In this chat with LEADERSHIP’s Imelda Ezie, Princess Iyabo Olajubu-Afolabi shares her experience combining business with gospel music, a musical genre she says can cleanse society of its ills.
Professionally, how long have you been into music?
Well, I have been more into business than music. But I am presently trying to combine both because I have been running away from the call. I took music seriously about two years ago.
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In this promo album, what kind of songs are in it?
I am usually very moralistic, I think I will call myself an inspirational singer. When I say?????????????? inspiration, I am talking about gospel morale because my song titled ‘Aye le’ is a philosophical and moralistic kind of music because I have in view of what is going on around us, weird happening around us, how people go looking for money, how people do weird things all in the name of getting rich and I want people to have a fore sight regarding the end to the whole thing they are going after.?
With my song, I am educating people by re-orientating the minds of the youths especially. I believe they should listen more to music that can help mentally, that will have positive value and that was why I wrote that song.? I have my mother’s song titled ‘Adura Mi’. Then in my second track, I have one of late Regent Bunmi Olajubu’s song ‘Save Nigeria Today.’ It is also gospel but in a low tempo which cannot really suit the dancing steps the youths of today would want to have, so I have modernised it and made it danceable and the massage i’m trying to pass along with this track is that you can still dance and feel funky with moral lyrics. It doesn’t have to be only songs that lack the moral values that can give you that feeling.
The third song ‘Glorify Him’ is a worship song in a sober mood because I believe we all love to worship God no matter what we are going through. No matter who you are, you still have to give glory and praise to God and I believe people will be inspired when they worship with the song because of the lyrics.
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You said you are in business and are trying to combine music with other things you do, will you then say that music is business or just a leisure for you?
I keep telling people when they ask me questions as regards this financial aspect of music that I am not looking at it that way. I am not seeing it as a way to make money presently, not that I am so rich but music is a passion for me. It is something that has to do with the talent God has given me and it is also something that has to do with my mother’s legacy. I believe my mother’s music should not just be a thing of the past and since she has a talented child. She had always encouraged me when she was alive but then, I didn’t take it seriously. I believe this the right time to bring back her legacy and make her name more renowned.
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The issue of piracy is still a big challenge in the industry; do you have any marketing plan so that the pirates don’t hijack your works?
The piracy issue is not something an individual can handle in this country, but I think the PMAN has a great job to do because they are the only body who can really fight the battle. PMAN should make a computerised logo that will be inscribed into each artiste’s work so that when taken out for marketing, nobody can make a copy it.
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But you do know that some artistes, usually before releasing their album, go for live performances and sometimes market the album themselves, are you hoping to do so?
I wouldn’t like to market my album directly because I am too busy for that kind. When it is time for me to sell my album, I will definitely do that through a marketer. Mind you, when you sell the album directly, you can’t reach out to many people; you will be limited to only your environment, but the marketers knows how to go about it properly. They still have their values and they have a big role to play here. I intend to go through them when i’m set. I believe that most people who hawk CDs on the street are amateurs.
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The gospel music, would say we have enough already or the market is underserved?
Gospel music is not encouraged in Nigeria. People prefer to play secular songs on the radio than gospel music and I think that is where we are having a problem. People who write inspirational songs need a lot of encouragement from the media and the public. It is going to be a great contribution to the? progress of the gospel song writers, and I think there is a little bit of recognition right now because while I was in Lagos last week, I saw situations where some people brought CDs to Radio Continental and were asked whether they were gospel or not. They were told that if the CDs were not gospel, they won’t be broadcast because the station wants to preach morals. We need to be motivated because if you are not motivated by your work, depression takes over and there is no way you can have more inspiration to write.
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Talking about being motivated and encouraged, do you realise that Nigerian musicians generally don’t spend quality time on their works and eventually what comes out is very poor?
You are right but it depends on individuals. My promo/single album has just three tracks and I have spent two years working on it and have faced situations where a producer told me, “The job is good; we can just release it like that” and I told him that I needed to do more work on it.
Also, the financial status of the singer matters a lot as these days people are desperate to make quick money. So when somebody is desperate to make money and there is a source available to him, the person does a hasty job and it’s out in the market. These are the major reason we have some poor quality albums and songs in the market today.
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What kind of language did you use in the album?
Well, most of my songs are written in Yoruba language. I have other songs written in English but they are not yet out, they will be coming out with the main album by next year. The track titled ‘Aye le’ is written in Yoruba and Hausa, so I have three languages for now in the song. I have other songs in about 13 Nigerian languages but we are still working it.
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Let’s go back to your mother, what kind of influence did she have on you?
I had a wonderful mother, a woman of many parts who loved people. We used to go to the studio with her for her recordings because she wanted us around her and to know what she was doing. She wanted us to understand that she was not just leaving home but had a job to do. I miss her not being around me at this time, but I learnt a lot from her. Among other values, I learnt to be cheerful as she was a very cheerful. She was so accommodating and passionate about children.
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Going back to your album, which is one was more difficult for you to pull out?
Well, the most difficult to pull out was the one I didn’t write, ‘Adura Mi’. It was has my mother’s originality and there were some parts that took me about two weeks before I could pick it and then I realised how great a singer my mum was. We struggled with my mother’s song when we were making it, in fact I had to re-make some because they were too difficult for me. So that was the only song I had issues doing because I wanted to modernise it to suit the modern dancing tempo and because I didn’t write it, it was not easy.
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