Music Review- Garose H –Comforter

Album cover of Comforter

A few weeks back, I attended a music album launch at Azi Nyako Youth Center at Dadin Kowa, Jos Plateau State. I actually gate-crashed; I was not invited, just heard the talk on radio. 

I did not stay till the end of the album launch and was able to listened to just a single song the artist performed before I left the hall. The song, comforter, performed on a reggae background, is an old Christian chorus I had known since I was a kid. It was the reason why I dismissed the whole album as one of those boring clichés one often hears. I threw the copy I’d bought in a clutter in my house, when I arrived home. 

Weeks later, something told me I should play the album, at least once, before passing my judgment. The artist needed to be heard first. You cannot believe that I was blown and made to regret my earlier judgment based on the single song I had listened to at the launch venue.

The album is a ten tracker that includes Give Me Oil, Comforter, Praise the Lord, Yesu na Nan, Wonder, Mata Ku Tashi, All About You, Mu Yabi Yesu, Born To Reign, and Maiceto Yana Kauna Ta. These songs cut across the genres of reggae, uplifting gospel ballads, central African “skuz”, Hausa/Fulani folk music and even the emerging West African Azonto.

The artist used Hausa and English, the most used languages in her neck of woods. These songs spread across praise, inspiration, and ministration. Garose appears very conscious of the impact of a distinct a melody in the promotion of a song, and along this line, I found tracks three and four most outstanding and my favorites. The artist’s most remarkable possession is the power of her high-pitched silky voice that conceals, effortlessly, any native accent. 

The producer of the album, Morgan Azi, did a good job on the album. It was no coincidence that he received the award of the Best Producer at the JOGAMA (Jos Gospel Music Award) 2015.

Garose H is remarkably talented and I hope the music scene would take notice of her and enjoy what she has to offer in that cutting voice of hers. If I were a pastor and needed music accompaniment in my outreaches I would go for Garose H. Sure, she can surely uplift spirits with the power in that voice.