Some people say I’m
lying when I tell them I’m not rich –
Beautiful Nubia
By SEGUN AJAYI
Friday, April 25, 2008
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Beautiful Nubia
Pix: Sun News Publishing |
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Veterinary doctor turned musician, Segun Akinlolu, a.k.a
Beautiful Nubia, marches on with his folk music, geared towards
socio-re-engineering.
The artiste, who has been in-and-out of the country on concert
tours since last year, is staging a free concert tonight at
the Unity Centre, GRA Ikeja, Lagos, to launch a new album,
as well as fete his growing fans with good music.
Restless, but focused, Beautiful Nubia, who shot into limelight
with his album Jangbalajugbu which featured the hit track,
Owuro lojo, says that he has a calling to play music. Although,
Segun is fulfilled as an artiste, he confesses that sometimes
he feels incomplete when he is unable to reach out to the
less priviledged materially.
The musician, who wears a dreadlock, expressed hope for the
music industry in Nigeria, stressing that, not until the industry
is better regulated in Nigeria would musicians get adequate
compensation for their effort. Single, but not searching,
the artiste reminisces his journey in the last one year, marriage,
his new club and the inspiration behind the new album, among
others.
My itinerary
I am always travelling. I am a very restless person. Ironically,
I’m always having shows. It’s just that people
hardly hear about them. Even in Nigeria, I’m always
staging concert but I don’t hype them. Some people might
not like it, but that has been my approach to the business.
Since last year, I’ve been very busy, playing music
both in Europe, North America, U.S.A and Canada. In July 2007,
I was in the U.K on a mini-tour. I returned to Nigeria in
September to record the new album. After that I travelled
to Canada to master it.
Feedbacks
I’ve adjusted to receiving different types of responses.
Most of the responses I get have been positive. Sometimes,
I get negative responses from a member of audience who is
not very appreciative of what I am doing. I can say that I
have received like 95% of positive responses from audiences
who are appreciative of my music. For instance, after I released
Kilokilo, a whiteman did something like an entry on a website.
He did not know me which shows that the name is growing. When
I look at where I am coming from that a boy who used to live
with his grandmother in Oke Bola, Ibadan, now has fans even
as far as Japan, I will say that is huge for me.
Commercial success
Like I used to tell people, I am a musician, first and foremost.
I’m not a marketer or a promoter. I am a music maker.
If there was real music in this country, promoters won’t
be doing what they are doing at present. It’s not all
those who call themselves promoters, who are promoting music
in the true sense of the word. For example, if I have a professional
manager, a booking agent, and promoter, when I do my beat,
I expect them to take the rest. Right now, what we have done
is to get somebody to market all our works and that person
is Alloy Productions. I believe this will give us more visibility
than before. You know I told you that I set up a company,
called Eniobanke Music. That was the platform through which
I used to market my music. We realized that we were limited
in terms of funding and in terms of our reach. So, over time
I’ve been trying to find someone whom we can trust and
Alloy Productions came our way. We have signed an agreement
that beginning from March, he would start marketing our works.
Now, the problem of distribution is off my neck. If anybody
has problems getting our music, Alloy Productions should be
held responsible.
Collaborations
My own idea of collaboration is not restricted to music artistes
alone. I can collaborate with a painter, writer, or a poet.
I am open to collaborations if it is for a purpose. There
has to be a good reason for the cooperation, not just because
of money. If an NGO wants us to raise money for them, I can
do that. But you know that my music is not artificial. By
trying to collaborate with another musician to do a particular
kind of music will make my music artificial. However, I use
other people’s voices. In Kilokilo, the title track
of the latest album, there is a female voice that I used in
one of the songs. In Awilele Part 1, I actually did a duet
with a lady. I’m not against duets. I also wrote a song
in the latest album entitled: Agba wa bura. It was like a
poem. I had an elder artiste, Uncle Olu Okekanye, in mind
to read the lines but I could not reach him. I don’t
mind such collaborations. I am looking forward to a time when
artistes of like minds will come together and organize concert
for certain causes.
Latest album
The fact that the virtue of honesty, hard work and meaningful
contributions to society, do not guarantee success, as against
what we learnt as little children gives a cause for concern.
