Make Great Cover Song – 3 Rules is an article you must read as an upcoming,you should read this to the end. Before i proceed, How to Make Cover Songs REALLY Stand Out is an article you must check out!

After my love for Justin Bieber hit single “Love Your self”, as in i really do love the song and even attempted a cover. After i met Toluwase Moses, the current CEO of Hitlodge during our camping in Mangu, Plateau State. He discovered the love i have for the song and he then introduced some cover of the song to me. And after i listened to them all, i fell in love with covers.


Making a good cover takes more than virtuosic skill or a sense of irony. If you’re covering a song you should have a reason to be playing someone else’s song in your own style and that should come out clearly in your version of the song. Many of the covers on Cover Zen break or bend one or more of these rules but it’s a given that there are always exceptions to rules; generally speaking, these points define what I personally look for in a cover

The 3 Points On Make Great Cover Song – 3 Rules

1 – Be Original:

the Cover Artist should bring something fresh to the original song, whether it be supplanting the song into another genre or casting it in a different light through context, tempo, musical colour, etc.

Why? Why should we listen if you’re going to just remake the old song note for note? It either won’t be as good and will only serve to highlight the inadequacies in your performance via the comparison or it’ll be a carbon copy and we might as well listen to the original.

2 – Have a Point:

the Cover Artist should have a reason to cover the song – and we need to see it, whether it’s simply a love for the original or a humorous take on it; the remake should make the artist’s intention clear and convince us that they really did have to make a whole new version of an old song.

Why?

If you want to raise above the morass of people “practicing” or simply paying fan homage we need to see clearly your unique take on the song. If your cover wasn’t particularly funny or it wasn’t an unusual take that throws the original in a whole different light then why subject us to it?

How?

Well, your point may be to show how you can take something seemingly frivolous or light-hearted and make it sound meaningful and heartfelt by virtue of your soulful performance – or, you may want to show that you can give something soft a hard edge. In either of these cases, the How is in the way you arrange and perform the song.

Sometimes, if you start with your reason for liking the original song you may find a new avenue to explore the fresh perspective you want to present by a study of the lyrics and an understanding of shades of meaning that could be brought to them by presenting them in an entirely new style of music; in other cases, just liking a song and performing it in the style you are most skilled at is enough to turn our heads.

3 – Respect the Original:

“Respect” doesn’t mean that the Cover Artist can’t make fun of a song – some of my favourite covers do so, and the artists have stated their great respect for the original.

Respect in this context means that a good Cover Artist knows what worked musically in the original – whether it was the interplay of the melody over the chords or simply the swagger of the lyrics – and portrays their understanding of this fact by building off it or referencing it in some way e.g. highlighting the vocal melody by reducing the background to a sparse arrangement (particularly good if you want to highlight the qualities of your voice) or stripping all the extraneous elements from a busy pop song to showcase the simple, powerful songwriting at its core.

Usually, a Cover Artist is covering a song that’s well known and was once popular to some extent so a healthy degree of respect for the fact that the songwriter must have hit on something appealing – and that the Cover Artist has some idea of what that might be – is a crucial basis to build on.

Simply put: if you remove the elements that made the original song successful and/or were the highlight of the song you may be setting your listeners up for disappointment and calling your musical perception into question – and they will let you know.

Why?

Well, if, for example, you’re only using the lyrics from the original song – unless you’re being clever about it – then you might as well poach random poetry off the net and call it a cover. And if you’re, say, a folk musician covering a hip hop song it helps if we can see that you have a clue about the music you’re lampooning and you’re not just trying to generate a laugh with the least amount of effort. Either you’re identifying beauty in the core melody and exposing that by supplanting the song to an unexpected format or you’re lampooning the extreme nature of the lyrics by applying an incongruous style.

In summary, there’s nothing wrong with doing a cover “just because” but these are tips for making great cover songs. The ones that stand out are covers that rise above a simple rehash of the original and stamp the performer’s personal signature on the song in some way.

I think covers are a beautiful artform – the good ones allow us to hear great performances by drawing us in with something familiar presented in a fresh new way; without the lure of a familiar song, great performers can go unseen so if you believe you are a great performer and people should hear you, use the power of a known song to show us how good you are. And we at hitlodge will help you publish it where over 2K people will view and listen withing 2 weeks.

