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JJC AND DELE IN AWESOME NIGHT IN CARGO |
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Describe the atmosphere and live music at a local pub, restaurant, festival, church or temple, club night.... inspire other people to check it out!
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Venue: Cargo
Music: Nigerian / Afro-beat
Location: 83 Rivington St, London EC2
Website:
Reviewer: Oliver Oguntade
 Cargo and its luminous arches featured the old and the new in an electrifying night of Nigeria pace setters. The old guard of Dele Sosimi and AfroJazz tymes and the new power of JJC of the 419 Squad. The old rogue of Afrobeat versus the young throbs of hip-hop, the night was simply billed Africa night at the shrine, but for us it was the colossal battle of the colonial rebels and the modern police state rebels.
JJC took the stage with nine young blood and fire in their loins. The music spoke volumes of modern poetry, raps, tribe loyalty, wild holler, electric keyboards and the heartthrob posse. Alongside JJC, two young ladies with dulcet voice and sexy legs, a part of the modern dance scene. In these days women have speaking roles, unlike the old roles when women stayed in background, in rap-world, ladies share the limelight.
JJC opened the night with ‘Atide,’ ‘we have come.’ ‘Atide’ splashed out at the audience with alacrity. From ‘Atide,’ he moved to; Jekalo’ and swiftly to ‘Buka’. The band threw their stuff at the crowd. JJC moved like a seasoned chameleon. In the heat of the performance he stripped his red top to reappear in white-white. His slim body moving to the tunes. He jumped, he frowned, he shook, he stroked. A new JJC, confident to share his night with the ladies on the dance floor. The band waxed strong on the stage. The harmonica man went wild with his chirpiness, and merriment all round.
The audience mixed, mostly white faces, this is Shore ditch. The crowd was rich with metropolitan London mix, Spanish, French, Brazilians and a few tourists out to enjoy the night life of London. This is Shore ditch, the east side of London and an area familiar diversity.
Dele followed with a full band, two guitar boys, two drum kits, one backing vocal, one saxophone, one trombone and Dele on electro-piano. Dele opened the show with the spiritual liberation, ‘omi,’ ‘water no get enemy.’ ‘’If you want to bath, you use water, it you want to eat you use water. If water kill you child, you will use water still,’ the tune screamed on.
After the liberation he slipped into Afro tymes. ‘Godfather,’ followed by ‘Fat cat,’ and ‘Tooting Bec.’ They worked hard to produce the magic rhythm of Afrobeat with the twist of modern times. The AfroBeat identities: the second beat injected mid-phrase and wild pulse rhythm drums. Dele stepped forward to render the lyrics. He pushed at the audience, his bulk of music oozed hot and cold. Today no seductive performance, only plain ol music with strong support. Dele usually performs with dramatic sexual moves, groin movements and pure rudeness. The story of ‘fat cat’ again, as he took us back to school; - the fat, the cat, the mat, the sat. It all came together and the fat cat sat on the mat. Then the play of words as the cat became the company box and the million pound bonus handshake all equal to the fat cat sat on the mat. The next tune challenged modern leadership; destruction of property, and continued terror. In the Africa road map, music remains a forum for social protest and AfroBeat has a history of rebellion, social challenge, and confrontation with authority.
Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s council of music is pure confrontation and contest with powerful VIPs. Fela’s legacy stretche's from the original JJC, the tune Johnny Just Come that challenged the ‘returnee’ who assumes USA is better than Naija. On to ‘Basket Mouth', which lambasted the government from every angle. The only music that appears unconfrontational is ‘Viva Africa’, a support Nigeria tune that followed the end of the civil war of 1970. Every tune of the old master challenges authority in a very aggressive manner.
 JJC’s music is new. Hip-hop is the new generation, with sharp minded young blood in crotch grabbing movement. The identity is loud voices, boisterous movement and youthful dress codes. JJC is the voice of the young, they broadcast the message of ‘love your country’ and walk tall. Dele Sosimi's the mature band that preaches the message of AfroBeat and celebrate Africa. Both are talented and black and over here.
JJC’s band featured hard-core rappers with skills in song writing, rap and stage performance. Rap is skilled business. They improvise, they entertain, they associate. Dele’s band featured his seasoned band stars. Each man and woman a star on their instrument, all seasoned players, they move from old AfroBeat to new Afro tymes. The display of skill is astounding. In AfroBeat the whole band act as backing vocals, echoing the call-response tunes that enriches this genre.
Call-response is part of African music and AfroBeat style. The story goes like this. In a long ago period when life music was the key form of entertainment, and duplications and amplification was not available, the musicians used call-response to draw the audience into the show. It distributed the sense of belonging. Entertainers, audience, music and community became one as they shared the harmony of music. The musician ceased to be a lone figure on the stage; he is simply a group leader.
That is why JJC held the mike to the crowd, ‘Nigeria is the best place – gbao,’ ‘green eagles is the best team – gbao.’ Dele used the old Yoruba egba chant. He taxed the audience to follow on the long poem on people’s action, orisa and worship.
The orisa of ancient lands live in the hearts. These gods are called in Nigeria and all over West Africa, and all the ports where black people have settled. JJC's mysticism is legendary, as is their marriage with Big Bruva and their use of voodoo imagery. Dele used ebga chants, and the liberation of water. At the end of a long evening the local DJ returned to canned music, and Cargo returned to normalcy. But the orisas remained in the air; the spirits sailed through the air. Cargo will never be the same again.
See also: Jummy's Hide-Out
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