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KUKU - Official Website of Nigerian Singer/Songwriter KUKU

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Peace, Blessings and Love to everyone and anyone.

It Sunday May 3rd 2009, a few minutes back I finished laying down the vocals for a brand new song, OjeKa Pada Sile, inspired and co-written with my brother Mongezi Ntaka whom you might have seen me sharing the stage with lately. I couldn't wait to mix this record before I share it with you all. For a very limited time I will have this song up here on myspace. I hope to encourage conversations and introspective dialogue between who we think we and who we really are. Though the song directly speaks to people of Africa and African descent, I believe it speaks to every body especially those who have strayed away from their core, culture, language, consciousness, what ever our true element is which I believe is Love. Enjoy, reflect and insight!

Lyrics: Ojeka Pada Sile (KUKU and Mongezi Ntaka, 2009)

Don't be be scared of who you are

Your roots lie in Africa

You can claim America, Europe, or South America

As educated as you are

Can you speak your mother tongue, read or write you Papas words

But you've mastered western law

Oje ka Papa sile (We have to return home)

Komo ko le so ede ile (Teach the children our language)

Oje ka papa si le (We have to return home)

Ko mo kole mo asa ile (Teach the children our ways and customs)

Our language is dying

Our talent are overseas

Black folks/Our folks will die to taste the western dream

We are blessed with all wealth

While the world cash in the chips

Why bake the bread, and settle for the crumbs

Oje ka Papa sile (We have to return home)

Komo ko le mo ede ile (Teach the children our language)

Oje ka papa si le (We have to return home)

Ko mo kole mo asa ile (Teach the children our ways and customs)

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On like other primate, whom I absolutely believe are suppressing
their intelligence to avoid mans exploitation, humans are blessed with ability
to communicate in coherent verbal language. So why does a huge number of people
still choose to communicate using signs, symbols, and body language, especially
able body adult. I for one I’m tired of it. I will only respond to words and
actions. “I wanted to …”, “I planned on…”, 
“My intension were”,  or any other
expectations of me to read minds will not caught it any more.

.. ..

For starters, life is too short to be trying to read people minds
and intension. Nothing is real until it’s manifested physical. This could be
one of the reasons why our core (spirit) have been equipped with bodies to
carry out our human mission. Feelings are meant to be expressed not detected,
yet most of all express the most at the event of death or when existence
terminated. Please don’t congregate at my funeral and cry when you didn’t
surround me and express joy and laughter while I’m alive.

.. ..

Secondly, assumption when there is room for questioning and
receiving an answer is just plain stupid. Life already is uncertain enough. I
don’t know why we don’t take advantage of knowing the facts especially when they
are at our disposal. The fact is people are afraid of the truth, as a result many
choose to remain in the bliss of ignorance. Fact is like death, we all know it’s
eminent either today or tomorrow but we all act oblivious about it. If you are
reading this you lucky is you have 40 more years to live. That is if you are in
perfect health and accidents cease to exist.

.. ..

Lastly, attention is the key. Paying attention means living
in the present moment. In a state absolute attention, there is no tomorrow or
yesterday, no next minute or last second, no reward or preparation. In
attention, we are in moment, I see you for NOW, not what I hope you would do,
or what you a have done. In other words in attention, as bad as it might sound,
we are narrow minded, we are not reading signs, or assuming. You are not
wondering why the African guy who sings of love on the acoustic guitar is being
this blunt. You are processing my words neutrally.

....................................................................................

(Recorded on March 16th 2009)
An attempt to add some Africanism to a song I have always heard delivered in a western contexts, eventhough it's suppose to represent African people. Hopefully we can hear it played like this next time Nigeria wins a gold medal at a world event or wherever one of it's great citizen is being honored. If not, you can always share it on You tube and request it when you are at my live shows.

It's 8 am on Saturday Morning, February 28th, 2009. I've had a sleepless night with several thoughts going through my head, this include a reoccurring subject of mankind and self righteousness . I think I can finally articulate myself and I hope to really hear peoples take on it.

I want to start by saying I think I've been guilty of self righteousness if it is a crime. All through my life, I've chosen to work the so-called right path while I often pass judgement on those who I think have strayed to the other side. For example why does human ethics celebrate a those who have chosen to use their intelligence to service mankind either through discovery or invention but we frown on those who "happily" their body? (Not those exploited) We celebrate authors but treat the prostitute with contempt. Who came up with notion that getting paid for technical knowledge, brilliance and craft is morally acceptable, but using your body is corrupt and degrading especially in case where no harm is done.

Like I said, I've been guilty of this, I remember feeling morally superior to my peers who smoked and drank back in my teenage years. Several other examples such as the argument about the degradation of women in hip hop music video comes to mind. I have made such a comment, and I take that back, I encourage those talented young ladies to continue to "shake it fast" as long their is an audience and they getting paid. In fact if I was one those young women, I will organize and create a union. If an adult woman who has been blessed with a perfectly shaped protruding buttocks wants to exhibit her assets in a video, who the hell are we to complain about it. If it's the kids you are protecting then enforce Sesame Street like my parent did in Nigeria, I always thought Maria was sexy. As a matter of fact, I'm going to watch hip-hop videos all day and get acquainted with some of this beautiful ladies. I might need to employ their talent for my next video. "The Acoustic Africa Rump Shaker" Hmm.

