A day in his life...
My day starts about 7 o'clock in the morning and I don't stress myself unnecessarily. Between 7 and say 9 o.c1ock in the morning, I have a meal, look at my day's programme in order to know what's happening and so on. I make phone calls to check and confirm appointments and cancel some if necessary. I then spend a lot of time working in my studio because I do a lot of work there. I write my music electronically.
I spend some time in appointments, talking to young people that have booked appointments with me and so on. I try to keep fit in the evenings except if I have an event to attend. I do try to attend many events, relevant events where young people are involved, just to see what is going on and ensure that progress is being made around there.
Father to son...
In my immediate family, no one has shown interest in inheriting the path I had taken. My children are all performing, but each one of them has a chosen career. One of them is a lawyer who is working in Nigeria, another, a teacher. They've all gone on their own and I'm not one of those parents who compel their children to follow their chosen profession, no. They will develop along the line, which they have so chosen. They appreciate the great place of music in their lives by getting involved in performances but they have their own paths to tread.
This issue of succession goes to somebody who is not in my immediate family but who is a son I never had and this young man who is very interesting enough, is an engineering graduate but he has dedicated himself to music. His name is Beneth Ogbeiwi and he has been with me in the past ten years.
If you come into this hall tomorrow, you will see him at work. I think he is the person that really is in the position to continue with what I'm doing. But it's not a one-man thing, he is one person that I look at and I say I know he is there and I'm proud of him. And there are other people
Role models...
That's a difficult one because I went through so many changes. There was a period when r was doing nothing but classical music, there was a period I was doing nothing but jazz and in each of those periods, there were people who inspired me, who led me into that particular direction at that particular time in my life. But for me to say one....
Idols in music
Oscar Peterson in piano, Dizzy Gillespie, trumpet, Miles Davies, Fat Waller. Then in serious music, the music of Chopin has been a very strong influence on me and later because I spent time in Germany studying there, Wagner became one of my strong influences. Some of the works I did were influenced by him. In the popular idiom, Nath King Cole, et al were there and back home Fela, Victor Uwaifo, Rex Lawson and many of their kind brought a lot of innovative work to music.
Rex Lawson in particular moved around and drew his ideas from the east as well as his own people in Rivers State and there's a lot of beautiful music from this area.
On James Brown...
Do you know that I brought James Brown to Nigeria ? Oh yes, he toured Nigeria , he was in Lagos , Ibadan , Benin , Kaduna . .
James Brown was one of the strongest influences on black music, funk or soul music at that time, mainly because he had a message that was essentially a black message; put the other way round, he was proud of his colour. He stuck to his idiom to the admiration of millions of people especially blacks all over the world. Till this day, his contemporaries and the young generation of today admire and respect him as the innovator and king of soul music.
Michael Jackson...
Michael Jackson is a young man who had too much to do and ruined himself in the process. His Break performance was the best of him. He had the world on his shoulders but any man who is ashamed of his roots will end up getting lost. He wanted to be a white man, well good luck to him.
It is difficult to explain that music goes beyond the glamour in it but this is the main trapping for most young people aspiring to be musicians. Music goes beyond money and glamour and it is important to recite this refrain for those who will be our future ambassadors in the realm of music.
How would you appraise the bombardment of foreign music on our shores?
You see, the young Nigerian artist has a problem because he has not been given a reason to be proud of who he is. If you walk out into the street and stop the first Nigerian you see and say to him" Are you prepared to die for Nigeria ?" I am sure he would say to you "No O"! This is really what is the important line. If you don't have a situation where people believe in who they are and believe in the substance of what they are and their country, then you can't get the people who are vibrantly creative.
It is easier to just pick up some body else's and copy it but then to try and develop your own means you've got to put in a certain amount of creativity in your work So what is happening with the young artist is that he has no reason in any case to be proud of what he is. He is quite satisfied to be a Michael Jackson and any other Hip Hop artist or whatever it is they call it these days.
To him, that's it. He looks at Awilo, for example, who is from Cameroon and says I want to be like him. Awilo is from Cameroon and he is proud of being a Cameroonian. So what have we in Nigeria offered? You want to be a Cameroonian and then fight a war in Bakassi? I think there is a problem here. We just do not yet have enough reasons for our young artists to be proud of who they are and to fight for the things that have substance.
Has government assisted you in any way?
Well, some years ago when the Steve Rhodes Voices traveled abroad, at the time that Chief Anthony Enahoro was the minister of Information, we got some government support. They helped us with flight tickets. That was the only instance that I can say that the government supported me. It was just a marginal sort of support. I am not dependant on the government in any way. I am not relaying on the government for any of the things that I do.
What has been your most challenging moment?
It is very difficult to state one because I have so many challenging moments. You know when you are confronted with difficulties, you are tempted to turn back but by nature, I never turn away from challenges. So each one has something which it teaches me. Each one has a little bit of strength that it adds to my whole system. Really, I won't say this is the most challenging moment because I have much challenging moments ahead of me. Each one in a way is good because each one teaches me something.
What advice would you give to upcoming Nigerian artistes who would want to be like you?
First of all, I would say decide what you want to do as earlier as possible. Having made that decision, apply yourself to acquiring the skills to do that thing that you want to do. If it is in the area in which academic qualification is necessary to enhance your progress, acquire that academic background.
If it is in the area which practical experience is required, acquire as much experience as possible, but don't ever look upon any ambition, project of yours or anything that you desire as something that would happen because you desire it. It would only happen because you worked at it over and over again. It would be good that you achieve any of the things that you want to do because you worked harder and harder for it.
