Ent. & Lifestyle
Music review throwback Thursday: Wendi – Solome Basuuta
Solome belongs to a unique group of artistes that have brought a contemporary pop edge to songs performed in local languages, especially Luganda. It makes practical sense of course – this approach ensures they remain artistically invested while also exposing their music to a broader audience.
By: Dennis Asiimwe, Journalist @New Vision
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Solome Basuuta has a performance on the horizon at House of Jazz, so I thought now might be a good time to take a peek at something she had on her portfolio a couple of years back. Four years counts as a throwback, right?
Heck, who is counting?
Solome belongs to a unique group of artistes that have brought a contemporary pop edge to songs performed in local languages, especially Luganda. It makes practical sense of course – this approach ensures they remain artistically invested while also exposing their music to a broader audience.
Naava Grey, Kenneth Mugabi and Maurice Kirya pull this off pretty handily. It is also a great compromise, because the one thing that Solome doesn’t back off from is her artistic preferences, her approach to music.
Penned by Richard Luswata and produced by Sam Bisaso at Black Smith Studios, Wendi works because Solome does not take any chances when it comes to the technical side of her musicality. The song is produced within a light, up-tempo pop-rock format where the production has to be intricate, so the choice of Bisaso was the obvious option behind the production boards.
The song clocks in at about 4 minutes, which is way past the conventional time runs even four years back, but Solome is not one to heed convention. The song’s runtime is probably explained by the fact that it is built with a verse, bridge and chorus format, which had me grinning with approval. Heck, they went and added a solo interlude just in case you had any doubts about their intentions.
Naava Grey, Kenneth Mugabi and Maurice Kirya pull this off pretty handily. It is also a great compromise, because the one thing that Solome doesn’t back off from is her artistic preferences, her approach to music.
Penned by Richard Luswata and produced by Sam Bisaso at Black Smith Studios, Wendi works because Solome does not take any chances when it comes to the technical side of her musicality. The song is produced within a light, up-tempo pop-rock format where the production has to be intricate, so the choice of Bisaso was the obvious option behind the production boards.
The song clocks in at about 4 minutes, which is way past the conventional time runs even four years back, but Solome is not one to heed convention. The song’s runtime is probably explained by the fact that it is built with a verse, bridge and chorus format, which had me grinning with approval. Heck, they went and added a solo interlude just in case you had any doubts about their intentions.
The harmonies on Wendi are simultaneously light and rich, a combination that is reached by how gorgeously the vocals on this tack are arranged.
Solome tends to like a song which she can work with during her live performances, and Wendi fits neatly into this category. It has a sing-along quality to it that she can utilize when on stage, and those interludes and breaks in the song would work well in a live setting. The song’s groove also suggests it as a clap-along quality to it, something Solome is never shy to urge her audience to do.
One more thing – the guitar work on this track is stellar, and the decision to use it for the primary instrumentation bed was inspired. Wendi falls into that category of music where you can’t help but notice the technical excellence with which the material is approached. And that is true of what Solome consistently puts out. Four years later, it’s the same story.