Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Chioma Emerges Miss Abuja
Darey to releases Two New HAUSA and YORUBA Singles
‘We’re finally ready!’ he says excitedly. ‘I can’t wait to share what we’ve put together with my friends from all over the world’.
‘DOUBLE DARE’ is a two-part album – coming in two CDs (each CD is titled ‘HEART’ and ‘BEAT’ respectively – together read as HEARTBEAT)..
He released recently, two new singles – ‘Ba Ni Kidi’ and ‘Sisi Eko’ via his Twitter page (@darey). In an unexpected, unsual and funny twist, Darey delivers a song in Pidgin and largely in Hausa with ‘Ba Ni Kudi’. Assumably, In a bid to ‘double dare’, Ba Ni Kidi is distant from previous effort (any record released by Dare) – There would be alot of experimenting on the album.
‘There’s going to be a lot of love and romance on the album, as you’d expect of Darey. But there’s also going to be a lot of fun; even naughty and mischievous stuff’ a privileged source reportedly said. ‘There’s another song called ‘Belly’; you might want to watch out for that’, he added.
‘I recorded Ba Ni Kidi with the kind help of my friends’ Cobhams, eLDee and Bayo who speak very good Hausa’ says Darey. ‘We were just messing around really’.
‘‘Sisi Eko”, a ballad done in Yoruba is Produced by Cobhams and Darey himself.
DOUBLE DARE will be released in a matter of weeks into the Nigerian market, while a UK debut, tentatively titled ‘DAREY’ is expected to follow.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Screen acts may be good, but stage acts are better-Ignis Ekwe
Ignis Ekwe finally left UNICEF and went into full-time acting, and recently told of how it all started:
Acting career
To be honest with you, my acting career started when I knew how to talk. I grew up to discover myself playing drums, leading masquerades, organising my peer groups for dancing and singing.
Currently, I can write songs with ease in any language and translate them into any language, particularly the ones I understand. I was the president of the debating and cultural society at St. John’s College, Fuga and I had a cultural group inside the town as well as at St. John’s. In all the cultural activities that took place in Benin, Auchi and Fuga, St. John was always coming first and I was the leader of the group.
So I was a cultural ambassador even before I gained admission to the university. My first play was titled The Son of Tradition and my school group went on tour with that play and made money for the school. As I grew up, I took interest in writing soap operas, some of which are Cock Crow At Dawn, Behind The Clouds and After The Storm, for NTA Jos.
Inspiration
My inspiration comes from God and my fellow man. As I talk to people on different issues, I get inspired and get ideas that tell me I should have done more for myself. I believe people should value you for what you are and not really advertising you.
Role model
Jesus Christ is my role model, but the people I learn more from are children when I look and listen to them talking.
Nigerian theatre
As far as I am concerned, the stage still remains the best test for performance for anybody because if you can perform on the stage before a live audience where you don’t have to refer to scripts or somebody prompting you, then you can perform before any audience.
I think it’s one of the best mediums of training and that is why you see most people who studied Theatre Arts emerging better professionals than those who are just mere screen artistes.
In TV productions, they can always stop the camera for you, re-taking and editing episodes but on stage there are no such opportunities. It’s either you know it or your audience will know when you are not giving them the right thing. Having said this, I am not saying that the film and home video are not good. There are very good men and women who despite lacking theatre training are equally good and I respect them a lot.
Entertainment industry
This industry is big business in any part of the world and it is not supposed to be any different here in Nigeria. The problem is that it is still a growing industry and it’s only a few individuals who are promoting the industry. Recently, PMAN had got them together and had put their arts together. I remember when I was very young that if we didn’t go to watch Indian films in a day, we would not be happy. Indians place their economy on films and until Nigerian government starts active participation in the film and entertainment industry, it will still remain at the level where it is now. The industry is a goldmine, but be so far, I think we have tried because this industry started just barely 10 years ago and we have reached this stage, but it would have been better off than this if not that those who put the money down, particularly the Ibo marketers want to get quick money in return.
Happiest moments
I have had several happy moments in my life and one of such was when my wife wanted to take our son to the clinic for six naira and I told her that I didn’t have six naira but that she should take him to the clinic the following week and she was upset. That evening, all the children that were taken to the clinic died of fake drugs given to them. I didn’t know whether I should be happy or sad but when I heard families crying, I was very sad. Again when I looked at my little son who was saved because I didn’t have six naira, I was so happy.
