ALBUM REVIEW: Rayvanny - Sound of Africa
The high points on the album are quite high though.
Rayvanny is a Tanzanian singer and songwriter. At 27, he already has received prominent accolades like the BET Viewer’s Choice Award. This makes him an influential artist both in East Africa and Africa as a whole. He is signed to the Diamond Platnumz-owned WCB.
On February 1 2020, Rayvanny released his debut album, Sound From Africa. It has been his dream to release an album that sums up the African Pop music landscape, and he has worked on this for the past four years.
To make this a reality, he has worked with 20 talented African artists like Diamond Platnumz, Nasty C, JoeBoy, Zlatan Ibile and GIMS.
The album opens with the title-track acoustic-based ‘Sound from Africa’ which features the Zimbabwean musician, Jah Praiyzah. The song paints a picture of what Rayvanny feels for Africa; his love for the rivers and oceans and the fact that wherever he is, he is proud to call Africa his home.
The record is a tone-setter and touchpoint for what the album represents; an attempt to represent and celebrate the density of African pop sounds.
For the next hour and eleven minutes, the album takes turns in exploring those sounds while addressing women, love, family, hedonism and the good life with the African bottomline.
On ‘Juju,’ Nigerian rapper, Zlatan joins Rayvanny to sing about a girl who controls him via fetish means. She had poisoned his and Rayvanny’s meals with a potion. Nigerian artists Kizz Daniel and Joeboy also excel on ‘Koroga’ and ‘Rotate’ respectively.
Rayvanny then detours to South Africa. Nasty C and his protege, Rowlene sing on Ghaniana pon pon-inspired ‘Bebe’ and R&B/Pop record, ‘Baby’ respectively.
On Makossa track, ‘Kelebe,’ Rayvanny and Congolese act, Innos'B who delivers a magical performance about a good time and a beautiful woman.
It’s not all pan-African though. On ‘Senorita’ which the powerhouse GIMS and ‘Tetema’ featuring Diamond Platnumz and ‘Tingisha’ which features AMINUX, Rayvanny plays on his home turf.
On ‘Mama,’ Rayvanny plays conceptual son to the legendary Saida Karoli. They discuss how hard Saida’s life is and Rayvanny classically replies that he knows this and that he is working on it.
Rhumba spread across East Africa was once a very famous genre in the 1980’s. Rayvanny gives a twist of this on ‘Kiuno’. This Mocco Genius-produced track lays out the foundation for Rayvanny as he flaunts his girl’s beauty and specifically her waist and her whining skills.
However, ‘Tetema’ was released in 2019 and has since generated several remixes, it’s a little weird that it appears on this album and especially as a second track.
While ‘Chuchumaa’ and ‘Number One’ are hit records, the remixed versions of those songs on this album alslo feel like an overkill.
From a streaming perspective, it might make sense, but musically those records are kind of stale.
Nonetheless, to a novice outside Tanzania who will hear these songs for the first time, they will sound good. Thus, this could have been a good win from a strategy point of view.
‘Sounds From Africa’ is also a showcase of Rayvanny’s immense talent which seeps through his flow schemes, cadences and creative rhyme schemes as he switches between Tanzanian and creative chameleon. Props must be given for how he fuses that with different African pop genres.
‘Lala’ which features Jux is one beautiful love song. With JUX who pens exquisite lines on love and of course creating a buzz with his own previous love life, it speaks on even how two artists from the same area can sound very differently.
Rayvanny closes the album with ‘Woza,’ an amapiano track that features Diamond Platnumz on high energy.
Closing Remarks
While Rayvanny deserves praise attempting this pan-African album, it all gets a little saturated, clunky and tiring at some point. Honestly, the album could have done with 15 tracks and those 15 tracks would have needed better album sequencing.
The high points on the album are quite high though.
Ratings: /10
• 0-1.9: Flop
• 2.0-3.9: Near fall
• 4.0-5.9: Average
• 6.0-7.9: Victory
• 8.0-10: Champion
Pulse Rating: /10
Album Sequencing: 0.8/2
Songwriting and Themes: 0.9/2
Production: 1.3/2
Enjoyability and Satisfaction: 1/2
Execution: 1/2
Total
5.0 - Average
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Pulse Contributors is an initiative to highlight diverse journalistic voices. Pulse Contributors do not represent the company Pulse and contribute on their own behalf.
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About the authors: Marc Ngotonie is a Tanzanian photographer and writer while Leon-Oscar Kidando is a writer.
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