Brought to you by: http://www.hitlodge.com/articles/make-great-cover-song-3-rules/

Seasons Greetings to all lovers of good music like “me, my body and my soul”…


Its Christmas, another interesting time of the year especially for Christians, who celebrates the birth of their lord and savior. We at Yoruba Empire don't want to miss out of the fun, so we decided to serve you with Yoruba Christmas musics to make your Yuletide celebration a complete one.

Top on the list is :
1. Odun Keresemesi by The Chief Commander ( Ebenezer Obey)
Ebenezer Obey (born 3 April 1942 as Ebenezer Remilekun Aremu Olasupo Obey-Fabiyi in Idogo, Nigeria), nicknamed the "Chief Commander", is a Nigerian jùjú musician. The song released in 2006 remains evergreen, full of messages and of course will get you nodding your head to the tune of Good music!
Download: <a href="http://www.yorubaempire.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Ebenezer-Obey-Odun-Keresimesi.mp3">Odun Keresimesi || Yorubaempire.com</a>

2. Florocka - Elu Agogo (Yoruba for Jingle Bells)
Florocka Elu Agogo : Music Florocka delivers yet again on a classic but native christmas song this year! Retracing his steps back to his roots on this track, Florocka goes hard with his ethnicity right here! Listen for yourself!!!
The New Single “Elu Agogo” (Yoruba for Jingle Bells) is a beautiful folk remake of the familiar Christmas Anthem, delivered in the classic ROCKA edgy style. “I cant tell you how much fun it was recording a Christmas record,” floROCKA said in a recent interview. “I'm excited for people to hear it.” “Christmas is my favorite time of year,” floROCKA added.
Download:<a href="http://www.yorubaempire.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Elu-Agogo.mp3">Elu Agogo || Yorubaempire.com</a>



3.Odun Nlo Sopin
Led by Mrs. D. A. Fasoyin, C.A.C Good Women group released the best Christmas/New Year eve song entitled ‘Odun Nlo Sopin’ in Nigeria many years ago, prolly before I was born though; but all that matters is I heard the song and I still know it. This song is so power and prayer-filled you will immediately set it on repeat.
Download:<a href="http://www.yorubaempire.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Odun-Nlo-Sopin.mp3">Odun Nlo sopin || Yorubaempire.com</a>

4.Chee x Chidinma – Hark (Gho Ohun Awon Angeli) There is basically nothing to say about this song, grab your headsets and enjoy good music.
Download :<a href="http://www.yorubaempire.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Gho-Ohun-Awon-Angeli.mp3">Hark || Yorubaempire.com</a>


Grab your Dancing shoes and make this Christmas a dance-filled one!





Source: Yorubaempire.com

ogaprime:
If to say na now teslim dey play for england ni, petr cech would have doubled his famous head gear...

lmao

http://www.yorubaempire.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/balogun.jpg

Teslim Akanni Balogun was born in Lagos, Yorubaland in the year 1927.
He was nicknamed “Thunder” and “Balinga” for his powerful shots. He attended St. Patricks School, Oko-Awo in Lagos and St. Mary’s School, Port Harcourt and later Cosmopolitan Evening School. All along, he played for the schools’ football teams. By 19, he was the star of Apapa Bombers FC and scored the lone goal when they defeated one of the most formidable teams in Nigeria at the time, Railways XI. He moved on to play for Marine Athletic Club in 1946, UAC XI in 1947 and Railways in 1948. He also played for Union Line in the same year.

By 22, he had represented Nigeria many times and was selected as one of the players to represent the country during the UK Tour where Nigeria played many friendly matches against top clubs in the UK. They did not play with boots but bare feet, sometimes with only bandages around their feet. He joined Jos XI on his return and helped the team reach the final of the Challenge Cup for the first time in 1951 losing to Lagos Railways. After playing for eight first division clubs in 11 years, he left for the UK in 1955 to study printing technology but he was signed by Peterborough United.



In those days, football had more entertainment value than financial importance. If he had played today, he would have been a very rich man. Between 1955 and 1961 when he returned home, he played for a number of clubs, including Queens Park Rangers. He also did a coaching course to become the first UK-trained African coach. He played for Nigeria for 17 years and was the first Nigerian coach to lead Nigeria football team to the Olympics in 1968, drawing 3-3 with Brazil.

