‘Burna Boy has given us enough reason to believe that he wears his art on his sleeves, and no one can do Burna Boy better than Burna Boy. On the MSG stage, he showed that he has the right attitude — of thoughtfulness to the process and humility to the craft — to go beyond any numerical positioning. He is not the first, and neither will he be the last. He is on his self-designed spaceship, taking him to dreams that carry the open-ended promise of wonders for those who go about their vocation with diligence’
Caption: Burna Boy performs at Madison Square Gardern New York
ON the 28th of May 2022, the Nigerian Afroabeats singer, Burna Boy, had perhaps the most prominent stage moment of his already illustrious career. The Madison Square Garden New York was all his for two hours. The 20,000 capacity arena was sold out for his “One Night in Space” concert. The Madison Square Garden, arguably the most famous arena globally, was mainly packed full of concertgoers of African descent.
For those who could not be in New York for the concert — myself included — the entire event was streamed on the artiste’s official Youtube page. He performed for precisely 2 hours and 18 minutes. Before Burna Boy, whose real name is Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, got to the stage, he had a sit down with Trevor Noah on his Daily Show some days earlier. I noted his pushback when Mr Noah emphasized that Burna Boy is the first Nigerian artiste to sell out the MSG. “Why is that when it’s about me, there is always “first to do this”, like the first to land on the moon”. He was quick to remark that the same does not apply to an American artiste who performs for the first time in Tokyo.
I, too, find such qualifications often ascribed to Blacks and Africans highly problematic. Yet, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised that Burna Boy has picked up on this fine distinction because many who employ such descriptions, like Trevor Noah, are well-meaning while being oblivious to its constricting facet. The way I see it is that the attempt to tag an African as the first to achieve a certain height within a Eurocentric context is an apparatus of curtailment. The notion of the “first African” puts a stopgap to a richer appraisal of the contextual and historical links constituting the genealogy of an event for which a person is designated “the first”. Much of the impulses propelling commendable achievements by Africans are predicated on the fact that Blacks/Africans, as it stands, are undergoing the process of reimagining their history and writing their narrative.
Moreover, the current disposition is an inkling that the future of humanity depends on unleashing, unto the world, this untapped energy coming from such places as Africa. It does not seek to contend nor be measured by parameters set by the logic of Western mainstream. Burna Boy was tacitly saying: I can perform (and probably have) to an audience of 20,000 in Nigeria or some other place in Africa. Why would I want to place the MSG on a pedestal rather than in tandem with other achievements? His dismissive tone further underlined this when he said, “move on”. In other words, let us keep marching forward. It’s about manifesting possibilities, not amassing crowns of achievement.
Watching the MSG concert, it is evident that the central theme continues to build on the kind of confidence and sense of direction from which two of his latest album — African Giant and Twice As Tall — emanates.
The evening kicked off with a heartwarming introduction by Busta Rhymes. Except for Youssou N’dour, who turned on the lights with an A Capella, his high-pitched, melodious voice transcending the immenseness of the arena in what seemed to double as a consecration of the event, there were no other acts featured. It was just Burna Boy. The stage was all his.
By the end of the concert, he had performed about 41 songs from his decade long career. This includes one from his forthcoming album, which, as he announced, will be released on his birthday, the 2nd of July.
I was watching the concert for flaws. I found none! It was 2 hours of a turbo-charged performance. The ingenuity of the concert owes significantly to the impeccable synergy between Burna Boy and his band, The Outsiders. One can tell that they’ve done their homework during rehearsals — cut out redundancies, perfected their timings, smoothened the flow of transitions from one song to the other. The combination of DJs, live band, battery line, and Yoruba bata drums was impeccably synchronized to give Burna Boy the necessary cues and impetus, launching him back and forth the long stretch of the stage.
Most significant was the aura of the event. His audiences are dedicated fans. They were not there to give him the benefit of the doubt. Instead, they came to experience up-close the torque-like energy that has come to characterize many of the artiste’s headlined concerts of recent months. Burna Boy was thoughtful, if not calculative, of how he dispensed his energy on stage. This is also reflected in the arrangement of songs and their accompanying transitions. The emphasis was on his singing. As a result, although not controlled, his bodily movement was measured. He sang at the top of his voice throughout the evening while sustaining the affective process embodied in each moment. His voice was pristine and legible. Not once did it flutter or lose its cadence. Even though the audience sang along, his voice always reclaimed the space whenever it came through the mic. The show was as organic as it was coherent and intentional. It had so much force without feeling forced. Therein lies the ingenuity.
The impression one gets is that Burna Boy came prepared. It is this ardent appreciation of intentionality that draws me to the work of the artiste. I will not be quick to liken Burna Boy to Fela Kuti and the many greats that preceded him, as some people are found to do. If there is any merit in such comparisons, his road is still long. Besides, the conversation about the impostor status of Afrobeats (with an s) in relation to Afrobeat (without an s) continues to be a source of fraught sentiments. That said, Burna Boy has given us enough reason to believe that he wears his art on his sleeves, and no one can do Burna Boy better than Burna Boy. On the MSG stage, he showed that he has the right attitude — of thoughtfulness to the process and humility to the craft — to go beyond any numerical positioning. He is not the first, and neither will he be the last. He is on his self-designed spaceship, taking him to dreams that carry the open-ended promise of wonders for those who go about their vocation with diligence.
https://emekaokereke.medium.com/burna-boys-night-at-the-madison-square-garden-e942847f5cc
