Pen Voyage Liner Notes - Track 2

Happy Monday to you, hope you've had a lovely weekend? I have.

This is my second installment of the ten Music Mondays featuring the Pen Voyage Liner Notes. The second track on the record is "BEAUTIFUL"

On the 19th of September I wrote a blog about this song READ HERE
http://lanrefajumo.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-song-beautiful.html

While I was thinking what more could I possibly add to what I had already written, a last minute opportunity came up for me to sing the song at Naturally Fabulous an event held organised by Natural Lounge at the Cape Bar in Central London.

I have to say it's the first time I've been in the same space with a lot of ladies rocking their natural hair. Three hundred gorgeous ladies rocking their God given hair in different styles and lengths it was amazing to see.

While my Song is not just about hair, the first verse touched on it.

"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...."


I know for a fact that it's the story of a lot of young girls. Someone else's hair looks better and someone else's nose looks better and the list goes on. I wrote this song because that is my story, I have never felt like the most beautiful girl. A few years ago while I was having one of those moments of stressing over how to wear my hair for the new week I thought to myself.

"I don't even know what my natural hair looks like"

For those who are a bit confused as to what 'natural hair' means it simply means hair that has not been chemically altered.
Like many girls growing up in Nigeria, I could not wait to finish secondary school just because my mum insisted that it was only then that she would allow me to have my hair relaxed.

I grew up hearing things like....

"Your hair is too tough to comb through" or
"What will I do with this child's hair?"

One day I had enough and I cut off my hair and decided to stop the relaxer for a while and to learn to take care of my hair and learn to love it.



I am not a Natural hair advocate or spokesperson but I realise that even though some may argue that hair, like our nails and is just dead cells and should be less bothered about it, our relationship with it is a pointer to how we feel about ourselves and self worth.

I remember the first few weeks after I started to grow out my natural hair, a lady said to me.

"I don't think I can wear my hair LIKE THAT... it's bush hair"

My response... "No, it's not bush hair, it's MY hair!"


I have had so many responses about this song "BEAUTIFUL" and I am happy I wrote it. Like I say all the time, when I perform this song, it's a story I will tell my younger self if I could go back in time.

"You're not like every other girl in the videos.... YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL"

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

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

Beautiful.

One day I looked in the mirror and asked myself;

“Who are you?”

And so began my journey of self discovery. I have always been in one choir or another and I have had the most amazing experience(s) of my life. Being a part of a large group of creative people teaches you a lot of things one of them being team work. You see people trying to sound a tad bit louder than the rest of the team; anything to be noticed and heard. You also learn to listen for the next person because the choir sounds best when they sing as one. In the choir I met some amazing individuals who we went on to be the collective known as GK REAL..

Whoa! That taught me something alright! YOU CAN DO ANYTHING WHEN YOU SET YOUR HEART TO IT! I remember our first official gig in Sheringham, I remember our first trip to the US. Oh we had a blast travelling, singing, recording our first album. Working with GK REAL, I re-discovered my love for writing. It has always been my first love but it went on the back burner when living life to pay bills took over. As amazing as the GK REAL experience is, I realised that there was something in me wanting to find expression, something more than organising the group’s dates, singing the harmonies and chasing churches for cheques. (unbelievable, but true! Lol!)

Early this year, it was decided that we take time out to concentrate on working on individual projects for a while and that took me back to the question I asked myself many months ago.

“Who are you?”

A little over twelve months ago I cut off my hair and decided to wear it all natural. What’s that got to do with who you are? I hear you ask. Well, the thing was I couldn’t remember what my natural tight African curls felt or looked like. I wore a perm from the first time my mum FINALLY allowed me to have one and as soon as I had a taste of that ‘crack’ there was no going back for me. I mean I could run my fingers through my hair! But believe it or not, the courage to cut it all off and start over again gave me the courage to learn to play the guitar; Crazy how everything is linked eh? Something happens when you let go and allow those curls grow I tell ya!

I am not your knock relaxers and straighteners, fist in the air Nubian queen, I am just excited about this journey and wanted to share because what I thought was my own story I find is connected to someone else’s story.

I have had a few guitar lessons and started writing songs again and my first song is called beautiful; a story of a little girl that’s always wanted to be like everyone else till she discovered who she was; BEAUTIFUL.

Last Saturday I plucked up the courage to play my song in front of a little crowd of people, strumming one string after another. That was fun, I tell ya! I think I will do this more often.

I am excited about this journey and I can’t wait to see what else I discover about ME.

SO, who are YOU? Beautiful.