Falz puts on a soft show at Trace Live

That was Falz speaking this past Friday at Terrakulture in Lagos. He looked the part of an unassuming artist, making jokes and loosely interacting with the audience. Even his attempts at declaring how much money he now has had the air of self-deprecation. 

A lot of the initial parts of his Trace Live session consisted of an oral history of the man formally known as Folarin Falana: Nine years ago he dropped his first project, Shakara the mixtape; his first million naira for a show was gotten when he performed at a Hausa wedding; he once broke his femur in a road accident. Some of these stories were narrated between some of his old songs.

These songs were mostly good but it seemed obvious why they didn't provide him with the breakthrough he was after. Some had wonky melodies, some had his vocal phrasing just off, some sounded way more western than Nigerian. 

"As we are going on,” he said in his peculiar English, “you will now be becoming more familiar with the music.”

He was right, as he soon performed 'High Class', the night’s first mildly popular song. Soon it was time for 'Marry Me', his true breakthrough hit, at least in some quarters. ‘Marry Me’ is also probably his earliest balanced song, in how it features Yemi Alade supplying the local flavor, which would become necessary for his acceptance, and rapper Poe producing the western hip-hop ingredient.

In contrast to Flavour's masterclass from the second Trace Live session, Falz projected less of an intimacy with live instruments. Beneath his live vocals, you could hear the studio versions of the same songs. And if Adekunle Gold's session from May was low-energy, Falz's revolved around a dedicated informality. His producer Sess would jump from his front seat to acknowledge a greeting from the stage or to mouth something inaudible in excitement.

But such is perhaps the relationship that develops between two young men who found each other at a desperate juncture. As Falz, who studied law in the UK, informed his audience, he was ready to change course after his first album Wazup Guy flopped. "If it doesn't work for me after this album, I'm going back to the chambers," he told the producer he just met.

It worked fortunately. The first album produced by the partnership, Stories that Touch, was critically acclaimed as well as popular, spinning several singles that found widespread airplay. One of those singles, 'Karishika', got the night's first big cheer. The cheering and dancing continued with more songs from the album: 'Celebrity Girlfriend', 'Soldier, 'Soft Work'. 

Besides the music, there was talk. Maybe too much of it, as fans asked questions via Twitter, an overlong caesura first deployed during Adekunle Gold's session. Asked how he overcame challenges in the industry, he said his success came because he consistently released material. His principle and hope was that "one day they will hear it".

Falz became sober as he performed his divisive hit 'This Is Nigeria', saying, "On a very serious note, we need to be woke.”

At some point, Falz was asked if this year would see a sequel to his Eko hotel concert from last year and Falz, in response, said that that event would come up on 30 December.

He had company for the song 'Boogie', from his last album 27, the video for which had only been released hours before. His companion, Sir Dauda, was announced as first artist to get signed by Falz to his Bahd Guy record label. After receiving a chain with the bad guy logo as pendant, Sir Dauda delivered ‘Boogie’'s chorus and his very good verse from the same song. 

When the first few moments of 'Jeje' played on the speakers, cheers went round and head of Trace TV Anglophone West Africa Sam Onyemelukwe turned to make an urging gesture to the audience, but only a few persons needed encouragement. It was a party already.

Onstage, Falz did a stylish shakushaku dance with a white towel, talk-sang some more, and then closed the concert with a spirited rendition of 'La Fête'.