If there’s a list of artists who can create music with a theme that preaches healing, Wizard Chan would rank high, thanks to his distinctive artistry that carries a musical intentionality that embraces influences from reggae music, hip hop, and the rich cultural heritage of Highlife and Gyration from the South.
His 2024 project, ‘The Messenger,’ conveyed the purpose that drives his music with songs that explore the collective ambition, fears, and emotional complexities that make us human.
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His debut album is an acknowledgment of his role as a messenger whose music boldly explores the complexity of human emotions and the state of an ailing society.
Wizard Chan makes music that will echo through time. Through his music, he aims to live forever like other iconic musicians whose impact continues to be felt decades after their demise. He shares this bold desire in the opener before backing it with breathtaking music across 13 tracks.
He puts his cultural heritage on the centre stage with an exploration of South-South indigenous folk music, Highlife, and Gyration, which he combines with reggae, hip-Hop, and gospel music elements to craft an album that genre diversity united in his message of healing.
Healing requires considerable self-awareness. Wizard Chan displays this on a project where he understands the limit of his powers as a human in search of inner peace.
He turns to his faith to pray for comfort and blessings for himself, community, and an ailing world. To drive home this message, he explores classic gospel music to create songs with the emotional connection and relatability that unite listeners.
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He combines reggae and hip hop for a classic hymnal rendition on ‘By The River’. He fits the popular Nigerian worship song into an energetic Drill beat in ‘Amen (God My Dealer)’ before leading the revival with the gyration on ‘Flee oh Sickness’.
“The devil can’t give you nothing for free. Evil can’t cancel evil,” he says in the eponymously titled track. A student of reggae music who’s greatly inspired by the iconic Damian Marley, Wizard Chan’s distinction shines as he impressively blends Hip Hop, Reggae, and Folk music from the soul-piercing vocals of the women’s choir Bona Nime.
Wizrad Chan’s search for healing leads him to a philosophical path where he questions the state of his country, Nigeria, on the Drill ‘Quick Report’ featuring PDSTRN, with whom he discusses the continuous scourge of police brutality.
On the stunning ‘Promise Land,’ he follows the path of other reggae music icons to envision a world where humanity lives in peace and harmony while taking his culture along with him.
Amidst the dangers that lurk in the streets, Chan embraces community and finds healing at home as he cheerfully sings on the Highlife ‘Oh My Home’ where he offers a rush of nostalgia through the popular marching song sang by school children and uniform men across Nigeria.
On the album’s closing songs, his search for healing forces him to introspect and confront his demons. He pleads his case in the soulful reggae flows of ‘In My Defence’. He admits his tendency to choose individuality as a shield to the beautiful, vulnerable writing of ‘Yours Truly’.
On ‘Sober’, the distinctive South South-inspired melodies shine as he taps into his emotions and finds comfort in trees. The song is a curious one as he only just revealed in ‘Yours Truly’ that he has given up smoking.
He swiftly clarified this possible confusion on the following track, ‘Heal’ featuring Joeboy, by declaring that smoking only burnt his lungs rather than giving him the healing he sought.
This song appears to be a continuation of ‘Loner(Alone)’, his hit collaboration with Joeboy. Their seamless partnership in finding comfort in individuality extends to their collective search for healing.
His search for healing concludes with the painful acceptance of loss in the sobering ‘Dein Na Mu’, where he’s joined by the sensational Llona to bid an emotional farewell to the loved ones lost.
Wizard Chan wishes to live forever, and he will do so through his songs. ‘Healers Chapel’ is the offering of a great talent whose music boldly embraces his cultural heritage in an endless quest for healing and comfort, not for himself alone, but for a community, a nation, and a world in need of healing.
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