Last December, the annual music concert, Alex Osho 6.l, that combines exhilarating comedy performances, dynamic dance, and captivating drama celebrated a decade of entertainment. Venue was Freedom Park, Lagos. Initiator of the concert, Mr Alex Osho, a King’s College and University of Lagos trained creative entrepreneur and curator National Museum Lagos, spoke with Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME, on his journey with Alex Osho 6.l in the last 10 years.
How did it all start?
“In 2014, I saw the need to create a platform not just for myself but for other artistes who are striving hard to have their voices heard in the industry. So I kicked off something called Magic Moment with Alex Osho which happened every last Thursday of the month and we continued for like a year. It was well attended, few people but quality people, people in the arts, art enthusiasts and we had a couple of press men also. It was at Adeola Odeku Street in Victoria Island, Lagos. It wasn’t a big space and then in the course of the journey, Mr. Theo Lawson of Freedom Park saw us and walked up to me and said this is a good one you’re doing, I think you need a bigger space and so he brought me to Freedom Park, Broad Street Lagos, a partnership kind of thing.
So since 2014, we have been pushing the show and it has grown to what it is now that we are recording 2000, 8000 people in attendance.
It has witnessed a lot of big names, such as Yemi Alade, Yinka Davis, Ayoola among others. I’m glad that the power of consistency and being persistent has kept us going up until now. We celebrated 10 years on December 8 and it can only be God, because there were many times when I felt like giving up because how can you be doing a show for 10 years and you haven’t gotten a brand that says let me put my funds, our funds into this but they hear about it and people keep telling me, you know Alex, don’t just give up and they supported the show by buying our tables so that we can at least fund the show and give it the quality we see today. So I mean all thanks to God and the relationship we have built over the years that has kept this show going.
What stands the show out of the lots in the entertainment circuit?
The unique thing about this show is that it is not targeted at one genre of entertainment. I am an embodiment of theatre, music and comedy. Now, that’s exactly what you see on stage, we have comedians coming to perform, we have live band, live musicians, live band musicians coming to perform and of course a bit of stage play.
I don’t do anything too long because of people’s attention span but the few minutes we come on stage, we pass across a good message and so you have variety of what to see. Of course there’s dance also and it’s a total package, a total theatre package is what we present on stage.
Again, one of the things I would say is unique to us because I keep saying us because I’m not the only one. My wife, my friends, my colleagues and everybody who believes in me. I mean they work tirelessly to ensure that this project doesn’t die.
Left to me, I’ll have given up a long time if I didn’t have people saying we can do it. So the unique thing about the 10th anniversary is that since we started, we’ve not gotten the kind of support we got last year. It’s been phenomenal. I can’t even express how grateful I am to God because everyone is just calling Alex, please send your details, I’m getting a table, I’m coming with this. I mean quality people in attendance and that’s what every man desires, to have quality people come see your craft and appreciate your craft.
It’s not just Ero, like Yoruba would say, it’s Eyan, quality people. So I’m glad we’re having quality people.
What is the underlying message of your show?
Two things. Promote Nigeria, that’s number one for me. Anyone that knows me knows that, they don’t even understand why I believe so much in Nigeria.
I have friends who don’t speak to me again because they felt like if I had stayed back in the U.S, my energy will make them make more money. But unfortunately, I feel like if everybody leaves Nigeria, what becomes of this great nation? We might be going through challenges of leadership, but I tell you for a fact that the countries we are running to, also face the same problem. So if they all run to another country, maybe everybody in the U.S.is running to UK, what will happen to the United States? So, I feel not everybody will go.
Some will stay back to fix this country. Even if it doesn’t happen in our lifetime, it will be recorded that at least we tried and God has a way of blessing everyone who tries. You won’t stay hungry. That’s justice, that’s number one.
Then number two. I suffered a lot growing in the industry. Like I’m not one of those who will say I come from a poor background, I’m not one of those. I mean I went to King’s College, Lagos and University of Lagos, I went to the University of Ghana. So, I have a strong background. But because I felt the need for me to see life beyond those provisions, I left the house.
And more so, my family didn’t want, my mom precisely, didn’t want me to do entertainment. So she was the one that took me away from Nigeria because she saw me mingling with entertainers. And she saw that entertainers were not thriving at that time. But for me, I knew from day one my calling. So, I now began to do menial jobs.
You won’t even believe these things. I went as low as going to clean gutters in Apapa for N1,500 per day because I didn’t want to ask anybody for money and I wanted to do music.
It was so crazy that my mom was not looking at me like. She was even wondering if her child was a bastard or what? But invariably, she saw the light that okay, this must be his calling truly. And the time she now turned around to support me, she saw the movement in my career. It just moved.
How have you been managing official duties with demands of your show?
