Majekodunmi Fasheke, popularly known as Majek Fashek, was born on March 1963 and died on the 1st of June 2020. He was a reggae artiste, songwriter and guitarist. Majek could be credited for making Reggae music a mainstream sound, following the success of his 1988 album “Prisoner of Conscience”, that had the hit song, “Send Down the Rain.” In 1991, he was signed under Interscope Records and released the album Spirit of Love to critical acclaim.
Spirit of Love is a ten track album that maintained the mainstream status of reggae music in the Nigerian music scene in the early 90s.
On the opening song, Majek Beware, he sang about being self-aware and also being aware of the situation around; the ills in Nigeria and Africa at large, the need for Nigerians to be aware of politicians that only have the agenda to decieve the people and loot the public resources and Africa, as well as being more united than it is. On the next song, So Long, Majek passes a wake up call to Africa and America—to wake up, get to work and stop fooling around. He reminds the Africans and Americans about how they have been sleeping on its potentials for very long, and the need to fulfil the dreams of the revolutionary Black leaders, Marcus Garvey and Martin Luther King, for a new Africa and new America. He also talks about how the Blacks and Whites are the same.
In the next song, Majek Fashek in a New York, he sings about how he was surprised to see beggars and homeless people on the streets of New York as opposed to his belief that New York City is an el-dorado, a heaven on earth city. He also talks about how he’s on a mission to restore America to a greater height. The next song is titled Spirit of Love, and it passes a very strong message on the power and spirit of love; how everlasting it is even when heaven and earth, silver and gold and all other modern thing passes away.
On the fifth song on the album, Jah People, he talks about “Babylon people”, the politicians and those in the position of power, that make rules and plans rule over “Jah people”, the masses forever. He encourages Jah people to rise up and fight against the oppression of the Babylon people. He decried how humanity is neck deep in an animal race; the race for power and control. On the next song, Religion is Politics, Majek passes a very powerful message to the world on how religion is being used by some Hypocrites and Fanatics as a tool to spread hate and war amongst brothers and sisters of the same kin; how an Iraqi man fights an Irani, a Palestinian man fighting a Jewish man, an Igbo man fighting an Hausa man, an Hausa man fighting a Yoruba man. He implores everyone, that irrespective of our different religions, we’re all one people, reiterating the need to unite to build the world.
The next song is titled Holy Spirit. Majek gives an account of a vision he saw; how seven Angels filled with the wrath of God came to destroy the earth, how humanity was put in confusion, how everyone will be rewarded according to the works of their hands on the last day. He foretold how he saw a new heaven and earth after the destruction, a place where there is unity amongst humanity, brothers and sisters sharing love between themselves; a life void of sorrow, weeping, war and pain.
On the next song, Send Down The Rain, Majek sings about how hard he has been working and his anticipation for rain to water his works to make them fruitful. In his words “You don’t expect to sow Cassava and reap off Coco-yam, you don’t expect to sow rice and reap off Cassava. Whatever I and I soweth in this world we must surely reap”, you will only get rewarded for what you work for. On I’m Not Tired, the next song, he sings about how he’s not tired to carry on with God’s work, how he is willing to carry on praising God for his good works.
On the last song on the album, I Come From The Ghetto, Majek sings about the situation of the ghetto, children being abused and how the government neglect little children. He sings about the local food in Lagos; Amala, Ewedu, Akara, Moi-moi and locally brewed gin, Ogogoro. He mentions many great people that have emerged from the ghetto as well; Nelson Mandela, Jesus Christ, Steve Biko, Marcus Garvey. He stresses that there’s no difference between the Ghetto in America or the United Kingdom or Nigeria.
On Spirit of Love, Majek Fashek delivered a masterclass and he raised the bar for reggae music in Nigeria. Spirit of Love is a well balanced album that explored different topics; love, peace, unity, corruption of Nigerian leaders, being self aware, need for a revolution to change the story of Africa, Spirituality, the need to fight oppression being faced by the masses, racial equality between the Whites and Blacks, unity among all races and religions in the world— all these topics combined in ten songs with the right touch of the gan-gan and the guitar makes Spirit of Love a very special album and perhaps, it’s the best reggae album to come out of Nigeria, maybe?
