Waje: The songbird's soul, sound and story

On Sunday, June 7, 2015, Aituaje Iruobe popularly known as Waje bared her soul to audiences at an event tagged ''. Unlike the big stages the singer usually performs at, the event was held in a space decorated with tea lights and framed pictures of the singer at the ethno-chic Bogobiri House in Ikoyi, Lagos. The singer said this intimate gathering was her way of saying thank you to her fans for being part of the Waje brand.

The love diva adorned in a head scarf, ethnic jewellery and an African print playsuit by Iconola began her performance with her first ever single titled ‘Somewhere’ but was cut short by NEPA aka PHCN (known in the civilized world as a power outage). As soon as the electricity was restored, she immediately picked things up with her seven man band. With each song rendered, the award-winning vocalist disclosed the story behind it.

Described on Wikipedia as having a vocal range covering three octaves, Waje proved she has a voice she’s not afraid to use. In her performance she serenaded the gathering to creative musical arrangements of her popular tracks. ‘For a Minute’ was infused with Sade Adu’s ‘Sweetest Taboo’ and Bob Marley’s ‘Turn Your Lights Down Low’ featuring Lauryn Hill. The singer said the song was inspired by teenage crushes, love song lyrics and handwritten letters. ‘I Wish’ was given a reggae, rock steady vibe as she fused it Dawn Penn’s ‘You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)’.

In the crowd was ‘Great Nation’ singer Timi Dakolo who she said inspired her to write the song ‘Higher’. Before performing ‘Ijeoma’ and ‘Omini Knowest’, the songbird shared how she got into the music industry, the challenges of being signed to a record label for 10 years with no single or album release and how Wyclef gave her a stage to perform on.

Things got pretty teary when Ms. Iruobe sang ‘No Be You’; the emotion in her voice and the lyrics entranced the showgoers. Waje said when she first recorded the song, the producer (Cobhams Asuquo) told her she wasn’t ready to record yet and he recommended she watch ‘Diary of a Mad Black Woman’ then return to the studio.

Following this emotional performance, the tempo picked up and her high heels came off as she danced with fans and performed her latest single featuring Tanzanian star Diamond Platnumz ‘Coco Baby’ as well as other tracks from the ‘W.A.J.E’ album including: ‘Onye’, ‘Oko Mi’ and ‘Fine Girl’.

There was a lot of crowd engagement at the snug affair. Quick observation: most Nigerians at concerts are wallflowers. Halfway through her performance, Waje stopped and said: “this is a relationship, I no be cinema”, she invited people to dance and sing along. She took us a musical journey through her story and various genres of music including jazz, R&B, soul, afrobeat, highlife, soul-calypso, dance and reggae. She had us singing along, waving our hands in the air, swaying in our seats, dancing and begging for more!

If you’ve never seen the star perform live, it's strongly recommended you catch one of her shows, it’ll be worth every Kobo spent!