Way back in 1971 at around the peak of the counterculture era an Australian singer/songwriter named Helen Reddy released a song called I Am Woman. It was adopted as an anthem for the then growing women’s liberation movement and it celebrated female empowerment. Now in 2017 a Nigerian singer/songwriter named Charity Ekeke carries this touch handed to her by Reddy, as well as a multitude of other women throughout the past several decades, with her album She. It’s a compilation of eleven tales told in eleven different songs that tell of what it’s like to live in today’s world without all the advantages many take for granted.
Using the language of alternative rock music to paint her sonic portraits on She (Unity Gain Records) Charity Ekeke takes on some topical subjects. Opening with If the Roles Were Reversed it tackles the problem of the unwanted sexual advances women must contend with in their daily lives. With current headlines in the news about Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and even the current president of the United States, Donald Trump, being accused by multiple women of committing these crimes, Charity Ekeke adds her own perspective to this collective voice that must be heard, and has for far too long one that’s been unheeded.
The nasty practice of “slut-shaming” is wrestled with in a tune titled Don’t Call Them. It preaches the age old sermon that unless you’ve walked a mile in someone else’s shoes then you do not have the right to pass judgment upon them. For who amongst us can truly claim that, at times, the ends don’t justify the means and vice versa, especially when our own houses occasionally fall into disorder? It’s good advice even when being it’s being preached to the choir. Is it not?
Not all of the tracks on She come under the category of protest songs. If it is love that makes the world go around then a silly love song or two every now and then about being in love is just par for the course. All I Know, He Takes All My Breath Away and I’ll Catch You If You Fall fit firmly in this column. Miss Ekeke also balances this scale with Look at Me Now that’s all about when the thrill is finally gone you’re all out of love at the end of a relationship and have already checked into the room awaiting at that rundown Heartbreak Hotel. Here the vulnerability of her voice mirrors those lonely moments of self-reflection.
Talk To Me takes a shot at our modern day obsessions with our mobile devices and These Times addresses issues that seldom change. A criticism of how the refugees from foreign countries are treated in today’s increasing smaller world is the focus of Bloodline, while You Belong is as much about social inclusion as it is about not being included. She comes to a close with She Bears which is fraught with double meanings from the title to the coda. All in all Charity Ekeke has an awful lot to say on She. So just open your mind and take a listen. It’s really that simple.
www.charityekeke.com