I just watched the latest Jamie Folk video featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Ron Howard and Samuel L. Jackson. My first thought was that "what are this respectable Hollywood actors doing in a hip-hop/R&b music videos set in a club, with sexy women as the side attraction? Then my consciousness kicked in. These are fortunate men who needs no permission or approval of self-righteous opinion. Fuck trying to preserve some clean cut image, suppressed expression is precursor to misery (Wow! that s an original quote). Like the hedonistic theory states happiness, pleasure, joy, happiness ...is highest good, and if that means different things to different people. I personally get pleasure from eating lamb and making "music". Some people like to smoke some, drink some, and get lap dance.

My theory on moral society is that we treat with contempt those who do everything we secretly wish we could do but instead we are confined to ethics, religion, professionalism and fear.

To all the free birds such as the porno star-fuck on!, prostitute-be safe and make your money, drug dealers-give the pharmaceutical company a run for their money, hip-hop artist- keep the willing dancer and add my glitter or is it ice..., and freaks-don't let the recession stop you from coming out at night. All I ask is that we don't hurt and exploit, one another especially children.

P.S. Check out my new video in link below featuring me in the club swiping my credit card through a pair of round ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14si77qFcPU

IFE by KUKU (KUKULIVE.COM) from Ayoola Daramola on Vimeo.

In the Yoruba (Western Nigeria) language, the word "Ifé" means love.
The song whose video you are watching, "Ifé", was recorded sometime in
2005 and it later appeared on my 2006 debut full length album
Unexpected Pleasures. Since the song was released, I have written and
recorded several new material, and since my favorite song tends to be
the latest one, Ife has slowly falling into the ranks of just another
song, or child as I like call them, in my growing catalog.

One
cold evening in early December 2008, I received an e-mail from a gentle
man by the name of , Ayoola Daramola. He introduced himself as Nigeria
video director who was very much interested in shooting a video for the
song. Upon speaking to Ayoola, his inviting spirit, and passion for
video making and music was reason enough to go ahead with his vision
for the video. We met a few days later at his home studio in Maryland,
and we shot about 2 hours of footage. That was my last meeting before
the conception of this video. It's a small world indeed, the family who
appears in the video are Ayoola's friends who just happen to be cousins
of mine.

Which ever way you look at it, Ayoola revived this
song, with the heart of color and motion pictures he breathed a new
life into a song I had almost forgotten. They say bad new travel fast,
and that theory have been proven more true in this digital age. This is
some good new accompanied by inspirational visual I look that would
like to see travel even further.

Please help me extend much gratitude to Ayoola Daramola (http://www.vimeo.com/33081..49) for excellent job and even more spread love, spread the good word, and spread the video.
One luv
KUKU
www.kukulive.com

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Peace love and Happy New Era Beautiful People,
As 2 million of us gathered in Washington DC and countless other around the world celebrate the inauguration of President Obama yesterday, you best believe their were many others dreading they lived to see the dream come.

One of those blessed soul under the alias AiresQX4 recently posted a comment to show   their disgust on my "Obama Obama" You tube page. Please visit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CZA9nB7yOg&feature=email) and kindly assist in responding to AiresQX4's message with ABSOLUTE KINDNESS. If you haven't watched the video collage make sure you also do so on the same token.

But please respond to AiresQ4’s comment with absolutely kind words though you might want to do otherwise. Let’s begin this era of change by projecting love even when we a provoked to do otherwise.

One
KUKU

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Happy blessed and prosperous New Year,

.. ..

I recently read a 2007 Washington Post article about an epistemological study and question I have debated within my mind since I decided to sing and play guitar for living. Can art be recognize and appreciated in the most unadorned circumstance or only for its context? I would have asked that about “good art”, but that is relative. On second thought, the wonderful folks on my mailing list might not be the right audience to pose this question to. After all, I like to believe you don’t understand my music based on some popular context.

.. ..

Reading my favorite daily blog, by the Sir Paulo Ceolo (Amazing Author, Google the name or pick up any of his books) yesterday led me to a Washington Post article about a social stunt involving the world renowned violin virtuoso, Joshua Bell at L’enfant Plaza metro station, ....Washington.. ..DC...., some days ago.

.. ..

Imagine Bob Marley without his worldly reputation playing at the corner of metro/subway station. Would you stop and recognize his genius, or just walk by and ignore some dude trying to path you from your dollar?

.. ..

I fulfilled a modest dream of mine by playing in NY subway this past weekend. At around 10pm on Sat January 10^th, you would have found me playing for the next 2 hour in heart of ....Manhattan....’s Penn Station. For the most part, people passed by me like my Shrek looking frame was totally invisible. I noticed children and a few groups of international tourist paying attention. I noticed a few people tapping their feet incongruously as they await the 1, 2 or 3 train heading downtown ..Brooklyn... By 12pm I had made about $50 busks, hmm, I could actually make a more steady living playing in the NY subways.

.. ..

I will like to get your opinion about justified belief vs. condition based opinion as in regards to the arts. Can you recognize a masterpiece without a frame? Read the amazing article about the Joshua Bell experience here (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html)