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Joyful by Ayo

Musical Review By Rosalind Lloyd

Her light falsetto bounces against a discreetly folksy, acoustic guitar riff.  It wraps itself around the rhythm with a lusty innocence.  A bongo softly keeps time.  Underneath is a cosmopolitan vibe that happens to be distinctly bohemian yet uniquely original.  It's that right amount of musically affecting, neosoulful, hippy chic that's perfect to play at your next roof-top party.  Just imagine: it's a hot summer night.  Tea lights flicker against a moonlit sky.  The aroma of grilled jerk intertwined with Nag Champa is thick in the air.  The mojitos/Patron/Red Stripe is bountiful.  The crowd is eclectically beautiful, visually and spiritually.  The mood is tight.  Ayo's Joyful is playing in the background against the festive hum.  Her sound is the type that will provoke you to stop in mid-conversation and ask, referring to the music, "who is that?"

She is Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin, better known as Ayo (the Nigerian translation of Joy).  Ayo has called the mélange of influences that is her sound, "regg-afro-folk."  I would liberally add a healthy dose of soul in the mix to describe the divine offerings from this singer/songwriter.  You haven't heard anything exactly like her before, but if you were to toss her comparisons into a musical blender, add Sade, Lauren Hill, Tracy Chapman, Erykah Badu, Joan Armatrading, Corinne Anne Bailey with just a touch of Minnie Rippleton to the recipe, you might be pretty close.

A musical and media sensation abroad, the buzz has already begun for this sultry songstress.  Initially released in 2006 in Europe, Joyful reached critical success in France where she achieved double platinum status with near similar results in her native Germany as well as in Italy and Switzerland.   It was released in the States in late 2007.  Born to a gypsy Mother and Nigerian father, her cultural roots are richly apparent in the work as you feel yourself being globally transported through Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and even the southern United States.  Think of Joyful as a musical vacation and Ayo as your ambassador.  It's definitely a fly journey into love in all its many splendid and often painful forms.

Speaking of love, Ayo explores this four letter word unabashedly, acknowledging its often challenging trappings.  "Down on My Knees," the first single released is a solid introduction.  Begging for someone's love never sounded so sweet and yet so raw and so naked at the same time.  In "How many times," Ayo tells her moody lover, "how many times I go to sleep, I saw you dying in my dreams?"  Her voice cleverly belies the real pain her message is conveying.  In "And it's suppose to be Love," she suggests you "body slam your lover up against the wall, fill them with regret," to a light, bouncy reggae beat.  You find yourself questioning the innuendo as you feel yourself moving slow and sensually to the music.  It's that kind of melodious brilliance that makes Joyful a must have in your musical library.   I'm looking forward to the release of her second album, Gravity at Last, scheduled for Fall 2008.  I get the feeling the future will be beyond joyful for this promising new artist.

www.myspace.com/ayo

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