Kennedy Tareotu 'Better and Greater' Review
The song better and greater is a complex song, when asked
what song can we use to rate this song, the first and only song that ran into
our minds would be Elvis Presley’s ‘Way down’, the similarities in this song remains
slim, but no song in the world can probably fit to this song, not because of
the genre, but because of the vocal abilities of the song. Let’s check the
similarity between Way down and Better and Greater – Way down has a Genre
country rock, blues-rock, rock and roll, Better and greater – Country rock, pop-rock.
Elvis Presley recorded this song in his home studio in October 1976, released
on June 6, 1977. It was his current single before he died, and the song was a
hit.
According to Guinness World Record J.D summer that sang the
words ‘way down’ at the end of each chorus, sang hitting a low c, 3 octaves
below the middle c, and was recorded as the lowest recorded note ever produced
by a human voice. A Song that hit 3 octaves lower than middle c, would happen
to be on the first octave, while JD Summers enjoyed the accolades for singing
the lowest note in Elvis song, he got a Guinness certificate for that, that’s
how great the act on the song was.
The song Better and greater is of the same similarity, except
for the fact that Kennedy Tareotu (also known as the Ghost act) went one octave
lower than JD Summers did, and his vocal range on the song spanned six octaves
up to nearly a 7th octave…from 0 – few notes above 6.
These attributes remains rare, never have we seen anyone
that could sing a song from the zero octave to the sixth octave.
Kennedy Tareotu started as low as the zero octave and kept
on going up skipping few octaves till he got to just right at the 6th
octave. He took 0 – 3rd octave – 5th octave and a quick
start from zero octave to the 6th octave. This makes it look as if
they are three different voices in the song, that’s the reason why Ken took the
song in a way for us to know it’s just him, he made the swap quick and little
by little so we can see the resemblances in the voices.
Kennedy Tareotu happens to be the only complete bass singer
with a whistle register at the moment in Africa, and I believe in the whole
world, if there is any maybe few and unknown. Because of his wide vocal range
that has been verified to be around 7.5 Octaves, he is classified as a
Bass/Baritone singer, no one ever calls him an alto, tenor, and soprano, he
rarely shows the attributes of going high until recently.
So yes, he has the
ability to make different voice types in one song, we’ve seen that in a lot of
his songs…in Together Nigeria, in Empire Rise. He has admitted to always taking
his back up when no one is available because of his large or wide vocal range,
he could sound differently.
This song is ranked amongst the top three hardest song to
sing or score of all time in the world, fighting it out with Mariah Carey
‘Emotions’, and Minnie Riperton ‘Loving
You’. The song is also known as the song with the lowest note taken in Africa,
and the musician that took the lowest note in a song in the world. While
Kennedy Tareotu can’t tackle Tim Storm’s world record of lowest note taken by a
human, Kennedy Tareotu (21/22) is believed to be able to take half of anything
Tim Storm takes, if not more and he is so young.
INSTRUMENTATION
PRODUCER: KENNEDY TAREOTU
A sharp quick bass striking itself to give a four note
progression, and a rocky style of play from other acoustic sound. This is pop
rock instrumentation, with the bass line the key figure in the instrumentation,
with a good drumming and an electric guitar that makes you want to nod your
head.
SINGING SENSATION
SINGER: KENNEDY TAREOTU
The first vocal sound of this song is so low, within the
zero and the first octave of the piano. The singer gave quite a steady
professional singing, which didn’t have a reason to be too loud. From the end
of the Piano the act took it a little higher to the 3rd octave,
before moving to the 5th octave and taken a quick scale from the
first octave to the 6th.
The singer showed us much of a vocal range, with this song
having up to 6 octaves in it all in head voice, hitting low notes, and hitting
a whistle register.
LYRICAL CONTENT
‘Who told you should walk above the grave of your
man?’
‘Who told you there is nothing greater than the walls of
hell?’
‘You thought the world is bringing you down, but you are
nothing than belt’
‘Cause you’ve tied yourself to the ground yet you’ve never
known death’
‘You are better; you are greater you don’t know that’
‘Who said the dust and the waters do not ever relate?’
‘Who said hell and heaven are two places far from
themselves?’
‘Who told you superstitions that make you hold yourself
down?’
‘The greatest problem you have is the belt you’ve become’
‘You are better; you are greater you don’t know that.’
One of the attributes of Kennedy Tareotu is he knows how to
write songs outside the African style, and write very complex lyrical standard.
He is a song writer, and as said to write his songs in poetry before singing.
He likes passing a message, rather than just sing, and in this song he passed
an unclear message I guess. Let’s break it down.
1.
Who told you that you should walk above the
grave of your man?
Meaning : Who told you there is no such thing called ghost,
so you could walk or have romantic escapade in the cemetery or on the grave of
a person?
2.
Who told you there is nothing greater than the
walls of hell?
Meaning: Who told you if you die now, hell is all you might
face?
3.
You thought the world is bringing you down but
you are nothing than belt.
Meaning: You thought your enemies fight you and brings you
down, but you yourself is a sit belt that holds you down.
4.
Cause you’ve tied yourself to the ground, yet
you’ve never seen death.
Meaning: You’ve tied yourself to the ground like a dead man
yet you are still alive.
You are better and greater than what you are, you don’t know
that.
5.
Who told you dust and water do not relate, or
heaven and hell are places far from themselves?
Meaning: Who told you
the difference between good and bad, or the black and white is large, so why
the segregation, fight and bad mouthing?
(Note: Dust is the closest color to a black man’s skin. Dust
means black man, water means white man. Heaven means good, hell means bad).
Who told you superstitions that makes you hold yourself
down, for the greatest problem you have is the strong sit belt you’ve become.
You are better, you are greater than that, you don’t know that.
I believe this is an hidden message to the whole world, and
trust me I didn’t decode the lyrics myself. I sent Kennedy Tareotu an email to
decode it himself, assuming he didn’t, I wouldn’t have known the exact thing he
was talking about in this song. At the end of the day the message is simple,
‘Do not do things that hinders you and me, the difference between everyone,
both the rich and poor and the white and black aint large….so no segregation,
no fights. We are better and greater than that’.
I have never seen any African act that knows how to write
like this, he did this in ‘Let it rain’, he did it in ‘Would we be forever’; he
is always writing a superb message in a complex lyrics that looks simple.
This song is one of the greatest songs to come out from the
African soil.
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