There are rudiments songs go through before they are composed. Majority of music consumers do not take into consideration the key elements that are put together to make a song.
Reviewing the various sounds been composed and analyzing the songs for consumers to appreciate what it takes to make music as well as educating new musicians on musical techniques they can employ to aid them write good songs is a way we are assisting Ghana’s music industry.
Highly Spiritual Music signee Lasmid’s newest single, “Sika Remix” featuring award-winning Highlife singer Kuami Eugene, produced by Beats Vampire is in the review bowl this time.
MUSICAL ELEMENTS
Vocal melody: The vocal melodies of this song are so much in tune. The chorus has a very interesting melodic pattern. The chorus has a kind of melody that would be easily remembered. Commercially, the melody of “Sika Remix” is alacrity; there is consistency, congruity and uniformity in the vocal qualities of Lasmid and Kuami Eugene.
The singers’ vocal qualities are very rich in texture for which I personally give thumbs up for that. The singers through their vocal expressions showed how emotive they are about the lyrics they sing. The vocal melodies have the ability to be in your head for days.
Lyrics: The lyrics of the song are very motivating, amusing and meaningful. The performers employed foreseeable and pleasing lyrics to show the originality of the song. The words and phrases of the song were not just used for their meanings. The lyrics truly show the sounds and natural rhythmic traits of the song. The lyrics of this song “Sika Remix” has the ability for listeners to relate easily because the lyrical content tackled exactly what most families go through in this part of the world.
Key Signature: E major
Camelot Wheel: 12B
Background Chords: A major – B major – E major (IV – V – I)
Beat Per Minute: 140
Meter: Four crotchet beats in a bar
INSTRUMENTAL ARRANGEMENT
Rhythm: There is a cool down beat and strong engaging rhythm in the song that grabs and carries you along. That is a good feature in Ghana drill (Asakaa). In addition, there is coherence and conviction with the rhythmic styles used – Ostinato, Accents and Polyrhythm.
Instrumental variety and balance: If a song has a rich variety of interesting instruments, it may be more distinctive and memorable. “Sika Remix” has essential variety of interesting musical instruments like Synths, lead guitar and pad that were employed in the instrumentation to bring out the Asakaa effect.
The instrumentation has a background representation of Ghana’s highlife guitar pattern, “Amponsah” this is so creative of the producer, Beats Vampire. The Asakaa percussion patterns and accompanied pitched instruments have the ability to slip a listener into a dancing mood.
Digital effects: The usage of digital effects in this production were very accurate. One could feel the originality of Lasmid and Kuami Eugen’s vocal texture and the other accompanying instruments even though there some pitch correction VST plugins like the Auto tune. There can never be a substitute for musical quality. The producer, Beats Vampire and mixing engineer, Kaywa really did a great job on that.
ARTISTES’ MUSICAL QUALITIES
MELODIES: Catchy, tuneful, shapely, strong, melodious, memorable, and original.
VOCALS: The vocal production of Lasmid and Kuami Eugene are distinctive, attractive, appealing, confident, clear, stylish, impressive and powerful.
LYRICS: Original, amusing, thought provoking, inspiring, heart-warming, meaningful, and clever. Lasmid and Kuami Eugene have their unique styles of writing lyrics that have strong commercial potential.
ARTISTES: These two performers are talented, imaginative, creative, competent, careful and natural.
OVERALL MUSICAL QUALITIES OF THE SONG
STRUCTURE: The song has a familiar arrangement of sections – Intro, Verses and Chorus. This structure is easy for the average listener to vibe with it. Ultimately, this makes the song more commercially attractive.
PERFORMANCE QUALITY: One can still get a feel of how much the artistes enjoy and believe in what they are doing. Again, one can feel that the performers are technically brilliant; vibrant performers who are full of confidence, conviction, style and flair. These performance qualities are far more attractive commercially.
PRODUCTION AND RECORDING QUALITY: The instrumental accompaniments are balanced, rhythmic, engaging, smooth, creative, solid, original, exciting, powerful, good vocal-instrumental balance and ethereal.
The production quality of this song is on point. Performing “Sika Remix” live would not be much a problem for instrumentalists.
These instrumentalists do not need to employ digital effects to make the song sound original because of the live samples used in the production of the song.
Panning, side chaining, reverb, equalizing and spatial techniques used in the mix of the sound have made it a good-vocal instrumental balanced song. Kaywa did a great job.
REVIEW RATING
This is a great song and performance. The melody is strong and tuneful. Lasmid and Kuami Eugene have attractive vocal tones and put real feelings into the lyrics they produce. The lyrics are interesting and meaningful with some memorable punchy phrases. Instrumentally, the song has a rich, full accompaniment that complements the vocal tracks perfectly.
Overall, the song sounds distinctive and original, and I think it has strong commercial potential. It could be an anthem on the streets so soon.
This review was written by Libeson Beatz.
