The last music video released by Emmanuel Kwadwo Ayisi Oware was lit up by disco balls, voluptuous vixens, designer bath robes, standard hip-hop gear . . . the works. That, you might recall, was for ‘Moving On’, a turn-up-worthy party anthem offered almost a whole year prior.
Ayisi’s latest song, ‘Prayer’, came out only last week, and it couldn’t have been more different: sober, cuss-free, and with a fair dose of piety. I woke up this morning to a notification of its visual complement — some hours after it hit YouTube and the rest of the Internet, in fact — and it stands in sharp contrast to ‘Moving On’, but certainly fit for its intended purpose.
There’s something about the sunset and the waterside that hits differently, striking a chord deep within, and that’s just where Ayisi finds himself when the video starts. He takes position, hands clasped in prayerful mood, and appears silhouetted for much of the footage. He only has a shirt on for, say, half of the video’s length; in the other half, it is flung over his shoulder — understandable, for man, in communication with his Maker, is at his barest.
It’s as minimalist as a music video gets, with no props and zero ‘bling’ – unless you’re counting a small dot of the moon, rising as the sun logs out, or the spots of artificial light twinkling in the distance – in sight. As twilight segues into dusk, Ayisi fades further into the background. It feels almost deliberate — maybe it is — and allows the viewer/listener to focus on the music itself, just as lyrics so pithy deserve.
Ayisi’s only challenge now, it seems, would be in getting the video across to his fans. See, the dreadlocked young man is currently suffering a minor PR ‘crisis’ (if you could call it that), as connecting with his ‘Konnekts’ — over 11,000 of them — is temporarily hampered by the restriction of his regular Twitter account. An ‘alternative account’, only created to bridge that gap, comes with a double underscore in its handle and has 19 followers already.
However long that lasts, given the quality of song and video, they should catch on soon. Oh, and you can be sure he’s prayed about that.
NY Frimpong — Daily Mail GH
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