CEF’s New Album Jideofor and Its Allusion to Animal Farm

Yinka  Olatunbosun

Jideofor the latest project of Abuja-based musician, CEF is a product of traditional Igbo instrumentations and literary allusion. The seven-track album heavily influenced by Ogene, Highlife, Afrobeat, Soul and Reggae and Jazz is in tandem with the artist’s musical style dubbed Genti music. 

Genti simply means ‘listen’ in Igbo language, and with this style of music, the artiste beckons listeners to listen easy sound, the simple yet intellectually driven lyrics and the pleasant reverberation of sounds crafted with the merging of modern western instruments comprising guitar, piano, percussions and other traditional instruments.

Ebelebe, one of the songs in the album is described as an eargasm of local Igbo instruments comprising the ogene, oja and ekwe.

With inspiration from literature, the song titled Animal Farm, draws upon George Orwell’s literary text of same title, Animal Farm. It compares the Nigerian society to world of farm animals depicted in the classic text where the pigs get fat, and the dogs are the workhorse; both sides predator and prey to one another. And in case the listener missed it, seasoned performance poet, Dike Chukwumerije deconstructs the nuance at the song’s interval by spoken words: All animals are equal/but the tragedy is in this place/ some are more equal than the others.

Piano and guitar are the dominant instruments featured on the love song ‘Dikeke which holds the most flowery and airy lyrics, where the artiste reiterates to his lover that her love. 

Other songs in the album include Ije Uwa and Ekwe Kuo featuring Nze Chidi Echefu and Odo Yewu.

At a recent chat with the media, CEF commended his music collaborators and team who worked on the project.

“There was no one else who understood the idea of (Animal Farm) as Chukwumerije did. We were both coming to it from the perspective that we are a part of those animals, and we have a responsibility. Chukwumerije is self-reflecting, and looks deep within. So, when we had the opportunity to create this, he was the best person for it. We didn’t have to think much because it is our reality.

“I am very thankful for the creator, and the kind of people I have worked with on this project. I say we because there is no individualism here. I didn’t play all the instruments. Little contributions by everyone gave birth to this work. This is a community project. what made it less difficult is that a team of people who believe in the idea came together to achieve this.”

On future projects, the artiste is dedicated to getting deeper into his Igbo culture, exploring its traditional music instruments sounds beyond its present state, digging deeper into his culture in order to extend original and unadulterated into the world, drawing more ships to the high sea of Genti and other music forms. 

The artist will kick-off the Jideofor tour in late October starting with Abuja, Lagos and the rest of the world