He was called ‘Ara-awo Ara-awa’ in Yorubaland because he had a ferocious left foot that his shots would always score as goalkeepers were too scared to attempt to stop them. It was alleged that one of his shots almost pierced through a goalie’s stomach who died as a result.
Teslim Balogun is arguably (as attested to by sport experts) the foremost of the greatest Nigerian footballers.



He sadly died in his sleep on July 30, 1972 at a relatively young age of 45.His wife Mulikat Balogun who happens to be a tennis player,suffered a lot from Emotional truama. She developed high blood pressure after losing her husband.She died 30 years after after slipping into coma for 18 days after her 60th birthday in 1998. They are both survived by seven Children; They are Tunde, Tokunbo, Olamide, Jibola, Iyabo, Bioye and Oluwole.



The Teslim Balogun Stadium at Masha Surulere Lagos, Yorubaland has since been named after him amongst numerous other Achievements









Culled from: http://www.yorubaempire.com/unmasking-manteslim-akanni-thunderbalogun/

The ancient city of Ogbomoso is set to go agog as all is almost set for the maiden edition of the annual OgbomosoAjilete Fiesta and the ArewaOgbomosoAjilete Beauty Pageant 2016 slated for December 2016 from the stables of Ogbomoso Lifters “an emerging youth-run representative platform of Ogbomoso youths, with the endorsement of the EgbeOmoOgbomosoParapoAgbaye. Is a well packaged cultural event specially designed to promote and patronize the extraordinary socio-economic and cultural heritage of the Ogbomoso people and exponent it tourism potentials.

Ogbomoso is a blessed Yoruba Cosmopolitan city, with prime location in the heart of South Western Nigeria linking the Western and Northern part of Nigeria. The ancient city consists of five local governments, six ancient kingdoms and about 120 different quarters which have all coalesced to form the present day larger Ogbomoso with a population of about three (3) million inhabitants, and boasts of the largest Yoruba populationin most Northern states of Nigeriaand someWest African countries and has different cultures and tradition which can be tapped into, to develop its culture sector exploring the principles of unity in diversity as there is nothing compared to people living in peace, unity, harmony, and love as this would create a conducive environment for potential investors. No doubt that culture, tradition and tourism is a catchy avenue that can be explored to foster peace, unity, love and harmony.

The three days event which will feature a traditional beauty contest on the 23rd of December, where the most beautiful girls from ogbomoso will be adorned in different traditional attires, and a beauty queen crowned among them. The second event which will come up on the 27th of December shall witness a cultural street carnival, procession and tour of the five local governments in Ogbomoso land, where different groups are expected to come out in divers cultural attires, the last day 28th of December shall witness the premier gathering of distinguished individuals from all works of life hosted by illustrious sons and daughters of Ogbomoso land, associations, groups and clubs for the grand finale at the main bowl of the Soun township stadium, it will feature NativeGames, Cultural/Traditional displays, Local Delicacies, Entertainment, short inspirational lecture, (Unity as a Panacea for the Sustainable Development of Ogbomoso Land) raffles, and more. The three days event is anticipated to witnessed and attended by over Twenty Thousand (20,000) youths and adults from within and outside Ogbomoso land.

The event as aimed at exploring new ways to reawaken our spirits, exploring new worlds, discovering unknown territories and new ways of thinking or expressing ourselves.

Our mission is to connect the world with our cities unique customary heritage; we hope to discover the many recreational, cultural and historical aspects of our community and especially enjoy the beauty embedded in cultural diversity and explore the principles of unity in diversity.

We also hope to create a platform that fosters powerful partnership and create avenues for networking. As well as create a favourable atmosphere for renewing the zeal for unity, peace and love in Ogbomoso Land amongst the young and old, youth and children and the entire Ogbomoso community.

We hope to tell the story of the people who built our communities their hopes, and dreams, failures and successes and the forces that shaped them, quenching and demystifying the myths about Ogbomoso, selling Ogbomoso to the outside world as a haven for potential investors and tourists. And of course, we want to foster an appreciation for the preservation and celebration of our collective community memory; we also hope to contribute our quota to the social cultural development of Ogbomoso land and help foster broad unity in the Land.

We are poised to celebrating exemplary individuals and corporate organizations who have contributed immensely to the social cultural, political, and economic development of Ogbomoso land in their private or official capacities.



http://www.yorubaempire.com/face-of-ogbomosho/