BY JAMAL WATKIN

Edited by Soumanou Salifou

In the song N’lonwébi (I love you so much) released in August 2021 by Beninese recording artist Pépé Oléka featuring her compatriot Vi-Phint, the duo sounds a lot like John Legend and Beyoncé executing John Legend’s breathtaking All of me, only without the piano. Pépé’s powerful, captivating voice with its wide range and Vi-Phint’s golden, silky voice make the 3’25’’ song a deli to savor over and over again.

The beautiful song would be a hit in the United States, the entertainment mecca of the world, but the local environment where recording artists barely—if ever—live off their work, does not provide the opportunity for that to happen.

N’lonwébi is in French (Benin’s official language}, Fon (the language arguably understood by at least half of the nation’s population}, and Mina. In all three languages, especially in Fon, the singers use powerful cultural imageries to express their love for each other—figuratively that is. Praising her man the way African women used to before the invasion of western culture ended that, Pépé uses cultural images that cannot be translated in any foreign language such as ananou tché, ananou dokônou tché, azan dé dji ba tô, kpatcha kpatcha ba tô. She also says “You are the eyes with which I see, you are my ears, the steps that I follow in life. Wherever I am, when I think about you, I am confused.” Responding in turn using a reference to how pigeons go by pairs, how love makes one strong, and an expression in Fon more powerful than Honey (wini wini tché), Vi-Phint likens Pépé to a plant known in Benin as “ayan” which, even in a drought, always contains water inside. “I love you, it’s a done deal,” he states, and begs anyone to help him approach the elders to marry her.

The pair did not know each other before recording the song. Calling the collaboration “the symbiosis,” Vi-Phint tells The African “I thank heaven for allowing the opportunity for this collaboration.” He says how Pépé chose him out of three local entertainers she targeted on Facebook. “She chose my modest persona after calling my arranger who contacted me and also gave her my phone number. That’s how it all started, and I am grateful to her.”

Singing about everyday life

“I sing about everyday life: love, money, well-being, women, everything related to our existence,” Vi-Phint tells The African. His song Tanyi adoho (Homemaker) in which he features another local female entertainer, Zeynab, is about “the duality and complementary in marriage.” The song calls out men who despise their wives. “Sometimes, men don’t understand their wives’ behavior. At the same time, some women are overwhelming.” The duo calls for dialogue and transparency in a couple.

Zeynab, an extremely beautiful woman in perfect shape despite being the mother of three, displayed her great dance skills. The song is in French and Fon with a very light sprinkle of Yoruba (spoken in Benin and next-door Nigeria), Zeynab’s native language. Not being a Fon native, Zeynab sings in Fon with a cute accent—though with perfect clarity—that adds a nice flavor to the song.

Vi-Phint so far has three albums and thirty songs to his name. His songs are wrapped up in proverbs, riddles, and kind-of-archaic expressions in Fon that set him apart. “With so much to be said in a song,” he says, “that injects poetry in the song.”

He picked three of his other songs and explained their messages.

• ADJADIE: This song says that although it is indispensable to live in a community, man is not God, and must, therefore, believe in his own willpower and that people are different, and accept that as a sort of law that divine mother nature has imposed on us.
• DAGBE: This song asks us to assist one another, pointing out the “glory of being present in the conscience of others.”
• GANVI MYSTIC: This is a story about Africa, a continent with inexhaustible resources, yet Africans are first-class beggars in the world. The song calls on Africans to rely on endogenous values

A culture-driven art full of mysticism

N’lonwébi and Tanyi adoho are a departure from the musical style Vi-Phint had been known for for a decade and a half: “Adja.”

“Adja” is both an instrument and a musical style. The musical style got its name from the instrument, which consists of two small, hollow metal pieces that one hits one against the other to produce the music. Both the instrument and the music are sacred, deeply rooted in Benin’s traditional cult practiced primarily by the “Sakpatassi,” a branch of voodoo adepts Benin is known for throughout the world. “Sakpata” is the deity of the earth, and, says, Vi-Phint, “the deity that communicates the most with the public through its songs because we are all carried by mother earth that gives us everything.” Vi-Phint notes that “Sakpata” is the only deity that allows a layman to imitate it, which is why Vi-Phint draws his inspiration “from this deity of love, generosity and tolerance.”

However, the artist has created a variety of “Adja” lighter than the original one which is played only for the initiated “Sakpata” adepts. His very pleasant music is rich on the melody and light on the instruments, with no heavy drums. His two songs with Pépé and Zeynab, he says, are the prelude to a change of style. He tells The African he is currently working on new songs, in the same general style, that can be more easily danced to than the “Adja” style he has played for long.

During the interview with The African, Vi-Phint took a moment to express his homage to all the voodoo priests and the adepts of voodoo. He stresses that he is not a “Sakpata” adept that followed the classic initiation rituals; but at the same time, he and his larger family are de facto “Sakpata” adepts in their own rights, though they never set foot in a convent, per order of the family’s patriarch.

Even the artist’s name is surrounded by mysticism

Born about 40 years ago with his given name Sylvain Kohovi Akododja, the artist renamed himself Vi-Phint. Vi-Phint, normally spelled “vifin” in Mina, a local language of the southwest region of Benin and southeast region of Togo, means child. The artist says he chose the name out of love for the Mina language. But there is a bigger reason: “The name was revealed to me in a dream. I’ve always believed that things happen in real life after they have been born in the invisible world; I’m speaking in reference to the enlightened high spheres.”