Alágbè Ìgbàlódé: An Interrogation of the Modern Chanter’s Art
By: 'Joba Ojelabi
Tags: Nigerian Music, Album Review, Review, Music, Music Review

For obvious reasons, the year 2020 would perhaps go down in history as one of the most eventful years in recent times. However, where many industries have mostly seen the negative side of the year, the Nigerian music industry seems to have enjoyed a notable surge in content. Perhaps locking down creatives in the right conditions can have a catalytic effect on the creative process after all. Considering the amount of music that has come out of Nigeria post the COVID-19 lockdown, songs that thrive amidst that competition deserve some extra credit.

One of the Nigerian musicians that dropped an album in this period is Qudus Olúwadámiláre Fákọ̀yà, who is more popularly known by the moniker, ‘Qdot Alágbe’. The album takes its title from this moniker. Qdot titles the 17-track album ‘Alágbe’. Alágbe is a Yorùbá word that loosely translates to “Chanter”. However, the word in Yorùbá is stereotyped to often characterize chanters that ‘beg’, giving the word a somewhat derogatory meaning. Qdot, however, dares to defy this stereotype with this laudable debut.

Qdot has over the past few years grown a reputation as an indigenous musician who thrives on subtle vulgarity and an atypical form of indigenous wordplay, or if I daresay, poetry. This, coupled with a coincidence of good beats, is why the artist can boast of songs like Alomo meta, Origin, Alhaji and a number of hits that set the path for Alágbe to thrive. Although, there is no mentioning Qdot’s style of indigenous music without giving some credit to vintage 9ice (Yes! Gongo Aso 9ice), Konga and a few other artists.

Alágbe unsurprisingly opens with Ìbà. Ìbà loosely translates to “homage” and this is exactly what the track does. It pays homage to all the forces, physical and metaphysical, acknowledging both past and future. With Ìbà, Qdot sets a calm tempo for the listener. It would seem that the culture of homage is so intricate with the Yoruba entertainment culture that even modernization could not take it away from Qdot and if anything, he does it very gracefully! Moriamo, a narrative about the artist’s paternal grandmother, comes on next. Moriamo is both a memoir and a eulogy, while the artist’s beautiful storytelling makes it succeed as the former, the intention of the song is enough for it to fulfil the latter.

On the third track of the album, the first features of the album come on in Angeli Mi. The song features Jaywon, Pepenazi, and T-Classic and it rides on an ecclesiastical sound that is not entirely new with Qdot. Right from Alomo Meta (Orin Emi), Qdot has shown his convenience with some of the typical church sounds, irrespective of how far out of the church his lyrics might be. T-Classic conveniently handles the hook of the song and while Jaywon and Pepenazi do well above average on their verses, chances are that some artists might have thrived better on the beat.

In Dance, Qdot creates the almost perfect tribute using the familiar àlùjó template that artistes like Yinka Ayefele are reputed for. Although the production of the song is a little underwhelming. Gbẹ́sẹ̀ is a remake of a Qdot song of the same title. The song features Ninola, who can be said to make a cameo appearance as Qdot still does almost all the work on this remix. Ayẹ́dùn is another audacious remake by Qdot. In this song, he samples the KWAM 1 classic, ‘Èrò mi tón jó’ and while Qdot does all he can, it’s safe to say that K1 can hold onto his crown.

In Mágbe, Qdot reiterates how much of an influence he can be as we get to experience Patoranking deliver his part of his song in Yorùbá, joining the list of the other features on the album who do the same. Dúró is a solemn love ballad that largely explores the ‘worse’ part of the ‘For better, For worse’ maxim. The song stands out largely for Qdot’s indigenous wordplay. Maria features Xsmile and in contrast to Dúró is a plea to a lover to accept the singer’s love. Xsmile, who very much sounds like Kiss Daniel, does a good job to sell himself.

Ah is another song we created on a familiar sound. The chanter, however, takes the 2T production to a whole new level with his freestyle. Ìyanu is a very anticipated feature as Qdot brings on 9ice to deliver this song. However, if anything, the song might just be the hint we need to infer that the vintage 9ice is gone forever.

Ewé is an absolute tribute to Marijuana. Absolute because both lyrics and the reggae beat try to reference the herb. And as much as this marriage seems forced, Qdot does his best to make up for it with his witty songwriting. Interestingly, it just might be enough depending on how sober you are. In Gbeja, Qdot accommodates the Fuji singer, Alhaji Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, and yet again, considering the abilities of the later, we might just have had another cameo appearance on the album.

Ọlọpa is an audacious invitation to the authorities to come join in on the fun. It makes one wonder if the song was recorded before or after the #EndSARS events. Ẹlẹda is a chanted prayer, and the chanter closes the album with Jaiye which again relies primarily on the high tempo church sound that has become characteristic of Qdot.

Altogether, Alágbe is an easily lovable body of work despite the average production on a number of songs. Qdot’s witty songwriting makes up for lapses. If anything, the self-acclaimed indigenous chanter might have just canonized his type of music. Masking vulgarity with rhythmic wordplay, Qdot is the kind of artist that can sing about the most unexpected themes and get away with it. However, the fear remains that the artist’s uniqueness is also his greatest limitation as his mastery of the language is only beautiful to a person who understands the language.

However, without a doubt, Qdot is not the typical “Alágbe”. If I daresay, I’d say we have on our hands a new kind of chanter, “Alágbe Ìgbàlódé”.