During this week of class we were tasked with analysing music from a record label out of Uganda called Hakuna Kulala. We listened to a couple songs from a few artists on the label in class and then discussed them, including MC Yallah and Auntie Rayzor.
Following on from this we were tasked with gathering information about Hakuna Kuala, their music, and their unique fusion of electronic and African influences. Our main task is to choose one of the artists under the Hakuna Kuala label and analyse one of their tracks.
I have decided to go with ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ off the most recent album ‘ Becoming Adomaa’ by the artist ‘Adomaa’. I chose this song and this artist in particular because of the stark contrast it had in tone and instrumentation overall. I wasn’t a huge fan of the more electronic vibes the other artists pursued so when I came across Adomaa, the jazzy vibes fused with the traditional African beats and soul influences really spoke to me, combining gospel choir-esque vocals and harmonies.
The song starts off with a bossanova style fingerpicked acoustic guitar playing chordal arpeggios accompanied by Adomaa’s very breathy falsetto vocals. Production-wise, the guitar is the only instrument used, and it creates a rich, full-bodied sound that is accentuated by the wet reverb giving it a wide open space to reflect all around your head. Additionally, the use of the melodic minor scale and bass note rundowns further add to this jazzy bossanova style which is quite uncommon in traditional African music.
With the lead vocals they are right at the forefront of the song and are almost entirely accompanied with additional harmonies and double-tracked stereo-panned leads. With the low and high harmonies of the main vocal there are also additional heavily saturated breathy background vocals that become almost the main instrument during the chorus sections with the sheer number of overdubs and cathedral esque reverb plugins used.
The subtle ambience from these layers greatly helps to fill out the gaps left by the lack of instrumentation as without it it could sound a little narrow but as the song progresses these vocal layers gradually build up giving the songs tone a great dynamic shift before everything cuts out at the end and we are left with just Adomaa and a small amount of harmonies singing.
With the vocal outro we get the first glimpse at Adomaa speaking in her native tongue emphasising her african heritage and roots. As Adomaa grew up in Nigeria and Ghana she was heavily influenced by her father who worked as a preacher in the local church, leading her to join the church choir. The influence of her choir experience is clearly evident in this track, authentically reflecting her formative years in west africa.