Tolani Fatilewa is a young artiste, singer and composer whose love for the Afrobeat genre of music is incontrovertible. A graduate of Economics from the Babcock University, Ilisan, Ogun State, he told The Nation in an interview that because while growing up he listened a lot to his father’s collection of Fela’s arrays of music, he ended up being an Afrobeat musician. Last week the experimental part of the single of his music was released into the market.
Why the one-track single? He was asked. “Oh, he exclaimed, “it is just for me to test the waters first. It is to see how Afrobeat lovers would receive my work. Thereafter, the big one would be released”, he said. An impressionable young man roaring to go, Tolani is of the impression that what he has in stock would keep his fans always yearning for more. “The music has everything that makes Afrobeat special. I have back-up singers. When you watch them play or listen to the music, you’d imagine yourself in Fela’s shrine. That’s the kind of feel you get when you see us on stage or listen to the music itself. That’s why I do Afrobeat because of that feel or coolness it gives”.
For Tolani whose stage name is as simple as the tempo and the lyrical accompaniments of Afro Jazz, “First of all my dad’s love for Afrombeat music did it for me. Also I used to do a lot of rap music before. But for me, Afrobeat is the best way to represent African sounds. I see things around me and I try to put them into songs. There is No yawa, one of the songs in the collection. It is about one girl whose life style is truly represented in the song. She was a friend one of my guys. People thought he had fallen for a girl everybody thought was not good for him. So, it is a story that happens once in a person’s life time. So, I thought I could do it into a story, into an Afrobeat song for people to learn from it. The song took me two months to finish. I needed to put finishing touches to it in order to have the best ever”, he said.
Ever gregarious to deliver the best doses of musical tempo to accompany his craft, Tolani ensured that the one-track singe he has in the market now was not done in a hurry. “After this, I will drop the video for the single”, he said. “This month will be the time also to release the video. In fact before the end of this month, it would have been done. The short track, is for 3 minutes and a few seconds”.
He wants people to gradually feel and come to terms with what he has to offer as a young and fresh Afrobeat artiste. He said, “I have one or two more songs where people would really understand where I am going. I have no album for now. When I sing, the instruments play in the background, giving plenty of deep Afrobeat, infused with Jazz”,.
“Before the singing begins, if you close your eyes and listen, you’d think you are in Fela’s shrine. That’s the beauty of what we do, ensuring that the music we have is truly Afro-beat in its output. I want to sing the songs that will always make people think yes, this guy has truly studied and produced Afrobeat in the mould that people want it.
Apart from composing all his lyrics himself, Tolani tries his hands on some instruments. “I play a little bit of keyboard”, he said simply. “It is indeed the main instrument. You have the trumpet, the drums, the sekere and so on. All these give the necessary feel that distinguish Afrobeat from the rest”, he explained.
From day one, Tolani knew he would be a musician. While in the University, he was involved in musical programmes and events. He said, “I always knew that after school, I’d do music. It has just worked out like that for me”. For him Afrojazz gives you a deeper feel when it is composed well. “For me Afrobeat is not easy to arrange. Now a lot of people say they are doing Afrobeat, but they are not really doing the right thing. Some of them do Abropop. But for you to do the real thing, you have to change some things. People of my age have to listen to those new changes, probably to conform with their own age and then they can flow and enjoy Afrobeat”.
He feels that the beating of Afrobeat cuts across age and generation and therefore it will be possible for the old and young to appreciate his works. “I have a producer whose name is Cracker. He is the one who arranges the songs and the instruments the way they would go. He gives me the tempo I need for every session. We always think of concepts together. This way it helps to produce something good and acceptable. I am still trying to be good at the keyboards; to master it very well”.
While he intends to grow his musical career, Tolani hopes also to have a full band. “It is a full band where you have back-up singers who dance, sing and also act. This way, my performances will always catch undue attention and hold spectators and fans spellbound” he said matter-of-factly.
