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Kate Stables, otherwise known as This Is The Kit, and Anais Mitchell are releasing a cover of the 1970’s Ghanaian Afro-pop Osibisa track, “Woyaya” on February 9 as a part of Amazon Music’s Valentine’s Day playlist initiative.
To set the respective mood during the month of love, Amazon Music is adding 30 new songs to two playlists that touch on both sides of the spectrum: “Love Me” and “Love Me Not.” “Woyaya” resides on the “Love Me Not” lineup, a couple other offerings include Common Holly’s Frank Ocean cover, and a new track from Jay Som called “Hot Bread.”
This one is a rhythmic, bounding anthem that proclaims triumph despite struggle: “It will be hard, we know / And the road will be muddy and rough / But we’ll get there, heaven knows how we’ll get there.” The chorus ends with the repeated utterance, “We know we will.”
The song starts with the two singing in harmony, but as it progresses, Stables and Mitchell are joined by a chorus of children, made up of several friends’ kids, that adds to the motif that it takes a village and a childlike trust to ensure that love prevails despite everything.
Here’s what producer Josh Kaufman had to say about the cover:
“I heard the Osibisa version of this song through Kate and was really moved to echo its shape with her and Anais. The song is yearning and full of forward motion. The chords move frequently and gently and the melody has such a natural hook to it. We built in some new arrangement ideas by adding our friends’ kids voices to the hopeful outro chant and made it into this multi-generational call and response.”
Listen to “Woyaya” above.
