Pen Voyage Liner Notes - Track 1

It's been a couple of days since the official release of my latest solo record, Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change. On the night of the album release, I performed for the very first time with a live band and I have to say I won't be forgetting the experience for a while.

Yesterday I spoke to a lovely lady who came to the show and also bought my CD, It was interesting to hear how the songs and stories have touched her. What stood out for me from all that she said though was the fact that listening to the CD brought back memories of the back stories I shared at the show.

I see myself as a storyteller and music has become one of the mediums of storytelling for me. With that in mind, I try to tell a back story before I start to perform any song. Everyone has a story to tell.

I heard a musician explain the roles of artists this way....

If you imagine that we are all members of the same village and in that village there are healers, entertainers, teachers, storytellers.... everyone contributing his or her part to help build and develop that village.

I think I see my place in the "village" as a storyteller and I seek to inspire.

So for the next ten Mondays, I will be writing what I call Pen Voyage Liner Notes explaining the reason behind all the ten songs on the album - Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change.

I hope these stories connect with people and that the songs come alive for that reason.



The first song on the record is Prayer (Oun gbogbo)

Prayer is huge part of my life and upbringing. I know there are different types and ways to pray. I however see prayer as an intimate conversation between me and God. I absolutely believe that praying requires us to be sincere and vulnerable and what I did was take a very popular song I heard my grandfather sing several times and make it mine

"Oun Gbogbo ti mo ni
Tire ni n se baba..."

"All i have (I am) is yours father"

I think it's a song that explains where my heart is. I wake up thinking how blessed I am to be able to do what I love. I decided to sing it in Yoruba (one of the 250 languages spoken in Nigeria, West Africa) in recognition of my grandfathers and my father. Three very strong men that I've been blessed to meet and proud to be a part of. I also think singing it in Yoruba helped to re-iterate the intimacy I think is a huge part of prayer.....

I imagine it's just myself and God at that moment in time and I have his audience and He has mine.... I think that's special!



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 Chapter 1; Singing for Change - Track Listing

01 Prayer (Oun gbogbo)

02 Beautiful

03 Má Gbàgbé

04 Inspiration

05 Taste of Freedom

06 Wishful thinking

07 Running Feat. Karl Nova

08 Love Way

09 Sophia

10 Goodnight (Ipàdé)


PEN VOYAGE CHAPTER 1; SINGING FOR CHANGE is out 30TH SEPT 2011

Listen to Beautiful below
Beautiful by Lánre

Listen to Inspiration below
Inspiration (Radio Edit) by Lánre

Visit www.lanreworld.com for more info

New SONG | BEAUTIFUL....

Once upon a time there was a little girl, she always wanted to be like everyone else, she had the brownest eyes hair so soft as wool, no one ever told her she was beautiful..

Those are the first few lines of my song BEAUTIFUL and those where the first words that came to me before the song eventually developed into two verses chorus and a bridge.

People have told me that my songs come across like lullabies.

I tend to deal with serious issues using the simplest words possible and I think when people listen to my new project, they will get that sense in most of the songs.

With BEAUTIFUL, I now see it as a lullaby I would sing to my younger self.

We live in a world and a society where beauty or what is seen as beautiful fits into certain molds and anything outside that is considered NOT BEAUTIFUL.

So this is a story of a girl who grew up wanting to be like everyone else. Wanting someone else's hair, eyes, skin.... simply because though she was never called ugly she was never called BEAUTIFUL.

So she goes on living life looking for love in all the wrong places, looking for affirmation with other people... silently SCREAMING LOOK AT ME!! ME!!

Then one day she looks in the mirror...



Isn't it amazing how you hear or see something you've always read or looked at and something jumps out at you it all becomes crystal clear, it's like you are seeing it for the very first time.

yeah! she looked in the mirror and she said "hold on a minute, I AM BEAUTIFUL I Love my hair, I love my nose, I LOVE MY SKIN"

I have tried to put the idea of being comfortable in my skin in this one song "BEAUTIFUL" and when I feel down and feel less than beautiful, I will go back and listen to remind myself that I AM BEAUTIFUL and SO ARE YOU

Enjoy BEAUTIFUL click below
Beautiful by Lánre

PEN VOYAGE CHAPTER 1; SINGING FOR CHANGE is out 30th SEPT 2011 http://www.lanreworld.com

THE SEA - Corinne Bailey Rae

Track Listing

Are you here
I’d do it all again
Feels like the first time
The blackest lily
Closer
Love’s on its way
I would like to call it beauty
Paris nights/New York mornings
Paper dolls
Diving for hearts
The Sea


After a hiatus of nearly two years, Corinne Bailey Rae’s new album THE SEA is finally here. I placed my order on the 1st of Feb and like many, couldn’t wait for it to be delivered; I wanted the physical CD in my hands you see so I wasn’t buying it in digital format!

This project is a lot different from her self titled debut album, the songs understandably are a bit darker, her voice, evidently more mature. One song that got my attention was Love's on it's way it goes something like;

I want to be able to say I did more, more than pray/ I did more than spend my money/ Just writing letters/ Than just going out marching/ I did more than talking and saying the right thing/ Wearing the right thing/ It’s time for uprising!

Corinne who has always noted that she sees herself as an artist rather than a performer dedicated this album to the memory of her late husband Jason Bruce Rae

I would love to experience CBR live, I love the way she writes and crafts her art, so I have included that on my wish list and glad to include this project in my album collection.

So should you.