A bit earlier I asked who Lulu’s producer is, and who was his producer on his earlier projects.
If the responses I got were accurate, they confirmed my suspicions, he is the producer for his own music.
The first time I heard Lulu was over the radio. Quite impressive. The vibrato in his voice was a bit too much running throughout the song but it was a catchy R&B beat. It must have been the song Mbambande.
I then watched him playing at Capital Hotel around 2011 or 2012. He was a. Bit tipsy but he was a stage genius. The kind of musician you would like to keep playing. His guitar work was at a world class level. Recently when I saw him on Mibawa he was even crazier on the acoustic guitar. Songs like N’dzalera and Palibe bvuto really rocked.
When I learnt today that Lulu has released a new piece, I immediately searched for it while I worked and I listened to it…again and again. Something kept nagging me that whoever is producing him isn’t completely doing his songs justice when it dawned on me that he is likely producing his own music.
The give away was the keyboard playing and the drum programming. I know that Lulu plays keyboards a bit but I guess he is not such a great keyboard player. The lead synth keyboard lines while a bit catchy but did not come out seamlessly as a professional keyboard player would.
On the drum programming, any person can come up with rhythm and come up with a basic beat. But it takes one with a real ear with drums to pick out the drum kits that make sense.
I have no doubt Lulu may have been a choir boy. The harmonies in his songs betray him. However the choir harmonies do not really work with some of the urban music that he tries to perform.
The honest and brutal truth that Lulu has to accept is that he can’t really go far being his own producer. There’s something missing in his music that a second and trained ear will help improve his music.
If the song Ndileke were given to a professional bassist, the probably he could have done better.
I’ve tried listening to this latest song on several gadgets and the presence of the voice can be improved. The effects on the voice could also be worked on to match the song as the voice is coming out a bit dry in spaces that need effects.
I may sound a bit harsh but Lulu has the potential to be one of the biggest musicians to come out of Malawi. He needs to realize that cheap productions are not going to take him where he needs to be. He’s a very talented young man and if he risks investing in his music, I bet he will harvest serious yields.
If any music company or manager invested in him, I’m sure they would be on to a big thing.
Oh! The last thing, he does write some nice tunes, but he may need some song writers to work with.
*Views expressed here are those of the author. This post was first reposted by UMP.
