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In 1996, Juju music icon and two times Grammy
Awards nominee, King Sunny Ade alongside his Golden Mercury band, released the
classical ‘Let Them Say’.
Although it was at a time when a younger
generation of artists are gaining grounds in the Juju genre, the Ondo state
born singer’s profile had gotten to a meteoric status that younger artists like
Shina Peters, Segun Adewale and Dele Abiodun pose no threat to his reign as
Juju king. And so ‘Let Them Say’ came and championed the Juju genre in its
time; a feat that Sunny Ade has been enjoying for almost two decades before then.
His previous albums all enjoyed more patronage
than other Juju singers, including more than his closest rival, Ebenezer Obey.
Released as a vintage turntable record plate, the
album follows the then trend of recording extended songs of over 20 minutes each
on either sides of the plate. The plate’s jacket will then carry a form of
track listing which is named after the different topics addressed on that
single track. ‘Let Them Say’ opened with nifty guitar sequences from Sunny Ade,
ushering listeners with his signature string instrument over mild drum beats on
the part titled ‘Oluwa Lo Yan Mi’. He went ahead to lace God gratifying verses
for a while before moving on to other themes.
The part titled ‘Let Them Say’ is characterized
by extensive drum percussions which infiltrates the rest of the album. He
employed the typical Juju styled call-and-response with his band aptly backing
him up. At this part he was smirching at naysayers and slanderers. Like many
secular artists, Sunny Ade sometimes throws in raunchy verses that excite
listeners.
On ‘Let
Them Say’ he used lines like “oba tele mi kalo lo si agbo Golden Mercury, ni bi
ti olomoge tin fi omu lulu fun okunrin jo”, literarily meaning “come with me to
the Golden Mercury concert and witness ladies drumming with their breasts”. He
also had “ma fi owo kan ebeyen, ijo nio o ba mi jo, daddy” also meaning “don’t
touch me there, just dance with me; mister” At some point on the B-Side of the
album, Sunny Ade explored the praise singing aspect of the genre and mildly
sang praises of the popular Ijebu elite, Olarewaju Kazeem in a manner that will
make his contemporaries green with envy.
He also wittily employed the use of popular
Yoruba adages and sayings while flexing his smooth voice to hit different notes
as he delivers. The music video of ‘Let Them Say’ also came with a spark as it
featured popular Yoruba movie casts, Aworo, Orisabunmi and Fadeyi Oloro, thus
drawing in more fans.
Even though the advent of hip-hop music appeared
to have relegated indigenous music such as Juju to the background, there is no
denial that back in the 80s, a party ain’t complete without the enchanting
sounds of Sunny Ade’s guitar.