Now that you are retiring, what happens to the Steve Rhodes Voices?
Let me come back again to this thing. I am not retiring. What I am doing is that I'm pulling out of certain types of activities, which is more suitable for the younger people. I will continue to work on the sort of things that are form age and for my mind, that's important.
Now going back to the question that you asked. What I am trying to do is to ensure that in the various things, which I have done in my time, there is no vacuum because I'm no longer doing those things. Therefore, I have brought along young people who have acquired skills by working with me and looking at how I do things and so on. I have been able to impact certain amount of knowledge and information. So they are in a position to take over and continue to do the sort of things, which I say I will no longer do.
One of the biggest problems that we have, not only in Nigeria but also in Africa as a whole, is that we don't respect continuity. Each person does whatever it is he wants to do; he gets to a certain point and then vanishes. It is like what has happened to a lot of traditional medicines that we had in this country.
I could remember when I was younger. There were some people who were doing remarkable things in development of traditional medicines. But they did it themselves; they did not document any of it. They did not pass the knowledge on to anybody else and today you have people struggling trying to do the same thing, reinventing the skill.
This is what I am trying to do, to create an atmosphere in which there is continuity, in which there are people who can go on doing the sort of things which I say I can no longer do and even doing it better than I did because today, they have better facilities, the technology of today makes a lot of things possible, which were not possible in my days. And again, Steve Rhodes Voices is like an institution. These are things that must go on because they are good things and I feel they should be there.
While you step aside for the younger hands to take over, what exactly do you intend to do meanwhile?
I am now looking at the projects, which are more suitable to my years, experience and ability.
How do you relax when not on stage or in the studio?
I do a lot of reading, that is one of my main hobbies. I listen to music of different types, from different parts of the world. I am not a terribly sociable creature, so I don't like partying. I also write.
Which is your favourite music?
I have what I can call Catholic taste in music. I like all types of music, but it is a matter of mood. There are times when all I might want to listen to is the sound of the piano. There are other times when I want to hear good strong sounds of Jazz and there are other times my mind will be set at rest if listen to Symphony. I listen to all sorts of music, Fuji , Sakara, Juju, Latin American music, that is a music I don't appreciate, maybe because I don't know enough about it. But otherwise, I like to listen to anything.
Secret of your longevity?
Basically, there is only one secret, and that's if one is able to do what one enjoys. That's the key to a fulfilled life. 'It may be long or short, but at the end of the day you feel you've had a fulfilled life and it's been worth the while.
As for me, I'm happy with my life achievements. Of course, there were those things I couldn't get the chance to do and if I do get the chance I'd love to re-do them again.
First, if I have the opportunity again, I'd would be more business minded. I spent my life doing things that gave me pleasure even if it meant my doing so at my own cost. This had disadvantages because, when I look at people who passed through the same path that I opened but on a commercial venture level, I realized that they are rich.
So, it's a combination of two things: doing what I liked and doing it commercially without compromise: I find it very difficult to promise on goals and values.
Do you have more regrets?
I should have started early because by the time I started doing the things I wanted to do and which were my own initiatives, I was already in my 40s. By that time, it was already too late to tackle too many things. If I had started earlier, I would have a broader platform. I spent a lot of time playing music and enjoying myself and not really focusing on what I'd wanted to do. Although I'm not complaining, I did what I had to do. I think I would have achieved more if I had started off early.
Relationship with daughters
Sometimes, most people can understand what exists between me and my children. The truth is that I have the healthiest relationship with my children. There is nothing that is a taboo between us. We are friends with a difference, but close knit. I tried to give my children the kind of training that would prepare them for life.
But the closeness was not suffocating. They are still who they are. And if I'm no longer here, I'm sure they will cope without me.
Are you a lonely man?
Oh no, I am a very inward looking person - you can leave me absolutely alone for a month with no contact with other human beings, and I would not vegetate because I'd be drawing on what is on the inside - read, listen to music, walk around the car park. I don't need human contact to be complete.
What do you miss sometimes? Is there anything you say "I wish I had" to?
That is a slightly complex question. My biggest problem in the creative field here is the fact that there are no "Filling Stations". Whatever I am doing, I am drawing on my own resources. I would like for example to be in a situation where if I picked up a newspaper and I saw a show opening in New York next weekend. I could jump in a plane just to go to New York and see that show - spend a couple of days..., and "refill" and comeback a little bit stronger to be able to continue what it is I am doing. I still try to retain a level of privacy that makes it possible to put myself and to see myself in true perspective.
One of the problems with fame is that one does tend to magnify one's significance and importance to a point where it loses contact with reality and therefore, one becomes a monster of one's own making. That is 'lot one of my problems, because by drawing on my own inner resources, I look at myself in true perspective,
When you look at yourself In a mirror every morning and every time, who do you see, what do you see?
I see the person that I have grown to be. I see the truth of that person.
What are the things that people complain about in you?
The biggest complaints that I get is that I am a slave driver. That I am difficult. I would not bend. I would not compromise. If all of these are true, then my answer is: So be it, because by being difficult, by being uncompromising, by being a slave driver, I have been able to demonstrate the very thing which I believe in.
I have also heard. I have been told that I am "arrogant." That is a word which in the mouth of the user takes on different meanings. In the mouth of one, it ,might mean "Proud," In some other, "Withdrawn:'" So, I don't let that worry me too much because I know that I am an inward looking person and so, don't open up very easily to other human beings; unless I can see an area of common interest which to me is going to be fulfilling.
With additional reports from The Guardian, Gliterrazi, Mr Magazine and Vanguard Newspapers. |
