Album: Crazi Ladi Dayz
ARTISTE: A-DZIKO SIMBA'
THE ALBUM, comprising of 12 tracks, begins with a quiet tribute to artists, but most explicitly musicians and poets in We Are the Artists.
With Wordsoundpower as the final track, Simba's philosophy comes through clearly because, although her work is rather experimental, it is far more than art for arts sake. There is more than method behind the music and poetry.
Even so, she fully experiments with the power of sound in most of the tracks as she explores her vocal dexterity.
This is possibly most clearly seen with the title track, Crazi Ladi Dayz. The poem's topic and meandering imagery allows the talented speaker to get quite expressive and experiment with speed, timbre, repetition and more.
Of the 13 tracks, one piece Sprang is instrumental, while Black Sand and Going Home are songs. The songs and poems are performed to music composed and played by M'bala and Atiba Kwabena-Wilson.
STUDY IN CONTRASTS
Simba's work often presents a study in contrasts. Her stark social commentary seem to belie the deceptively pleasant simplicity of the words and the smooth hypnotic quality of her voice.
Even when she describes harsh truths, her words are soothing, until the meaning hits you, a couple nanoseconds after you hear her voice.
The second track on the album epitomises this. Evoking images of the old woman who lived in the shoe, Bundles looks at the irresponsibility of fathers who 'gift' children to women and then leave, and the damaging effect it has on mothers as the children take up all their 'head' space, leaving no room for their creativity. Of course, in those circumstances, the children also get damaged.
The rhythms are often simplistic to the point that occasionally the words almost dance out of its reach, as with Axes where some of the words seem forced into the rhythm.
Even so, the poem is quite poignant and presents a wonderful exercise in making social commentary via wordplay as the persona claims to be "10,000 Bronx boys waiting to bite the Big Apple", a "Palestinian with suicidal tendencies", a "native Indian with serious reservations" and "Africa digging out my belly to structurally readjust".
Crack-in-the-dry, a poem about rain after a drought, brings a pause from the social commentary and helps to add to the diversity of the album.
TRACK LISTING
1. We are the Artists
2. Bundles
3. Axes
4. Black Sand
5. Crack-in-the-Dry
6. Crazi Ladi Dayz
7. Going Home
8. Le Urve
9. Many Hands - A Working Title
10. Sprung
11. To the Full and the Overflowing
12. Wordsoundpower
13. Sprang
Tanya Batson-Savage
