Just like a yawning soliloquy that is
capable of raising a dead soul, her melodious voice yelled, ‘Smile for Me!’
Her dark face fizzled in
the dark like a moon that has assumed its far-reaching size, after the harvest
season in West Africa. I looked around to see if the smile was meant for me. Instantaneously,
her left index finger pointed towards my direction and her gentle voice shrieked;
it’s you my ‘Original baby!’
My
heart jerked almost immediately, like a convulsing child, as I watched her
other hand gripping romantically unto a slanted mic that stood in her front
like a child. She kept swinging her medium size hip left and right, like
parading soldiers that are on a secret mission. Her brownish dark laps that was
wrapped by a short mini skirt that was made from Ankara kept sending a satisfactory ray down my nerves. Truly, ‘Love don’t care’. A strange voice
whispered this into my ears and vanished at once.
The tiny strap pieces of the Ankara that walled her breast like a pet
undulated, at every move she made. The tempo of her song kept increasing
incessantly, like the talking drum of Omenikoro,
an African energetic masquerade, as her feet moved on the Spanish grey tiles
like that of a goddess. Her white eyeballs were focused on me, as if I were the
sacred cross. I love you Simi, you are ‘Foreign’!
This scream accompanied tears that ran through my chick, and momentarily embraced
the floor like drizzling rain, immediately she finished performing her ‘Smile for me’ track.
As the wall clock that hung over my
head ticked, suddenly, the silence that visited after her first performance unexpectedly
gave way for a melodious tune that came through a flute that announced the
arrival of one of her latest songs ‘Joromi’,
through the two gigantic speakers that stood on her left and right sides. These
speakers stood with her alone on the stage, with all other instrumentalist and
backup singers appearing invisible. I couldn’t help my emotions any longer, as
I stared steadily at her black beautiful face, but limped abruptly and ran
towards her to give her a hug, because she has succeeded in waking up a
sleeping part of my sense, as she sang;
Joromi, Joromi, I want you to love me…
My eyes flicked open afterwards, then,
I realized I had been dreaming. I wept like a child, cuddling my pillow and
wishing that the dream never ended. I tried to call back the dream, but it was
obvious it had gone on a long walk to an unknown destination.
Born Simisola Bolatito Ogunleye,
popularly known as Simi is a Nigerian afro pop singer and song writer. Her
birth was announced on 19th April, 1988 in Surulere, Ojuelegba to be
precise. Lagos to her is more than a home, because that was where she received
her primary and secondary education, before she moved to Covenant University,
where she studied mass communication.
It all began in 2008, after she dropped
her debut album that was titled ‘Ogaju’,
which contained hit tracks like ‘Ara Ile’
and ‘Iya Temi’ that were produced by
Samklef. From that moment, the revelation that I got about her was as clear as a
mirror on the wall. As a lover of good music, it was very easy for me to be
enslaved by her unique voice and tunes, which was exactly what Asa did to me.
Love they say knows no boundary when one’s heart love a thing. This perfectly
showcased the possibility of a young man from the Eastern part of Nigeria to fall
in love completely with a young singer from the Western part, who practically
doesn’t understand all the lyrics in her songs. It’s like the recent ‘Chemistry’ that thus exist between the
Beast from the East, Phyno, and Baddo from the West, Olamide.
From that moment, I kept on reading and
listening to every piece of art work that came from Simi. If she were to be a
pastor, I would indeed make a good follower. In fact, I followed everything
that came from her like a shadow that tagged along an object.
In 2011, Simi met Oscar Heman-Ackah, a
producer and also a song writer, and both of then worked together, until 2013,
when Simi officially signed a contract with Oscar Music Production. Also in
2013, via her former record label, she officially signed a new contract with
X3M Music.
In 2014, when she released ‘Tiff’, which was also produced by Oscar
Heman-Ackah, I couldn’t help but weep the first time I heard the song on the
radio. The song was later nominated in two categories in Headies 2015, and
sooner gained mainstream recognition. Just as I was about recovering from the
heart relief ‘Tiff’ gave to me, one
day, as I was riding in a friend’s car along Lekki Phase I, we tuned the car
stereo to a radio station. There and then, ‘Jamb Question’ was a song on review on that fateful day. I almost
jumped out of the car that was doing 120kilometer, after the song ended.
What
else do humans expect from Simi anymore, before nominating her for Grammy? I
guess nothing because Falz the bad guy perfectly buried that tract, after Simi
killed it.
It’s no doubt that I’m finding it difficult
in recent time to strike a balance between the love I have for Simi and the one
I have for Asa in 2017, because I wouldn’t know whether to listen to ‘Joromi’ by Simi or ‘Bed of Stone’ by Asa every night,
before cuddling the pillows on my empty lonely bed.
I can’t really say for sure
at this moment, but I guess my love is hiding somewhere in the West.
(Emeka is a young
Nigerian writer and public affairs analyst.
He is a member of Chartered Institute of Public Diplomacy and Management (CIPDM),
The Royal Life Saving Society of Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Management
(NIM), and Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply Management of Nigeria
(CIPSMN))
