Starting out as a
sound track producer during the early days of Nollywood, Sammie Okposo
has become a leading Nigerian gospel musician. Born in the 60s, the
Delta State indigene became popular for his hit track ‘Welu Welu’ off
his debut album titled ‘Unconditional Love’ and has since bagged
several awards. Okposo who is also a United Nations Youth Ambassador
for Peace recently released his fourth album a double CD titled ‘The
Statement’. The Globacom ambassador is concluding plans to embark on
his annual ‘Out of Africa’ tour, alongside his X generation band.
Okposo speaks to X2 on his journey so far.
What was the motivation behind releasing a double CD for your latest album?
My intention was to
mark my 10th year anniversary as a recording and performing artiste and
not my 10th year in the industry. I have been in the industry from 1992
at the background, as an upcoming musician and producer. I started out
doing sound tracks for Nigeria home videos to producing commercials and
jingles then in 2000 I decided to release my album. From 2000 to 2010
it has been 10 years, so I decided to do something special which is the
double CD to commemorate my 10th year anniversary. It is just a special
10th year anniversary release.
How do you get inspired to write a song?
Inspiration,there
is this cliché, especially when you are a gospel artiste, that you get
your inspiration from God which is good because I do too. That is not
only place inspiration comes from, God is the one that inspires all
things but there are times when I just sit and from the conversation
that goes on, I get inspired. I lost my mum four years ago, and I was
inspired to write a song for everyone that whose mother has passed on
because of how I feel about my mum. I look at what is happening in
Nigeria and was inspired to do a song titled ‘I believe in Nigeria’
regardless of what we are going through. A lot of people have sent
their projections saying that Nigeria would soon divide that the East
would go their way and the North and South but my belief is that Naija
no go scatter. I have a song called ‘Naija Dem Bam’, I have another
song titled ‘I believe in Nigeria’. So I get inspired depending on what
I am going through. I can be in a very down trodden place and it looks
like everything is not working the only place I get help from is when I
say a prayer I get relieved. Inspiration comes from different angles
but the ultimate inspiration is God that even in these situations where
am writing because of what I have seen or heard, I am still being able
to write because God is the One that gives me strength to write. There
are different scenarios that could provoke your inspiration but at the
end of the day, the ultimate umbrella that provokes the inspiration is
God.
What has kept you consistent since your debut in the industry?
My Passion. That
is why I always say to people to let their passion be strong. Be very
sure that you are passionate about what you have chosen to do because
it’s that passion that would keep you when things are rosy and when
things are not as you have envisaged from your mind’s eye. My passion
for music is not commercially motivated. My music is not because I did
not have anything to do,it was borne out of my desire to sing. I have
been playing the piano from age 10. So I knew it that when I become an
adult and wanted to release my album, it will definitely be gospel. It
was not something I needed to think about like should I or should I
not. I believe that is the reason why God brought me to this world. For
me, my passion has been what has kept me and focused. Everything I am
and have today has come from the fact that I am a gospel artiste. I did
not need to change or sing something else.
How would you compare the industry then and now?
When I came to the
industry in 1992, there used to be lots of live music that for you to
be an artiste, you will have to be backup or an instrumentalist for the
big ones in the industry. You have to go through that process so that
by the time you release your album, you would have understood what it
means to sing with a band. Then every artiste came with their bands
which made live music popular. But now, technically we have grown in
terms of the kind of insight and the knowledge we have. Also, our
videos are competing with videos from other parts of the world, but the
content has reduced drastically. Now it just all about the beat, when
you decide to listen to what they say, people are openly advertising
the excess intake of alcohol, drugs and turning the young men towards
yahoo, others vices and getting people to gyrate. The value system has
dropped. Yes, we have the beat but we do not have content and we need
to address it before we get to that stage where all we do is make noise
but no content. Music is supposed to make sense and tell you something.
Gospel music has evolved from being boring to a club hit, do you consider this as a good step?
It is a good
thing. The meaning of gospel is good news to everyone. That it is being
played in night clubs is a good thing because it is preaching to them ,
before you know it , they will change.So it is good that gospel music
should get into the night clubs. What do they go to do at night clubs?
Is it not to dance? So if they are dancing to gospel music, it is
another means of evangelism. Because trust me on a good day, they will
not listen to you but when you put the message inside the beats they
want to ear,they will listen to it. I have gotten a mail from somebody
who was contemplating suicide all the way from America. It says “I had
gotten to the point where I had given up on life and the only thing
left was for me to take my life. Just as I was thinking about it a
friend came to pick me and your CD was playing in his car. I listened
all through that journey and when the person dropped me I asked if I
could have the CD and the person willingly gave the CD to me and that
changed my mind.” I have not seen the person, when I read the message I
was scared and surprised about the power of music , if only it can be
postive all the time. Just imagine if the guy was listening to one of
those songs that blast ‘shayo’ and drugs, the man will have gone ahead
to commit suicide’’.
Recently, you were a part of the President’s campaign; do you think it is a right step?
We are role models
and whatever we do, our fans look up to us and want to be like us. It
is very possible for me to lead them positively and also negatively. It
is because of my personality and the fact that I know I have a lot of
fans that I can help them make up their minds towards who to choose. A
lot of people do not know who to choose. That is why I have been very
careful with my choices. With everybody trying to be president, at the
end of the day , there will only be a president for Nigeria.President
Goodluck may not score a 100 percent but I think 80 percent of the
citizens will vote for him. That is why during the PDP presidential
primaries, when they asked the presidental aspirants to give speeches ,
when I heard Mr Goodluck , I became more reassured of his capability to
lead Nigeria right.
