The Mamuzee Twins are one of the few Nigerian artistes that keep strictly to the African content in their music. In this interview with Blessing Ukemena and Patience Ivie- Obhafouso, they speak on why they have been silent for a while and what Nigerians should expect from them in the near future.
What has been happening to Mamuzee?
You know the Nigerian entertainment scene is evolving, whether you like it or not. People are beginning to mix the old school with the new school and every one knows that we, Mamuzees are Africando’s. We are married to African so it is quite difficult to divert from the old to the pure African line up that is done to the new music you hear today.
We tried it a couple of times and it didn’t work out. So the next thing we had to do was to sleep in the studio’s? in order to get some fresh inspiration from God. Eventually it paid off. That’s what we have been doing and now we are out with a new single.
Its called ‘Kige’. It is presently receiving good airplay on radio stations. We had to do a contemporary base experiment with the Jay- Z style, we had to feature someone that sings like R-Kelly. We did it, Nigerians liked it, I guess we surprised them.
Are we expecting an album soon?
Of course, we are working on an album right now. We have been doing a lot of traveling recently and we believe that this album will make a huge difference.
What about a brief story about yourselves?
What can we say other than that our father married our mother, she gave birth to us. We are the seventh, eighth out of her 10 children. We’re the only twins she had. We grew up and married twin sisters who are also identical.
Has there been any case of mistaken identity?
Yes, especially when it has to do with our wives, they are very identical so it happens a lot. As a man, when you come home very tired, the ladies may decide to change rooms.
My wife goes to his room and his wife comes to my room. They play a lot of pranks on us but that is the beauty of marrying identical twins. We are one big happy family and we give God the glory
Is it true that you guys are not media friendly?
Not exactly, everyone needs his privacy. Our wives are very reserved women. There was a time we went to the United Kingdom and a media house wanted to have an interview with us. They met us at the airport and we just had to run away because it was one crazy frenzy over there. It’s not that we are not media friendly, it’s just that we are and desire to be reserve.
Another thing about living in the media lights is that it makes one live a pretentious life. We see some of our colleagues and their lives are just lies. We are from a Christian background and we chose to be sincere with what we do, who we are. We are one of the few artistes that do not show off with their accomplishments.
Why would we do that? Everything that everybody does is supposed to be professional and if you find yourself become a billionaire in the line of duty, who cares? Just do your stuff and let the people appreciate you.
Few years ago you set up an NGO, is it still on?
Yes we did and it’s still on. Right now we are trying to build hostels in major universities. We did some research and analysis in University of Abuja to subsidise the price. It is strictly for females…(they laugh)
What challenges have you had to face?
Like in every other thing in life, the major thing is funding and that’s the truth. It has not been easy as African artistes, the only grace we have is that we have more shows abroad and they pay well. The only thing over there is that you have to work hard for it. When we go abroad, we hardly rest.
There is always a show to perform at. But here in Nigeria, we rest like two or three weeks in between shows. So we pray for more shows abroad. Just in case; we are not rich o o, just comfortable.
What do you say about big artistes not helping upcoming ones??
It is quite true but for us it is different. Like our NGO did some talent hunt in the Niger Delta zone and the guy that we featured on our single was from that talent hunt. We are trying our best but the truth is that it is not easy. Don’t be deceived, it is difficult for an artiste to take care of another artiste.
Its not like in foreign countries where you have a management team to take care of such things. There is also the issue of acceptance of upcoming artistes by the public because every big artiste wants to help the younger ones in order to leave a good print in the sands of time.
What are we expecting from you guys in the next five years ?
We cannot really answer that because God orders our steps and plans our future.
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