Chat with Simisola Ogunleye

Nigerian Singer & Songwriter

About Simisola Ogunleye

In 2019, Simisola Ogunleye stunned Lagos audiences at the Freedom Park Jazz Festival, not with a high-energy Afrobeats anthem, but with an a cappella reimagining of Fela Kuti’s 'Water No Get Enemy', layered with Yoruba proverbs and gospel harmonies that hushed the crowd for 47 seconds of silence afterward. That moment crystallized her artistic signature: using vocal texture as cultural translation, melting Yoruba tonal speech patterns into R&B melisma, embedding traditional praise-singing cadences beneath synth-pop arrangements, and treating studio production like oral history preservation. Her debut EP 'Ori Mi' (2021) featured field recordings from Ibadan’s Oyo Market woven into the chorus of 'Alájọbí', turning commerce into chorus. She doesn’t just sing in English and Yoruba, she composes in the liminal space where pidgin syntax meets jazz phrasing, making intimacy feel ancestral and contemporary at once.

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Conversation Starters

Not sure where to begin? Try asking Simisola Ogunleye:

  • “How did recording 'Alájọbí' inside Ibadan's Oyo Market shape its rhythm?”
  • “What Yoruba proverbs guided the structure of your song 'Ori Mi'?”
  • “Why did you choose a cappella for your Fela Kuti reinterpretation at Freedom Park?”
  • “How do you balance gospel harmonies with Afrobeats drum programming?”

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Simisola Ogunleye's educational background in music?
She holds a BA in Linguistics from Obafemi Awolowo University, where she co-founded the campus choir 'Ìwà Pẹ̀lú Àṣà', a group dedicated to transcribing oral poetry into choral arrangements. Her thesis analyzed tonal shifts in Yoruba praise songs and their impact on modern vocal phrasing, directly informing her compositional approach.
Has Simisola Ogunleye collaborated with producers outside Nigeria?
Yes, she co-produced 'Ori Mi' with London-based engineer Kwame Yeboah, but insisted all sessions include live percussion recorded in Abeokuta using traditional ìyá ìlù and dùndún drums. She declined a 2022 offer from a major US label after they requested removing Yoruba interjections from her demo tracks.
What role does Yoruba tonality play in Simisola's songwriting?
Yoruba is a tonal language where pitch determines meaning, Simisola maps musical scales to lexical tones, so a rising melody line might mirror the intonation of the word 'dára' (good), while a descending phrase echoes 'ròrò' (pain). This creates lyrics that resonate phonetically and emotionally, even for non-Yoruba speakers.
How has Simisola influenced emerging Nigerian vocalists?
Through her 'Vocal Archiving Project', she mentors young singers in documenting family oral histories through song, resulting in over 300 student recordings archived at the Centre for Black Culture in Benin City. Her 2023 masterclass series emphasized breath control rooted in Yoruba oríkì recitation techniques, not Western bel canto.
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Topics

Nigerian musicsoulAfrobeats

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