I’m a very restless person. I’m a very restless person. When I got my job as a curator at the National Museum, Lagos I was already into entertainment. I started entertainment in 2001. I got my official job in 2012, 12 years after. I’d already gotten a name in the industry. Asking me to kill all of that because I got that job is not going to work. I think one of the things that my superiors saw in the office is that there’s no way they can kill this guy’s dream because he’s been there. So they let me be, but they give me assignments and expect me to fulfill the obligations. And I try to the best of my knowledge to make sure that I get the jobs done at the time they want. So I’m free to still run my entertainment. The issue is don’t take a person out of the space that gives him joy and fulfillment. No, it’s not about money now. So it’s for me now. If you take entertainment away from me, you’re killing me. You’re killing me. Ah, no, no, no you’re killing me.
I have people in the family, who didn’t even believe in this. But at some point, he saw it and he said this boy is good at what he does. He now pushes it out. And I think to a larger extent, I have been scandal-free. All thanks to God, I try to keep it clean.
What is your projection for this programme?
I want it to be strictly cultural. I’ve had meetings with a lot of people and I found out that I will get a lot of support from the outside world than Nigeria if I move towards culture.
They all want to go into anything that is cross-culture. And if I’m finding it difficult to get brands to support me in Nigeria, why don’t I go another round? Which is also good, still promoting Nigeria. A lot of my friends have said to me, Alex, what you are dishing out is quality content. So don’t limit it to Nigeria. So that’s my plan for the next edition. We are in talks right now to see how the next edition will be strictly cultural, doing comedy and doing it in your language.
And then the dress code for the show now will change completely. We are not doing English anymore. It will be come in an attire that represents your tribe and all that.
If you are given an option, what would you do right?
Sincerely, I don’t always want say I regret one thing or the other because everything seems to me like it had to be like that for me to grow. So for you to wear trousers, you need to put your leg in one before the other. If you try both, you fall. So I think in this situation, I found myself at that point where everything that’s happened to me in life in terms of success took time. I’ve checked the trajectory of my life. Everything that happened to me in life had been one step after the other. I struggled.
God makes me go through that struggle for a reason so that I can learn and appreciate what he has given me so far. And I think that’s just it. I have nothing to regret.
Maybe the only thing I would want to change is my approach to life generally. Because then I trusted people a lot to support me, to help me out, and all that. But a lot of them failed.
Then secondly, I was thinking of what would people say.
Yes, I was thinking of what would people say. I want to do something. I would like would that be accepted? Is this thing good enough? Can it, if it comes out, it won’t be a disgrace to my family? But really in life, do what you have to do. If you fail, you fail. And later on I learned that. So right now, if I fail a hundred times, I’m coming up a hundred times.
I don’t let failure hold me back. In fact, I love failure because you are failing forward. That’s just it. So you won’t make the same mistake again. Learn from the fool why he is a fool. Learn from the wise so that you become wise. So both parties are very important.
The foolish person will tell you what the mistake he made that made him a foolish person in life. The wise person will tell you this is what made me successful. So I learned from everybody.
And because I was born outside wedlock, I grew up without a father figure. I had to become a man at maybe 10. I was taking decisions on my own and making a lot of mistakes.
I thank God for where I am today because sincerely if you ask me, I never thought I would get to where I am today.
In fact, there was a time I said to God, if you have no use for my life, why don’t you just take me? It was that bad. I couldn’t feed, I couldn’t do nothing. I ended up paying my way through University of Lagos. I ended up paying my way when I was doing my computer software and hardware engineering course in Ghana. It was a crazy one for me. But I think God allowed that happen for me to become the man I am today. That’s just the way I see it.
Who are your role models or supporters who helped you grow?
My case is funny.
They say every young person needs a mentor. But sadly, because my career didn’t start in Nigeria, the big names in Nigeria didn’t know me. I just came back to Nigeria and they heard one guy is in town. So it was like, who be that one?
And I tried to get close to a lot of them. But I realized that everybody is just giving me cold shoulder. The only person that gave me a platform in 2005 was South Sultan, may he soul rest in peace.
Sound Sultan was doing Happy Hours every month at Alliance France, then at Ikoyi.
And he said, you know what, headline for me every last day, was it Wednesday or Saturday. And that’s how I started.
Sound Sultan was there for me for so long. I will never forget him. Another person that took over the baton when I also kicked off this show was Kofi. When I call Kofi anytime, he’s there for me. He has never for once asked me to pay him for his services. Another great pillar is Sunny Nneji. He once performed at my show free of charge.
But from afar I admired Julius Agu as he inspired me to go into music and comedy together, like music and emceeing rather together.
Can you respond to the question of multitasking?
Anyway, so to your question, one thing I love is multitasking.
The energy for me is just there when I’m doing entertainment. Ask me to do any other thing. In 10 minutes, I’m tired.
But when I get into that my space, I can be on stage from morning till night. So I think it comes to me naturally. One other thing again is when it comes to entertainment, learning anything for me comes naturally.
I love the sax. I think what made me love the sax is because at a very tender age, my uncles didn’t give me any childhood. They only took me to Fela Shrine. I’ve been seeing Fela’s live performance since I was 12. I’ve admired live music from that moment I saw Fela. So I think that made me appreciate live music, music arrangement, and all of that.
