Handshake by Issoufou Amadou “Successfully and beautifully fuses an organic and even oriental sounding soundscape”
The opening musicality of the track successfully and beautifully fuses an organic and even oriental sounding soundscape with something much more electronic and hip-hop inspired. The harp sound and indeed much of the surrounding instrumentation adds a dreamlike element of individuality that undoubtedly brings something fresh to the genre and lays out a fairly blissful backdrop upon which the evolving rap performances and melody can creatively thrive.
Click the audio below to hear this track ‘Handshake’
The rap vocals offer something notably unique in addition to the music, in terms of the sense of character that comes through and also in how much change there is between vocal parts. The creative awareness of structure and how to effectively utilise it when attempting to attract and keep an audience is clearly present. There’s also a certain angst or intense level of emotion and anger to the rap performances that cleverly contrasts with the peacefulness of the musical backdrop. The only thing that perhaps lets the effect down is the levels of the vocals within the mix, particularly when the voices come together to give off that chorus feeling of togetherness. It’s a minor production point, and as stated, this type of creativity is the key aspect – having that ability to express upon an unexpected backdrop or in among any kind of musical environment is an important skill.
Each of the voices featured on the track has a definite feeling of passion and realness to it, so there’s an emotional authenticity that listeners will most probably find to be appealing in the long term and something worth paying attention to. This, combined with the unique sound of the backdrop, and the various vocal tones and styles that come through – not to mention the title – presents a strong fusion of different cultures and again underlines that concept of togetherness.
By Rebecca Cullen
Rebecca is a Musician and writer from Manchester, UK, with an MA in Song Writing
