If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of years, you’d recall that I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering Senegalese-born and-based singer/songwriter, musician and JOVM mainstay Mariaa Siga.
Siga recently collaborated with ODDY and Rascat on an effort that features five distinct versions of the Siga and ODDY co-written tune “Immigration.” Each version showcases distinct mixes and arrangements, including a dub interpretation by Oddy and Rascal, an intimate acoustic version and a Nyahbinghi/rasta drum version.
The Senegalese JOVM mainstay shares a dub version of “Immigration.” Anchored around a mournful horn line, a shuffling riddim and a rubbery, throbbing bass line, the song’s arrangement serves as a lush and soulful bed for Siga’s gorgeous and expressive vocal. The song is written from the perspective of the immigrant and the migrant — in particular, young Africans — who have been forced to leave their homelands for safety, for a better life or to live out big dreams and so on. But it’s written from a place of much-needed empathy with the understanding that close to one-billion humans across the world are picking up what’s left of their lives and are on the move right now.
The question will be how will those in the global north respond? So far, it’s been with selfishness, cruelty and recrimination. Shame on us.
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