The Study of Racialism

gemini072 · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2942 }

German born South-African Joy Denalane bares her soul with every note she sings. Now wrapped up in the production of her second album, an all-English follow up to her critically acclaimed Mamani, Ms. Denalane has been traveling back and forth between the US and Germany to once again create a sound that’s unique and substantial. Joy is fast becoming an international superstar, joined on her previous album by the legendary Hugh Masekela and other amazing artists such as Mahotella Queens, Chiwoniso, Sara Tavares and Jimmy Dludlu. This storyteller, political poet, and passionate songstress will move and inspire speakers of any language as she re-defines what is "soul" music.

At first I was thinking of a different sound, more deep soul combined with raw Wu-Tang beats. But then I realized it’s no use making music that you like listening to, but have to force yourself to create yourself. The music you make should come to you easily, naturally. That’s how my sound and music came about.
—Joy Denalane

Afro-German Joy Denalane is my favorite under-40 R&B female vocalist. Her father is from Soweto, South Africa; her mother is from Berlin; her music is from the heart. Child can sang. Her instrument is so wonderful, she makes the guttural pronunciation of German sound sweetly lyrical. In fact, you can listen to her for a minute before you even realize she’s not singing in English; she just be sounding like some sister that’s got to be from either Harlem, Detroit, Chicago or New Orleans, especially when she drops a husky “hey, baby” like ya girl from around the way. Check one of her hit songs Geh Jezt from her debut album, Mamani.

Here, she takes on Prince’s hit, Sign O’ The Times. A friend marveled: I can actually understand what she’s saying; I couldn’t really understand what Prince was saying. But you know clear enunciation has never been a necessary ingredient in a recipe for soul. Plus, check this: she’s backed by a quartet (guitar, bass, drums and percussion). No turntables. No special effects. No, she rocks hard based purely on the energy and heart she brings to the song. Warning: Do not confuse this version with the version on Joy’s new Mamani Live CD. Although recorded on the same tour, they are from different dates. On the single version, when the guitarist solos, he is chording more than playing single-note runs and to my ears, the recording sound is better because the band has a stronger presence.

It takes a lot of heart to even think about doing a basically acoustic version of Prince’s hard-edged burn-out. Imagine, you stand onstage with only a skeleton of a band that offfers sparse (albeit effective) support and you’re going to do a Prince stomper. Sure you can do ballads, soft soul, African melodies with percussion, but Sign O’ The Times? Well, I guess this really is a sign of the times!

—Kalamu ya Salaam

www.joydenalane.com

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Joy has a big, soulful voice. What separates her from the Mary J. Blige’s and Lauryn Hill’s of the world is she also has the ability to control that voice. (In Lauryn’s defense though, singing is only the second best thing she does with her vocal chords; in my opinion, Lauryn is a much better MC than singer.)

The reason I’m not yet on the Joy bandwagon is the commonplace production style of her first (and only) studio album, Mamani. This sister writes good songs and has a hell of a voice then inexplicably buries all that goodness beneath the gloss and sheen of overproduced American-style R&B. I haven’t heard the rest of the live album, but if all of it is as good as her version of Sign O’ The Times, I’ll be one step closer to getting on that wagon.

On a different note, I think its interesting that 95% of Prince covers are by women. (That’s a completely unscientific guess.) Just off the top of my head and sticking only to well-known artists: Sinead O’Connor’s "Nothing Compares 2 U," Chaka Khan’s "I Feel For You," Cyndi Lauper’s "When You Were Mine," TLC’s "If I Was Your Girlfriend," Meli’sa Morgan’s "Do Me, Baby," Mariah Carey’s "The Beautiful Ones," Mica Paris’ "If I Love U Tonight," and both Stephanie Mills and Alicia Keys have versions of "How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore." The only male Prince covers that come to mind are Ginuwine’s "When Doves Cry" and Tom Jones’ version of "Kiss." There’s got to be more but I can’t think of any. What’s the deal with that?

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