Brymo: An Exceptional Wonder
When you talk about wonders, you talk about a feeling of surprise or admiration, caused by something unexpected and impeccable. We didn’t pay much attention when this man was telling us about the wonders he had in his bag of tricks. No, we weren’t ready.
As a young music lover, I found that tune interesting, particularly, the lyrics:
‘Ara n mbe (there are wonders)
Ti mo fe da (I want to perform)
Karaye ma pa kadara da (the world shouldn’t change my destiny)’.
When such beautiful lyrics are sung to a faultless melody with that breathtaking voice, you create music for the soul!
You can’t take the fact that Olawale Ashimi is a multi-talented craftsman who is amazing at singing, songwriting and delivering melodious renditions with the most amazing voice.
In 1999, Brymo recorded his first song while in secondary school titled ‘Future’. Three years later, he teamed up with friends to form a group called ‘The Aliens’ which unfortunately disbanded in 2005. This didn’t stop the drive and conviction the 35-year-old had in pursuing a career in music.
Brymo has a total of eleven projects: seven of which are studio albums, with another two being EPs and the last two, compilations and live performances.
He released his debut studio album ‘Brymstone’ in 2007 and five years later, he released a sophomore album, ‘The Son of a Kapenta’ with songs like ‘Ara’, ‘Good Morning’ and ‘Go Hard’ as lead singles.
In 2013, his third studio album ‘Merchants, Dealers & Slaves’ was released and it received positive reviews from music critics. This was quickly followed by his fourth studio album the next year ‘Tabula Rasa’ with ‘Fe Mi’ as the lead single.
Despite not hitting the mainstream market, he kept his forte, Brymo released an eleven track studio album as his fifth and named it ‘Klĭtôrĭs’. In March 2018, Brymo released his critically acclaimed sixth studio album ‘Oṣó’. Brymo’s seventh studio album ‘Yellow’ was released on the 1st of April 2020. An album with a guest feature by Lindsey Abudei with ‘Abu Ya’, a tribute to her grandmother.
He won the Recording of the Year award for the song ‘Ara’ at the Headies in 2012. In the same year, he also bagged the Most Gifted Afro Pop Video of the Year at the Channel O Music Video Awards.
At the 2013/2014 All Africa Music Award (AFRIMA), he won the Songwriter of the Year award for the song ‘Down’ and in the just concluded Headies awards, his single, ‘Ozymandias’ bagged the award as the ‘recording of the year’.
Brymo is a rare talent that should be protected at all cost because his kind is scarce.
