Beautiful Nubia is not just a veterinary doctor trained at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, he is also a published poet, a songwriter and a band leader. In this interview with Edozie Udeze, he harps on the need to grow a viable music industry that can churn out the best songwriters in the world and lots more
What does EniObanke music festival mean to you?
Yes, we started the music festival since three years now. It is a festival of root and folk music from anywhere in Africa. We do not discriminate. Musicians also come from all over Nigeria. Because we are based here in the South West, it may seem that what we showcase is more of Yoruba folklore music. But it is not intentional; we have to start from an area we know, an area we are equally familiar with.
And then slowly we keep building from there. Essentially, we use the platform to showcase authentic Nigerian folk and root music and play them in different locations as part of the festival. Generally, we play folk-derived music like highlife, Afrojazz, every thing music that has traditional background.
We also give opportunity for young voices, up coming musicians to be part of it. It is to give them their own ample opportunity to showcase what they have. Some of these young ones can be allowed to play what we call commercial pop music.
When they do this, the media can see them, then, they can get some airtime or later be signed on. You see, if you are an established artiste, sometimes you forget the struggles you went through. I think it is a bit easy when you create a platform for the younger people who are still struggling to air their own views.
How do you get sponsorship for this show?
I have basically been using my own money to finance the shows, with support from friends and well-wishers. My own personal friends and friends of the Art have been of immense assistance to us. At times some of my fans would be of help. However, the basic money has been from my company, EniObanke. You know, it has not been easy, I won’t lie to you, because I am not a man of large pocket. But I am also blessed with a lot of people who are ready to give their talents to make it work.
Beyond this, what is Beautiful Nubia doing now musically?
Well, I have been playing this music now for about 15 years. I have just released a new album. Although it is not out officially, it will soon be in the Nigerian market. Officially it was supposed to be out on November 1. But again, I have been busy, very busy playing all over the place, keeping the industry alive and busy.
Our shows are not the noisy type. We do not make noise about our music, for when we do not play around the country, we play in the universities. We also play at private shows, social events. Our approach to this has always been very modest. But beyond that, I have been very busy in the music circle, with a new album that is almost out. The title of the new album is Ori Ojori. It is the same style we have been playing over time. People have always asked me how do I define my music? But I say it is difficult to define, yet people try to define it. My job is to play it. But I know it derives from traditional folk music.
How do you set your themes and compose your lyrics?
There is a part I usually do. The music is basically inspirational. I can not really explain it. If a song comes to me, I write it. Melody comes to me naturally. Sometimes I try to fuse it together to get what I want. The part of it that I do actively is crafting the music. I decide what goes where and I ensure that the parts come out well. Above all, I am very good at arranging the parts to form good folklore music. My very strong points are writing the songs and arranging them in parts. This is what defines someone’s music – songwriting and the arrangement of the music. It is a gift and I am a vessel for that gift.
There is no defined sector for songwriting in the industry. How can this be corrected?
Yes, I think eventually we will get there. We do not have that for now. But what you have just said now is very important point in the industry. We have been saying for a long time, that we do not have infrastructure for music here yet. We think we do, but we do not. This is one of the infrastructural pieces we need to advance further in the industry.
In Nigeria, some of us are strong as songwriters, some as singers. But people lump everything together. They write their own songs, they arrange and sing them and move on. They produce and market it and do everything. This is not proper. This is why we often do not have that point of finesse in what we produce. This is why we are having songwriting workshop as part of this festival. I am really teaching them how to write songs. You have to have the gift because if you do not have it you’ll see yourself struggling to cope with it. But if you have a gift and are a little bit confused about how to craft a song, you can be put through.
I can teach you how to craft a song, how to know what to include to make a good song. This workshop in a way can help us to groom a group of song writers that will then infuse this professionalism into the sector. They can write and co-write songs. Sometimes you don’t have to do the whole work. If you write half of a song and get stuck, find another writer and say oh, I have this idea and then you work together. At the end, you’ll have an art bearing two or three names there. There is nothing wrong with that. It happens all over the world. Don’t people coauthor a book or produce a film? I think we are evolving just the way the country is evolving too, and so we’ll get there. Where there is a lot of chaos, there is an opportunity for growth. There is much for us to do, to fix the infrastructure and get them working. And that’s what I am committed to. That is what we are to do.
Now, is there any relationship between song writing and poetry and literature?
The best songwriters anywhere in the world are poets. Songwriters are poets. I am a published and performance poet. Many people in England know me as a performance poet. I have performed in different parts of the world as a poet. I do my poem from memory, I act them out and I sing them on stage. If you are good with words, song writing becomes easier for you. Yes, again, if you do not read very well, you cannot be a good song writer. If you read well and wide enough you can then write well. But the problem with some of our songwriters is that they do not read and so they are limited with words.
Where were you trained and why Beautiful Nubia?
I grew up in Ibadan and attended all my schools there. I read veterinary medicine at the University of Ibadan. I graduated in 1992 and worked as a vet for 10 years. Then I decided to go into music full time. I know I’d be a musician in life. Even though then I knew I’d learn a trade to fall back on. So, I went to learn music as a profession. But as a vet, I learnt how to manage funds, which is helping now to manage my own funds as a musician.
When I began to play music, I tried to find a name that’d suit my person. And so I settled for Beautiful Nubia. And so I added beautiful so that when people call me beautiful I’ll strive to be perfected. The Nubia thing has to do with African civilisation where the people of Nubia were champions. And I love Africa and I wanted to prove to the world that the people of Nubia gave the world civilisation.
This was how I got to be known as Beautiful Nubia. Many years ago, the Nubia people ruled the world, people with dark skin and so on. So, that’s the beauty there. But my real name is Olusegun Akinlolu.
