When their atmospheric, electronic afro-funk song, “Mama Say”, was released, they made us curious to know more about the Ibibio Sound Machine! And to make a long story short, we got in touch with their front-woman, Eno Williams. Only one song, therefore, became the reason to enter deeper into the world of this band which has been active in the music industry since 2013.
The magic of Ibibio Sound Machine is lies in their ease of combining different genres of music: from West African’s references to electro funk elements and soulful vocals. We find all these in their recent album, “Pull The Rope”, which was released on May 3rd.
Eno speaks in the best words about her country, Nigeria, where they speak the Ibibio language, through which she has shared many stories with the audience. Full of pride, she shared with us the news about the release of their new record, filling us with positive energy. But what is the message that Imbibio Sound Machine wants to convey through this album? Wanting to please their audience, Eno confided to us that the reason they added more English songs to this project was so it could sing along.
So what’s the story behind the Ibibio project overall and who is the artist she would like to work with? So, if you want to learn everything about Ibibio Sound Machine you can read the interview Eno Williams gave to SounDarts.gr!
Hello Eno and welcome to SounDarts.gr!
Fisrt of all could you please share with us the story behind the band’s name?
Ibibio is a language spoken in the southern part of Nigeria, which is where my family is from. I got told a lot of stories in Ibibio language. So hence the name of the band Ibibio sound machine.
How do you feel about your country?
It’s really beautiful. Forget the negativity that you hear on the radio and tv. It’s a really beautiful country and the people are warm. The south is lovely. If you would ever go there, you should go to Kwa Ibo. It’s a bit more slow paced, probably. Probably be more slow paced than Lagos.
So, you have just released your new album, entitled “Pull the Rope”. What should we expect from this new project?
We are really excited about this. I mean, it’s just following from everything else we’ve done. So keeping up with the afro electronic sounds, with a bit of highlife, with a bit of the Ibibio language, and just pulling from what we’ve done previously. Just keeping that positive message, the dance floor hot and people uplifted.
Which is the song that holds a special place in your heart from this album and why?
I love all the songs. To be honest, all the songs are great. We’ve got “Pull the Rope”, the album’s title track that is just calling us to come together and just try and work together rather than be at war with each other, especially with what’s going on in the world right now. It’s like a talk of war where two people, two sides are pulling rather than not wanting to have dialogue and always wanting to fight. Let’s just come together and try to work things out, pretty much, that’s kind of what the message of this album is all about.
Recently you released your single “Mama Say”! What’s the story behind its writing?
That’s a tribute to my mom though; because that’s something she always used to say. My grandmother always used to say, “Honor your mother and your father”. It’s something we were hearing all the time. One time we were rehearsing, and then she sent me this message. I think then it just kept going on in my head, to honor my mom. Then it just became a song. So it’s kind of a tribute to honoring women and to all the moms out there really.
Your last album, “Electricity”, was released in 2022. What will be different in your new project and how do you think the band has changed musically during this time?
I mean by the way we kind of went about this project; we wanted to really delve into the essence of the songs and the storytelling so we paid really a lot of attention to that before adding all the organic elements and before getting everybody to play. Then, obviously, it was produced by a gentleman called Ross Orton in Sheffield. So there’s that element of a bit of edginess about Sheffield anyway, which you can also hear that in the album as well. There are a lot more English lyrics as well. There are a lot more English written songs with a bit of Ibibio to be exact. That’s because our listeners always try to sing along over the years, they always try to sing along to a lot of the songs that we’ve done in the past. It felt just natural to maybe try and be a bit more inclusive and do a lot more songs in English and focus more on the song and the storytelling.
What’s the story behind the Ibibio project?
To be honest, I think it all of started more like a bedroom project. When we started back in 2013, it was just an experimental kind of thing where I just started sort of singing the storytelling that I got told as a child growing up in Nigeria, to Max, who’s our producer on the record and the saxophonist as well. He was quite fascinated by the fact that the language is really, really rhythmic. That’s how one song led to two songs, and then literally, we just kept writing. Everybody else joined in with their own influences and that’s the whole backstory behind the Ibibio project.
You are part of a band with many members. What was your shared vision and how did you end up in the form you are today?
We’re all friends to start with. We’ve been friends with Max with whom we’ve dealt with a lot of other projects in the past. He’d worked on a group called KonKoma, and Alfred had worked with a group called Osibisa. I’d sort of done various other sessions with them, vocals and many other different things. We kind of came together as friends. We’ve been working together over the years, and I think that’s due to the fact that London is a very cosmopolitan, like a melting pot, as we call it. There are a lot of influences in London. There’s a lot of different backgrounds, different music, people from all over the world. I mean, it feels like it could have only happened in a place like London because we’re all from different parts of the world and without all our different influences. I mean, we’ve got Alfred, who’s our guitarist, he’s Ghanaian, and he’s got his highlife influence. We’ve got, Tony, who plays the moog. He’s got more of an electronic background. Max plays the saxophone. Scott plays the saxophone as well. But they’re kind of more from a jazz background. We’ve got Afla, who plays precaution, Joseph who plays drums, PK, who plays bass. They’re all Ghanaian as well. Sort of, everybody has brought their own, different influences.
How about your musical influences?
I was born in London, but then I grew up in Nigeria. At home we listened to everything. My dad played music from Manu Dibango, Angelique Kidjo, Aretha Franklin, the Beatles, James Brown. We were also listening to West African music, highlife and music from the west as well. So that kind of informed my influences as well.
You mentioned a lot of artists’ names. If you had the opportunity to work with one music industry’s legend, who would it be?
I’ve always loved Angelique Kidjo. I love her work. I loved her work over the years. So, yeah, maybe Angelique Kidjo would be the next one.
Have you ever faced arguments as a band? And if so, what was it that ultimately kept you together?
Oh, I think we all love each other, to be honest. I mean, as any family, there will always be arguments about maybe what sound or not being able to agree on a particular beat or something. But in the end, we always find a way to resolve and decide what’s going to be the way forward. So like any family, we just get on with it.
Speaking of your highlights, can you distinguish a moment that you will never forget from your career so far?
Gosh, there’d be so many. Well, we were privileged to open for Coldplay at Wembley. That was quite something. A year or two years ago, we actually opened for Coldplay at Wembley Stadium.
Through your songs you manage to combine African and electronic elements. What is your source of inspiration?
I’d say my faith, my parents and my grandparents. My grandmother instilled faith in us growing up, and she always made us believe that whatever you wanted to do was possible. In fact, she was one of the people that sort of nudged me to actually sing in Ibibio because we used to joke about it when I was growing up. She’s like,” oh, you always sing in English. When are you going to sing in Ibibio?”. So she and my mom kind of are my main inspirations. I would say she encouraged me to sort of think of the idea of even exploring singing in Ibibio today.
What are your future, professional plans?
We hope to keep making music and keep putting music out. I hope to keep having a positive message, uplifting people, keep them dancing and spreading the message of hope and love. We have just released our new album and we will play in a lot of festivals this summer to support it. We’ll hopefully be going to America sometime this year as well. Just watch this space.
What’s your motto in life?
Interview: Theodore Kolliopoulos