Unfortunately, those things we were taught as children are
no longer working. I found out that many of my friends with
whom I shared the dream of evolving a better society have
all crossed over to the ‘other side.’ That is
why I am saying, people told us that this are the way things
should go, and that evil will not go unpunished, but I have
not seen that happening now. Rather, we have seen evil flourishing.
The music came out of anger or desperation for change. All
along, my music has always contained political messages, and
this has not gone down well with some of my fans who prefer
that I restrict myself to cultural matters.
Reach
I am surprised when I see the way my music connects with people
at different levels. In the ghettos, and the highbrow, Ikoyi
and Victoria Island in Lagos, people easily identify with
my music. There was a time I travelled to Igbara Oke, in Ondo-State.
In the course of the journey, I stopped a young girl to direct
me to another village. When she looked at me, she shouted
Ah! Beautiful Nubia. It was amazing and made me feel that
this thing we started small has suddenly become so huge.
How rich is B.N?
The responses I get are varied. Some people think that I am
pretending not to be rich. The truth is that, this is who
I am. Some people even ask me if I’m trying to be African.
Again, I come across a lot of young people who tell me that
they are impressed by the way I comport myself. When I performed
at Ife during the last Ife Festival of Arts, after the show,
some people wanted to shield me from the students for security
purposes, but I stopped them. I told them I wanted to hang
out with the students and nothing was going to happen.
The security guys tried to advise me against it warning that
in the process, I might lose some of my personal effects.
I told them that I didn’t wear a wristwatch or necklace.
I don’t wear a wristwatch or neck chain when I go to
perform. Eventually when they came around, some of them confessed
that they love my simplicity and the fact that I do what I
preach. I usually refer to late Chief Bola Ige as my model
of humility. He was by every standard a prominent Nigerian,
yet you could have access to him anytime. Some people might
think that he did that for political reasons but I realised
over time that that was his nature. I emulate him and I can’t
be haughty or arrogant.
Role models
As a growing child, my heroes are sports stars like Chief
Segun Odegbami, late Chief Bola Ige, Mohammed Alli, late Fela
Anikulapo Kuti. What Fela stood for was what I admired, not
necessarily his music. Bola Ige would speak English language,
and after that speak Yoruba fluently. So, as young boys growing
up in Ibadan, we all loved him.
Musicians no longer play instruments
Don’t forget that I grew up in the era when there were
bands. So, when I came about playing music, I never imagined
that I would be one guy on stage miming C.D. When I recorded
my first album, I didn’t like it at all because we played
to the keyboard. Everybody has been telling me, this is the
way of the world and we should follow suit. I never enjoyed
that album because I didn’t have a band. There is nothing
wrong in being able to play a physical instrument. The voice,
to me, is the most important instrument. If you listen to
my music, all the instrumentation comes with experience and
talent. I believe that if music is going to grow, you have
to perform live with instruments. I find digital recording
very restrictive. I call it chiseled music.
My typical day
When I wake up in the morning, I exercise my body for about
an hour. I don’t normally eat in the morning. I either
take juice, oranges, or mangoes. If I find myself where there
is internet, I will check my mails because I receive tons
of mails on a daily basis. So, I try to reply everybody. If
there is rehearsal or show, I will also attend to it. In a
way, I feel that I am very lucky because I have friends who
come to see me frequently. Going through my e-mail messages
and the kind of feedback I get, gives me fulfilment. Playing
music comes to me like seeing your dream actualised before
your very eyes. I am living my dream. I don’t really
have much money because I grew up managing a little. So, those
were the values I grew up with. But, when I feel inadequate
is when I can’t assist those I think that I should assist
because I don’t have enough. But I know that the money
will come eventually.
Women
I have a private life which I don’t discuss. In a way,
my private life detracts me from what I do. If I started telling
people that I do this or that, people might start to think
about the man than the message. Some of my fans who knew me
personally visit me at home. I have received phone calls of
people who tell me that they love my music, and would love
to meet me personally, I would only ask them to come to my
show. If the person insists that she wants to come to my house,
I would not stop her, she would get there to meet so many
people. It’s always difficult for an artiste to balance
his private life with public life, but I am trying to make
the best out of it.
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