Happy New Year you sexy, soulful people! Here’s our first round-up of the year featuring Dreamgirls cast member Durone Stokes, the legendary Chaka Khan, funk group The Motet, and ‘electric soul’ group Ese & the Vooduu People.
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Durone Stokes – ‘Family’
For the past two years, Durone Stokes has performed in the West End cast of the soulful musical Dreamgirls – which completed its run last week. Performing the role of C.C. White, Stokes has taken to the studio to record one of his main songs from the show – ‘Family’. While the song is delivered as a message of reassurance to C.C.’s aggrieved sister in Dreamgirls, Stokes has re-imagined ‘Family’ with its wider political relevance in mind. Speaking directly to The House That Soul Built, Stokes notes the importance of the song’s message given the ‘fear, hate, confusion and uncertainty in our society‘ engendered by the likes of Donald Trump and Brexit. Inspired by the music of gospel artist Detrick Haddon, Stokes interprets ‘Family’ with modern instrumentation while still respecting the 60’s/70’s soul influences which inform the Dreamgirls score. Stokes explains: ‘I worked with Byron Hosking, producer/mixer, to build the track from scratch, looking at tweaking the structure of the song so that it could work well outside of the context of the show.‘ Stokes successfully fashions the song into a piece of contemporary gospel, with warm and sincere vocal delivery.
Chaka Khan – ‘Hello Happiness’
‘Goodbye sadness / Hello happiness‘ seems a welcome mantra to navigate the transition into the new year. Legacy artist Chaka Khan’s most recent release ‘Hello Happiness’, from an upcoming album of the same name, has an infectious dance groove. It will surely be subject to a plethora of dancefloor remixes, and understandably so. It has 80’s flavour with modern production. Chaka’s piercing vocals cut through.
The Motet – ‘Highly Compatible’
Bravo to The Motet for managing to slip the word ‘compatible’ into a catchy funk hook. The Colorado-based funk act will be releasing their ninth studio album Death or Devotion later this January. Their latest single ‘Highly Compatible’ is a fun, inescapably groovy, and romantic slice of disco-funk.
Ese & the Vooduu People – ‘Keep On’
The House That Soul Built previously profiled ‘electric soul’ group Ese & the Vooduu People, having attended two of their high-octane live sets. The group is fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Ese Okorodudu, who is joined by drummer Pharoah Russell and bassist Basile Petite. Their newest single ‘Keep On’ is a response to their previous song ‘Gray‘. Whereas ‘Gray’ is about the anxiety of getting older and the fear of failure, ‘Keep On’ is an optimistic response encouraging perseverance. Speaking to The House That Soul Built, Ese describes how the song began as a guitar riff intended to be tacked on to the end of ‘Gray’, yet developed into a song of its own. A diamond in the rough vocalist, there is a ruminating, introspective quality to Ese’s singing.
(Image copyright: Durone Stokes; Diary Records/Island Records; The Motet; Ese & the Vooduu People)
