Don Jazzy earns Marsh Up Africa Best Baritone of the decade

When asking who is the best Baritone singer/musician in Africa for the decade, you could hardly think of a lot of names, despite the fact that African male musicians love to sing below the 4^th Octave, and almost all African musicians are Baritone and Tenor singers. But amongst all, we get just a few number of extreme great Baritone or Bass-Baritone with only a Baritone range that has done amazing in the past decade, that is because when listening to great Baritone singers, we expect to hear a very great singing sensation like that of John Legend, or we want to hear a great Bass- Baritone like Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, but our form of music doesn’t make us sound that extraordinary with our Baritone. But that is not all around true, we have great Baritone singers like Cobahms Asuquo, Njabulo Madlala, Don Jazzy and recently we have Acts like Flo, Burna Boy, Kennedy Tareotu, also known as the Ghost Act, but with the ability to go high till the 7^th Octave. 

Great Legends like Fela, Femi Kuti, King Sunny Ade were also in the range of Alto and Baritone, that like to stick just below the 4^th Octave. But who is the best and the most consistent Baritone singer of the decade in Africa?

Cobahms Asuquo is a great singer, he is one of the best in Nigeria, and a mentor/Role model to even all the newly made bright singers in Nigeria like Bez, Nosa, Praiz, but Cobahms has not been consistent when it turns to singing. He has lesser singles than everyone on the list and is known more as a music producer than a musician.

Fela and Femi Kuti are great Entertainers and great musicians, both can’t be classified as singers. We are talking about Africa’s best musician of all time, and the best musician alive in Nigeria right now, who happens to be father and son respectively, but how much of a singer are they?

Can you tag Fela and Femi Kuti as a singer? Are they the best Baritone we have in Africa?

No, Fela wasn’t much of a singer, but he was the greatest of all musicians, Femi isn’t much of a singer rather, but he is the greatest musician alive in Nigeria at the moment. They do not have a very strong Baritone, and might find it very hard to sing beautifully without instruments, but these Acts are the pillars of Africa, but not the Best Baritones we have or had.

Njabulo Madlala a South African born musician with a great Baritone, but unknown. He was a winner of the 2014 Standard Bank Young Artist Award SA, but without much recognition that ignites the whole Africa.

King Sunny ade, great Legend, but not remembered for his voice…and might never be, but for his works and his musical inventions.

Burna Boy is a new musician far away from a good singer, but a good musician with a perfect Baritone. He could sing comfortable at the end of the 2^nd Octave to the 4^th Octave, turning more than that as his Vocal range. But he is new and has not a decade to himself.

Kennedy Tareotu (The Ghost Act), might have been a great Baritone from a tender age. He might have the best and strongest Baritone amongst all of them, but he is young, new and unknown. He sang the lowest note ever taken in an African song, taking notes as low as C1. He has the widest Vocal Range in Africa and unofficially in the world as a singer, not as a human being. He possesses an 8^th Octave vocal range, which spans from –C1 to C7.

The difference between this singer and others is that he is young (21/22), and sounds as strong as Johnny Cash, yet he could hit a note that none of the musicians on the list can. But Kennedy Tareotu is new, unrecognized and still has a long way to go to proof his worth.

He is tagged the Best Baritone for the year 2014 by Marsh Up Africa, for the ability to sing lower than any musician in Africa.

Don Jazzy is a producer, just like Cobahms…He has a massive name as one, but he also has the name as a great Baritone Vocalist too. His Voice is usually one of the hardest voices to mimic and his tagged unique.

He has given his music and sounds a lot of great presence with his voice, and people can’t deny how fantastic he sounds, without an accolade to him.

Don Jazzy has been active since 2002, he is the most consistent Baritone singer we have, and his vocal range spans nothing more than a 2 octaves. In 2004 he did his fast major Baritone hit with the song Tongolo, in 2014 we are still hearing his voice in songs by Mavin, and he is recently rated as the 36^th most powerful celebrity in Africa by Forbes.

The song Baby face redone by him, shows how strong his voice is when compared to Wande Coal’s version.

Marsh Up Africa is to honor Don Jazzy for his great Baritone voice and his consistency since 2002, with the accolade for the Best Baritone Vocalist of the Decade.

Don Jazzy would be given a certificate/batch to certify he was honored by Marsh Up Africa for the decade.