Multiple award-winning African pop diva Yemi Alade premieres her most anticipated music video for the single SHEKERE, featuring multiple Grammy award-winning music icon Angélique Kidjo.
The stunning collaboration is a result of the relationship that the two share, transcending music which led to Angelique Kidjo’s call for Yemi Alade to revamp her classic hit titled “Wombo Lombo”.
SHEKERE on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The SHEKERE music video, directed by Ovie with assistant director Taiye Aliyu, was shot in New York and largely in Kenya at the vast and grand The Maasai Mara National Reserve, with the final scene at Sand River, bordering Tanzania.
The cinematic visual opens up in dramatic sequence from Maasai Mara, with its backdrop being the authentic and unapologetic beauty of the African continent specifically Kenya - a second home to Yemi Alade. In the video, Yemi is flanked by dancers, all adorned in traditional jewellery from the Maasai community; this theme has dominated Yemi Alade's style and artistry and promoted her status as a champion for Africa, among artists of her generation.
SHEKERE tells the story of Yemi joining the local celebrations or party through the sounds of the popular Yoruba percussion instrument, which usually makes an appearance when there is a cause for celebration, singing or dancing.
Yemi emotively sings before progressing into a stellar duet with the iconic Angélique Kidjo who also sings in her native Benin dialect over the groovy DJ Coublon orchestrated instrumentation—"I dey hear the sound of a tambourine o, Talking drums and shekere combination, I see people under the tambourine o, Dancing like sey there's a celebration".
“Shekere’’ off the album WOMAN OF STEEL heavily samples elements from the original Kidjo track but blends with the current mainstream Afro-pop/Afrobeats sounds. SHEKERE is a rich and colourful affair, reminiscent of a Disney live-action remake and once again cements Yemi Alade's throne as a royal of music videos.
The classic visual joins her elite videography part of which made her the first and only female Afro-pop artiste to have over 100 million views on a single video and over 1 million subscribers on her YouTube channel leading to a total cumulative visual stream of over 400 million views.
The song is sixth single off Yemi Alade’s critically acclaimed fourth studio album WOMAN OF STEEL, following hit singles “Home”, “Give Dem”, “Vibe”, “Shake” and Oh My Gosh”. The album features a host of international stars like Rick Ross, Angélique Kidjo, Lemar , Dadju , Duncan Mighty and Nollywood superstar Funke Akindele.
