As far as I can remember, I have been listening to love songs since I was 13 or 14; probably not old enough, but then, I do not think so. At that stage of my life, the likes of Westlife were my favourite, and songs like "Fool Again" were my favourites at the time. But then, things changed as my preference for music began to shift. As a matter of fact, it got to a point when I no longer fancied Westlife; my love for music shifted from Western to Afro. As a matter of fact, the likes of Westlife, Celine Dion, Dolly Parton, and the country musician Don Williams were replaced by some Afro musicians at that point in time.
Speaking of Afro music, it is absolutely easy for someone to immediately think of the noisy and fast-paced Afrobeat, but that was not the case. Even up till date, I have always loved easy-going music; not necessarily without percussion, but just easy-going. And so, the Afro music that I now fancy is still easy-going. As a matter of fact, the likes of Simi, Johnny Drille, Cobhams, Asa, Timi Dakolo, and a few others have become my favourites. I guess that was a kind of milestone for me, or maybe not.
Amongst the above-mentioned musicians, Simi is the best vocalist for me; her voice is just exceptional. On the other hand, I consider Johnny Drille my favourite artist. Notwithstanding how much I enjoy these two musicians, I do not consider any of their songs my favourite love song. I guess I have a favourite love song after all; I just realised, or probably remembered that "Iyawo Mi" by Timi Dakolo has always been my favourite love song. You certainly need to listen to this one; it is a contemporary Nigerian highlife song with an easy-going palm wine groove. It might not make you dance outright, but it will certainly cause you to swing your body left and right as you enjoy the melody.
Someone who understands Afro music well enough would certainly be surprised at why I consider Johnny Drille my favourite musician at this point. While "Iyawo" by Timi Dakolo is purely highlife, Johnny Drille's pattern of music is nowhere near highlife. Johnny Drille is a man who knows how to best combine Western and Afro music, and he is really good at it. Given his pattern of music, genres like folk, alternative rock, R&B, and even Afrobeat could be associated with him, but certainly not highlife.
I guess I am quite a confused man when it comes to what I want in music. While Johnny remains my favourite music artist, I do not consider any of his genre my favourite. I guess this must have been caused by the fact that I perform highlife more often as an artist, and I have come to love what I do; I have grown to love highlife more than any other genre. But then, I cannot trade the skills, technicality, and uniqueness of Johnny for anything. He is good at what he does, and that is enough to earn him the position of a favourite artist. He might not be the most skilled Afro musician, but I just love his style and the fact that he is good at it.
Thank you so much for reading through to the end, the pictures used for this post were generated using Meta AI.
