have to get the whole album 3. complete with a video for every song (plus three additional visuals) i.e there are videos already recorded for each of the songs on the album with  0.30 previews on YouTube. 4. The album graphic has no creative element.  5. Physical CDs not available yet…etc. . Who else can pull that of?

One of the tracks of interest ‘Flawless’ includes a surprise guest, a narrative feature from the Nigerian globally acclaimed author/writer “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie” known for her strong and well delievered views. Plus, as observed, mainstream American pop (or not) artists are favoring a lot of African partnerships in recent times, Bey just did a very unique thing with a literal talent rather than a  musical one. Hopefully, this intellectual property use is generously compensated ;). Other features are Jay Z, Justin Timberlake, Frank Ocean, Drake, Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Michelle Williams, Kelly Rowland and Blue Ivy herself on “Blue.” This feature is not a review of the album so I guess if you are a Beyoncé fan, you can get it here

11. ***Flawless (feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s TEDxEuston talk, ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ is featured on a song on Beyonce’s new album.

It will be nice to hear a public statement from Chimamanda on how she got involved but until then I guess we will wait. I don’t know what to think of the visual below, artistic maybe?

According to a Fuse report: Explaining why she delivered the full album and accompanying visuals without any prior warning, she noted in her statement: “I didn’t want to release my music the way I’ve done it. I’m bored with that. I feel like I am able to speak directly to my fans. There’s so much that gets between music, the artist and the fans. I felt like I didn’t want anybody to give the message when my record is coming out. I just want this to come out when it’s ready and from me to my fans.” Well, that’s a sign of creative dreamer or a publicity stunt?  What do you think?

Apparently, this was of course, well prepared for in advance, it is what I will call ‘A Planned Surprise’. She will be getting, surely enough, major publicity post release, being a major artist brand. Who says things have to be done according to a norm, it’s time to dream and break the rules, you just might succeed doing that, like Queen B…

Beautifully Dreaming… Positively Doing…

xoxo

Tosinger

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT : TOSIN

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.  ~Berthold Auerbach

Hello Peeps,

Hope everyone is doing alright. There’s always music to make you feel a little better. Right?  The spotlight is on a very good, personal, musical friend of mine, coincidentally a namesake, TOSIN (Tosin is a Nigerian (Yoruba) unisex name, short form of Oluwatosin which means ‘God is enough to be worshiped or God is worthy to be worshiped). Tosin is a songwriter, vocalist, drummer extraordinaire, composer and arranger. He is one of ‘us’ carrying the torch of African music in the US diaspora. He is  a renowned drummer & percussionist (oh I said that already :)) former – Ayetoro band member who has played with who’s who in the industry including Spyro Gyra, Femi Kuti, Andres Levin, Jon Carroll, Antibalas, Julie Dexter among others. More on his site. I absolutely love his sound and vibe, afro feel with a touch of contemporary lacings, and his use of the Yoruba language, just like my music. Keep scrolling. 🙂

Tosinger (Left) Tosin (Right) at AfroDreamfest

I will let this video of his interview with Heather Maxwell do the talking. Enjoy.

Music Time in Africa presents TOSIN with Host Heather Maxwell

Click on Tosin’s image below to learn more about his music, connect with him and get his latest project ‘Life Begins’

Beautifully Dreaming, Positively Doing..

xoxo

Tosinger