Pen Voyage Liner Notes - Track 9

Track 9 on the album Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change is "SOPHIA"

I love to read a well written story and getting lost in all the characters and their stories is one of the things I really love.

I was at a very low place in my life; as I had just lost my dad. I was looking for answers beyond the usual sayings of 'God has a purpose' and 'everything happens for a reason.'

I heard about the novel by Canadian author William P Young The Shack this is one of those books that grip you from the first page. It helped me come to terms with life, death and everything in between and after I finished reading the book one the characters in the novel; Sophia kept coming up and I wrote a song about her.

Sophia is a song about choices, decisions and wisdom.

Everyday we are faced with decision making some of them not so major and some can mean the difference between life and death; literally. The thread that runs through the verses in the song is mainly issues that relate to women mainly (and of course men)

Who do I marry? When will I marry? When will he ask me to marry him?

For most women when it comes to the issue of marriage we have been raised in a culture where we wait to be asked and for some that waiting takes longer than most.

For some, the waiting takes 'so long' that pressure to settle for anything and anyone starts to come from all directions. While I am not a marriage counselor and the issue of women, marriage and choice can hardly be dealt with in a couple of verses, choruses and a bridge, I tried to center all my thoughts on this character called Sophia

She is the wisdom that helps you make those decisions when the voices around you are trying to drown out your God given intuition.

The bridge goes...

"When I open my eyes at the break of dawn,
will you still be here or will you be gone?"

This is what I know for sure; the still small voice never leaves you.

Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change is out on iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/pen-voyage-chapter-1-singing/id466810768

You can buy the physical CD here

Listen to tracks from the album here
Latest tracks by Lánre

What they said about...Pen Voyage Chapter 1

My Album Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change was officially released on the 30th September 2011. There has been a few features, interviews and reviews and would like to thanks all those who have supported this record THANK YOU....

Below is a link to some them - (Most are in French but a good browser will have an 'interpret' option)


PUBLIKART

MOIMATEO

SOULRNB

FUTUR RADIOS

OLAMILENTERTAINMENT

RANDOM WONDERS

TEN Dance Musicales

Cool Sound Viti

Miss Blog

HEBDO BLOG

OKA BOL

Bruno&Co


I'm so happy that people are connecting with the album and grateful that features and interviews are being done to help me connect with more people. THANK YOU THANK YOU and THANK YOU



Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change is out on iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/pen-voyage-chapter-1-singing/id466810768

You can buy the physical CD here

Listen to tracks from the album here
Latest tracks by Lánre

Pen Voyage Liner Notes - Track 8

This is the only song on the album that the music came to me first before the words. Once I had the initial guitar progression down, the words just wrote themselves I believe.

I wrote a blog about LOVE WAY a few months back but then I wasn't sure if i was going to call it Love Way or Love Lane. I decided to call it Love Way in the end because the subject matter I believe is about Faith being a way of Life not Religion.

There are various elements that constitutes a great song sarcasm is one of them and I think there was a bit of that in this song. It is my tongue in the cheek song. The first time I played the rough sketch for FEMI TEMOWO he said it felt like a lullaby that dealt with a serious issue. I think he is right.

I think one of the things I have learnt in the last few years is to differentiate between religion and faith... I am still learning. This song is also a question that I believe I haven't got the answer for. I know in part but I wish I knew more, I wish I had all the answers. One thing I do know is God is much more than the box any human being can create. When you think you have Him figured out then he shows up in a whole new way and form. I have seen God in the most unusual places.... up in the club, out in the streets.

He must be more than
Praying before every meal
He must be more than
Meetings everyday of the week
He must be more than
Praying out loud with fancy words
God must be more than
Living by faith without works


I will like to write songs that deals with the questions in people's heart. Singing what we're all thinking.

I remember the first time I had to sing this song in a church, I did feel quite uncomfortable at first but I went for it knowing that a lot of people feel the same way I do.

One of the the quotes I really love is this...

