If Djei Gogo
has his way, everyone will begin the New Year on an upbeat note. And not only
upbeat, but dancing to a certain rhythm - a unifying, “Majestic Riddim”.
This is the
name of an original music project that Djei has spearheaded. The Ivorian-born,
Czech Republic-based producer sent the same reggae melody to performers around
the world and asked them to create songs based on his tune, and he was
surprised at the positive reaction he got.
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| Djei Gogo |
Thirty-four
artists from three continents agreed to provide vocals, resulting in 29
versions of Djei’s “Majestic Riddim”. The contributors include such big names
as Jamaican singers Half Pint and Perfect Giddimani, and young talents that are
being introduced to an international audience for the first time.
“I didn’t
expect such a huge response,” Djei told SWAN. “I was planning to use only a few
songs but as I listened and realized how good they were, I thought: why not use
all of them?”
Djei says
that “Majestic Riddim” has a “conscious vibe” and is meant to build bridges.
The project unites artists from a host of countries, including France, Nigeria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Kenya, Germany, Senegal and Spain – all singing to a similar
beat.
Djei, a
professional bass player who has worked as a producer for 15 years, mixed all
the contributions at his Flavour Production company in Prague. As each song has
the same instrumental introduction, it does take the listener some time to get
accustomed to more than two dozen songs all with the same melody. But then one
focuses on the lyrics, which are all different, and which remind us, as Djei
says, that music has no barriers and no frontiers.
The
performers sing or rap in their own language, such as English, French and
German, and the message is about love, justice, self-reliance and new
beginnings.
Sista Carmen,
one of the few women artists on the compilation, sings in Spanish that she
wants “un mundo perfecto” (a perfect world) while Superior urges: People be
smart / stay clean at heart / we have to restart / everybody take part. A
pefect rhyme and riddim for 2014?
Majestic
Riddim is available through digital download on iTunes, Amazon, and BandCamp.
