Alternative soul singer, Emmanuel Bezhiwa Idakula, speaks with ADEWOYIN ADENIYI about his decision to go into soul music in a secular-dominated industry and sundry issues.
WHAT have you been doing lately? The last time we met, I told you I was recording my album. Right now, the album is done and we are looking for the best way to release it because most times, you find out that you release an album and it doesn’t do well. That’s why we want what will make the album do well. So, these are the things we are putting together. I just did a song and I may even release it before the album
Are you dropping any videos soon?
We’ve done one video and two other songs were released without a video, but this year one of them will get a video and that is the song titled You Suppose Know.
How has the experience been since the release of Super Sun?
It has been very interesting. I released Super Sun in 2011 and it’s very interesting that I have been performing from this same album that I released five years ago. If it was another style of music I couldn’t have done three years because the songs will be too old for me to perform. Butbecause of the genre that I do, I’m still able to perform it and it’s still fresh in people ears. So this kind of music has taught me that it has longevity and it is very well accepted in the country. If you know how to go about it, there is a lot of grace that comes with being a musician. So, all those things work together.
You only have an album and it seems like you have a lot…
Yes, I have just one album and hopefully the second one will be out this year.
Given the nature of the Nigerian music industry, did you have any misgivings when you decided to do soul music?
To be sincere, I was scared and the reason was because I knew it was the right thing to do. I knew that this is the kind of music that I am comfortable doing.This is the kind of music I enjoy; this is the kind of music that I can relate to. First of all, I grew up in Jos and music for us then wasn’t commercial.It was just doing music, going to church, singing, hanging out with your people.So I just decided to take it up to the next level and things were falling into place then. I saw it as a sign that because things were falling into place, I would just keep on because if you are doing the right thing you will see things falling into place, but if you are not doing the right thing it will be dry.
Even after the release of my first album, I was still scared but Cohbams was like, ‘let’s just go on.’And we saw the kind of response within and outside the country. It was when I released my first album that I travelled out of the country for the first time, so we’ve gotten great response.
You seem very close to Cohbams.What’s your relationship with him like?
He actually put me on my first great performance. He hooked me up with Asa in 2008 when I performed alongside her in her concert in Lagos. That was the first time I met Cohbams and he put me on stage. From there, we had a gentleman’s agreement and we started working together. We then released my first single in 2009 and my first album two years after, in 2011, and we are still working together. I am still signed under the recording arrangement for his label.
What if you decide to work with another producer, won’t he get mad at you?
I am a producer myself. In my head, I can tell you what I want. So, every producer I work with I can actually tell them this is what I want and they infuse their own part into it as well. Recently I have found out that working with other producers is even easier because you have everybody bringing their ideas and arranging everything. So I work with other producers as well, I have worked with Pheelz, I have worked with IBK too and some others.
Asa recently stated that she had hoped to do such concert in her home country with or without sponsors; does that mean she didn’t get sponsors for her recent concert?
Yes, there were no sponsors.
How come a big artiste like that didn’t get sponsors for her show?
What people and brands get wrong is that they listen to your music and then they think about how you perform it, and the number of people that you can pull. If they feel that the music is boring or slow or it’s just for you to chill, they might not put their money in it because they feel they want people to party. For them it’s a game of numbers. They want the artiste who brings more crowds. But for somebody like Asa, she’s a huge artiste. She sold out the hall and many other artistes have performed there and they didn’t even sell out the hall, even with sponsorship.
The brands need to understand that it is about your market. You won’t tell me that twenty thousand people don’t want to watch me perform, it’s impossible. My whole social media followers are over five hundred thousand. At least even if you say ten percent of them, which is fifty thousand, will attend my show. The question is how do we get them to know that I am performing, how do we make sure they can get the ticket in a way that they can afford it? Sponsors need to understand that a lot of marketing goes into this.
When are you planning on doing your own concert?
I had a concert in December 2012 which was very successful and I’m doing one this year in December.
Will it be to launch your new album?
Yes, it will be to unveil some of the music in the album
With your experience in the music industry, what do you think is the way out to be heard, especially in your genre of music?
There is no answer to that; people have different stars. For example, PSquare paid for a collaboration with TI and Rick Ross and they were able to get a lot of mileage for that. But Drake was sitting down listening to Ojuelegba by Wizkid, he gets up and said I really like this song and he did a freestyle on it and put it out, which people loved. Then he does another track and puts Wizkid on it. Wizkid didn’t pay one kobo but Wizkid is getting so much traction right now all over the world.
That’s two different scenarios with two different artistes. Sometimes you create music and it doesn’t go the way you want, sometimes in the studio everybody is telling you it’s a hit, but people hear it and it’s not a hit.
I started music officially in 2007, next year makes it ten years. If I bring out a new single now and it resonates with every Nigerian, they will be like there’s this new guy now because a lot of people haven’t followed that trend. I was with Reminisce and he said he started music when 9ice, Jah bless and the rest started but he became more popular recently. There was Kcee and there was Presh; they were releasing music and it was ok and then they broke up. But when Kcee returned with Limpopo, that was when some people knew Kcee. Sometimes it takes a while before it happens but you will have indications that this thing is going to happen.
What’s your take on the Nigerian music industry?
We are growing. Even when it comes to distribution; before we had only Alaba or nothing but now there are lots of them. You can download and pay. You know, people are making money from different ways; it’s really improving and it can only get better.
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