"music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn..." Charlie Parker





Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change is out on iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/pen-voyage-chapter-1-singing/id466810768

You can buy the physical CD here

Listen to tracks from the album here
Latest tracks by Lánre

Pen Voyage Liner Notes - Track 7

Imagine a race with no clear direction and no end in sight...I Can't!



Those were exactly my thoughts when I went to see Rankin's photography exhibition "FROM CONGO WITH LOVE" at the National Theater at London's Southbank.

My natural reaction to any thing that resonates with me is to write... either a song or a poem. I however felt like I couldn't write about this because my current life or past experiences is so far removed from the stories of the people I was reading about.

I have seen human resilience in the face of adversity but the people i was looking at in the pictures take this statement to a whole new level. It is great to tell someone else's story but even greater when you provide an avenue for people to tell their own stories.



This was what Rankin did when he visited The Democratic Republic of Congo. He gave disposable cameras to the people to present their lives and tell their own stories in pictures.

More than anyone else, the Children's pictures struck me. With this song "Running" I tried to tell what a child's experience of war might be like. I also wanted another person's take on this story and so asked KARL NOVA to write on the song and he graciously agreed.

The crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo is often known as the ‘forgotten conflict,’ yet it is a war that has killed over 5 million people. I find that it is so easy to live in a bubble and when we are trying to make a living thinking about other people's struggle can be a challenge in itself. This song reminds me to look outside myself and in anyway I can help make someone else's life just a little bit better.

War makes absolutely no sense to me and if I had the power to make a change it would be to end all forms of war! My current power an influence is in song writing and that's what I tried to do with the song "RUNNING"

Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change is out on iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/pen-voyage-chapter-1-singing/id466810768

You can buy the physical CD here

Listen to tracks from the album here
Latest tracks by Lánre

Pen Voyage Liner Notes - Track 6

The best definition of forgiveness I heard last week is "to give up the hope that the past will be different.

I wrote "wishful thinking" as a poem a couple of years ago and put it up for friends to read. I was quite surprised by the response. Speaker and Youth advocate David McQueen, suggested that I write some music for it so I did, I also included it on my album Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change

Everyone can answer yes to the question "any regrets?" at one point or the other in their lives. I think it is one of the things that highlights our humanity.

We make stupid decisions, we sometimes don't take advantage of opportunities presented to us when we should have, we have people in our lives we wish we had treated better and the list of regrets can go on and on. my question to you and myself would be....

what purpose is replaying the tape of "what could have been" serving in your life? if the purpose is not enhancing your life then you have to let it go and perhaps replace "I WISH" with "I WILL"



I used the song "wishful thinking" to try and deal with two issues decision making and relationships. I wrote the chorus in Yoruba (one of the 250 languages spoken in Nigeria, West Africa)

Mo wa n ke Abamo o means "Now, I'm crying regret" in Yoruba, ABAMO translates directly as "I should have known" or "If I had known"

Read the lyrics below;

You were gone most of the time
No one ever told me why
Moved from one home to the next
Always wishing for a stable nest
You did say you were sorry
It did little to change the story
I thought it was my fault
Now, I realise you were fighting your fears
I wish I gave us a chance
But, it’s too late for that
‘Cause now you’re really gone
To the land of no return

Mo wa n ke e abamo o

I was young and carefree
Enjoying all that life brought me
Caution went to the wind
As I, tasted the fruit forbidden
Faced with the reality of,
Another life’s responsibility
I chose the easy way
Burying my guilt away
Till I saw the love between
A mother and her child
I am left missing
The one I never had

Mo wa n ke e abamo o

Now I am sitting here
Wishing that you were here
I shed a tear
For what was never there



American author and poet Maya Angelou has a popular saying that I think is very freeing. "When you know better, you do better"


Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change is out on iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/pen-voyage-chapter-1-singing/id466810768

You can buy the physical CD here

Listen to tracks from the album here
Latest tracks by Lánre

50,000 words in 30 days!!!

Here is to 30 amazing days of writing!