Alex Boyé ♪ Africanized

Tuesday, October 13, 2015 Of Minds & Mixtapes | Zaheera 0 Comments

Alex Boyé (Pronounced Boy-ay) is a British-born American singer of Nigerian origin. His sharp, soulful and rich baritone is capable of injecting almost any song with a stirring weight regardless of whether he wrote the song or not.
True to his Youtube page description “I take pop songs and Africanize them”, Boyé takes a song and rewelds it together with African instruments, rhythms and voices.

The first time I heard him was in "Peponi", a cover of Coldplay's "Paradise" collaborated with The Piano Guys. Getting to know more of his music then on I learnt that it is more than just your average cover of another pop song; it is more expressive than the original.

Here lined up are a few of my favourites by Boyé:

"Ho Hey" ♪ Feat. Brigham Larson
An Afro-jazz tribute to The Lumineers.

"Shake It Off" ♪ Feat. Changing Lanes

This funky African Hipster version is a far cry (in a good way) from the original ballet-gone-wrong and mini-short dancing video.

"They Dont Care About Us" ♪ Feat. Various Artists
MJ is proud. Of Boyé and the beat-boxers.

"Lemonade" ♪ (featuring some Ron Burgundy look-alike)

This is Boyé's original composition; his very own Bobby Mcferrin "Don't worry, be Happy" song.

"Circle of Life" ♪ Feat. Alisha Popat & Lemarti
I am biased towards this song. A fan of all Lion King tunes.

 

For more, check out his channel on YouTube.

My admiration for covers aside, I consider Boyé to be one of the most compelling artists of our time, for this caliber of music doesn’t happen often.