ELIKEH Band: Nyade, the debut album.
Elikeh is young Afropop band from the Washington DC area. Although the band is young, most of the musicians have been playing for years. The band is formed by: Serge Massama Dogo - Band leader, Guitars and vocals, Michael Sherekis - Guitar and vocals, Jon Aversa - Bass, Dave McDavitt - Drum and percussions, Trevor Specht - Saxes and Flute.
They put together their talent, their individualities and the diversity of their backgrounds to form Elikeh pronounced "A-lee-kay" literally meaning "It's rooted" in the EWE tribal language(mostly spoken in Togo, Ghana, and Benin).
For this debut album, The band featured rapper Yeli FUZZO from Mali on track 2 titled "Madjo". The feature won the rapper Best Collaboration award at the Malian Music Wards, in his native Mali. From start to finish, the release has been fully paid for by the band.
For a first release, this is a great album for any afropop lover to have. Although there are definitely few things that could have been done differently, it's still a great buy. One of the things that makes it hard to categorize some of the songs is the big rock influence(drums mainly) that you will not miss. As usual, it's because of the decisions made during mixing. The producer and the mixing engineer shared the responsability on this one.
Track 4 is missing a lead drum. In the absence of a lead drum, one will expect vocals. There are no vocals either and that took the life out of the great performance by Dave, the drummer.
The lyrics on track 7, don't you(aiye) are a bit confusing if not contreversial. On that, the listener will have to make his own opinion. Those minor flaws put aside. This album is treat to listen to. Elikeh is a new band and as such, one can expect their sound to grow and become more define and reflect what their vision is, as far as afropop is concerned.
Alain K. SESSI, Africagrooves.com