PICTURES FROM ZAINAB SULE ACOUSTIC NIGHT IN JOS

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Nigeria’s favourite Soft Rock Musician, Zainab Sule hosted her Alternative event in the city of Jos, Plateau State, titled, “ACOUSTIC NIGHT, NO STRING ATTACHED” on Sept 2nd 2018 at the Mees palace Lounge.

The Acoustic Night show in Jos was all shades of awesome and the event was undoubtedly blessed.

Every once in a while, Zainab will put up a live concert. To promote her music specifically, but also tangentially, to show other acts how it is done.

As the night’s headliner, she left no doubt as to the magnificence of her artistry. Zainab took charge and rocked the night silly with tunes from her broad canvass of tune. It was familiar, deviant, enveloping and combustible all at once.

The delightful evening was hosted by the very charismatic DNA, he had this funny effective way of breaking the ice and getting everyone chilling and laughing.

Everyone was recognized and properly introduced, DNA eased the audience into the performance before a change of tempo makes it irresistibly compelling.

Opening the performance flow, Lardo thrilled the audience. Her gently unfurling poetic piece was strikingly cathartic, the ebb and her poetic flow lured the audience into a state of mesmeric.

Agbutun zipped through his impressive discography. His voice came through clear but the best thing about his performance was the impeccable control he exerted over everything and everyone with his music.

Gold came up next. As a performer, Gold Owen was in top form. Emoting expressively with his music and charming smile. He brought the house down with back to back renditions of his classical Spanish songs. His performance was one of my best.

Malvina! Malvina! There’s an unexplained repertoire rooted in the singer-songwriter Malvina, with elements of intricate harmonic song structures. Malvina showed off her vocal colour in the incredibly mixed musical language, from strong driving soulful tones used on the first song she performed to beautiful vocal melismatic style on ‘Lust’. Her intonation was astounding and I think this was greatly illustrated on the rhythmically syncopated and contrapuntal texture in her performance. She performed together with Augsburg, I sat marvelled at the idiosyncrasies of his acoustic guitar skills… The guy bad!!!

The sheer energy and star wattage Marphy brought with him was something else, he took no chances and gave a stunning rendition of his lovely songs with strong acoustic flows. Setting the mood high for Zainab acoustic display.

Her first performance started tentatively as she studied her audience, each minute that went by had her easing into her flow even as she soaked up the pure joy and love she was getting. Zainab grew more comfortable and more daring; singing, emoting, and performing like the crowd had every reason to expect.

Coming up next was AP, her dynamically-delivered poem, the metaphysical and ontological pondering found woven throughout her performance was epic. Her poems ponder obtuse questions of ‘she’. The audience at this point were ecstatic.

In between all that sonic overdose, some few personalities gave Zainab a shoutout on stage, hailing her musical dexterity.

Another highlight was the performance of Neken, it was anthemic. Neken had the audience joining enthusiastically in participatory moments of his performance. It was lovely.

There was an eerie stillness during the acoustic performance of Morgan Azi, an instant feeling of quiet introspection. He was connecting heart to heart with the audience. His performance was breathtaking.

G-Papa was fantastically witty and cheekily provocative, his socially-conscious blend of rap and spoken word was expletive-laden yet wonderfully poignant

I loved the way Doug Kaze uses his beautiful heart-warming vibrato to both drive emotion and vocal power in his music and then contrasts this with breathy head voice sections to show raw vulnerability. He’s a true artist – able to choose from a vast palette of vocal colours to suit the mood and emotional intent of his music.

The mesmeric trance of Red’s poetry followed shortly and anybody with common sense knows the devil is not exorcised while sitting disinterestedly on concert seats. Her poetry gyrates with a powerful wit and a sharp sense of humour. With intensity and honesty Red shows in her piece, you can’t help but feel these aren’t just stories or poems, but rather soul defining experiences that have shaped a truly outstanding poet. Her ability to weave a compelling narrative pulls you in and creates a true sense of wonder.

You know you have entered rarefied territory as a Nigerian artiste when your entire discography is instantly recognisable by your audience and for Zainab Sule, every single song was a hit, back to back, as her audience gave as good as they got.

Zainab Sule Acoustic Night was graced with incredible personalities and talented musician. Every second of the show is beautifully thoughtful and splendidly entertaining with a tinge of sweet spiritual surrender, the Acoustic Night was great music served properly. Live, loud, organic, and endlessly thrilling.

This event review was done by JOE HEMAN