Actors worth
Rate me ten over ten if you like because I cannot rate myself. I always try to improve on what I have done the previous day. Each time I finish a role, I always want to look back and see how I could have done it better and what I would have done if I were given the same role to play again. Of course, if I am given the same role to play again, I’ll love to do it in a different way.
Future plans
My plans for the future is to continue acting and creating scripts and serve God much better than I am doing at the moment. To be of much service to my immediate community in Fuga where I come from and to Nigeria as a whole, though I don’t have any political ambitions.
Directors/Producers
Right now, our producers are still trying to survive on their own. A few of them are good and there are a good number of those too who are not good. In my own candid opinion, if you ask me, the problem is that everybody seems to be in a hurry to be everything in this industry all because of money. You’ll find out that someone who has no professional training from anywhere, immediately becomes a producer, and becomes a director, a cameraman and you’ll find them like that in almost all productions and there’s nobody to correct them.
Why they do this is to cut cost in their own productions. There are a good number of those who go under all sorts of funny names all in the name of being producers. A good number of them have never been to any school and you cannot blame them because it’s their money that they invest in the trade and this is working for them. That is why the industry is growing at a slow pace, but I believe it will soon pick up.
Advice for practitioners
As for the film industry, I would say there’s hope. Our young ones who are starting now should learn to go to school first because anything one wants to do and don’t have educational qualifications, it will not be seriously regarded.
A good number of them, especially the young boys and girls, now rush into the industry because they want to act and the moment they get money in one or two movies, they don’t want to go back to school. It is not good for their future and their family because if you have billions of naira, you are still an illiterate with your money. For those who are already there, they should try to improve on what they have already acquired, as there is no age limit to acquiring training.,
Like Picasso, I want to work till death – David Dale
By OLIVER ONUOHA and PATRICIA ONYEKWERE
Unperturbed by the rosy future, which life in the U.K. holds for him, David Dale has remained in Nigeria practising his profession and contributing to the artistic development of the country.
Dale blazed the trail as the first person to hold a solo exhibition of Deep-etchings, Watercolour, Lino prints and Pencil Drawings in Lagos in 1972. Aside from that, he has participated in 58 exhibitions both locally and internationally and has numerous commissioned works at different locations.
A bookworm and a rare artist, who works proficiently in about 23 different media with equal dexterity, Dale told Daily Sun, “If I am going to die tomorrow, I want to work till one hour to the time I am going to die because that’s what Picasso did.” He spoke further on why he read arts, his philosophy and arts in Nigeria.
Background
My father is English, while my mother is a Nigerian. I went to school in England and at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where I read Fine Arts. I graduated from the school in 1971. Since then, I have been practicing.
Art school
I think that the issue is, people like to parade their schools instead of working hard.
All I do today is to conduct research; these are things I didn’t read at the university. If you don’t do that, nobody will call you a master.
Artistic media
I use 23 artistic media. I do paintings, beads and glass bead works, water colour, I do stain-glass in three different styles, I wrought iron works, etchings, mosaic and many others.
Collateral
I have not used any of my works as collateral, but I think that in the nearest future, some of these works can be deposited in bank to get some money. The type of art that I do is something that grows in value as the years go by. I don’t insure my works, it’s the buyers’ problem, mine is to create.
Arts in Nigeria
I think I have to come out very hard on this, government is not doing well for people who feed on creativity in this country. Right now, the materials that I work with have been banned. So, if I want to buy mosaic, I’ll have to cross over to Togo.
And when you buy it with CFA in Togo, when you get to Seme border, you’re going to pay the same amount you spent on the material to ‘settle’ them in Seme. The ban on art materials will affect the work of artists who now use oil paints as if they are using watercolour. It’s either you paint properly or you don’t paint at all. But can you blame them? Nigerian artists are good but the facilities are not there to enhance the quality of their works.
Exhibitions
I have featured in 58 exhibitions locally and internationally. I have exhibited in places like United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Eastern Europe, Sweden, France, Holland, Spain, Eastern Europe, Former U.S.S.R, Cuba, Japan, U.S.A, Canada and Australia. I have done so many commissioned works for both private and public collections within and outside Nigeria.
Art masters
Perhaps, you are referring to people like Bruce Onobrakpeya, Yusuf Grillo, Kolade Oshinowo and Isiaka Osunde. We’ve left the university and created our styles. Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya is known for what I call folk art. Everything he does is like going back to Urhobo culture. Oshinowo has not cut off from the northern landscapes and cultural events.
If you look at his works, you’ll still see the Durbar and the rest of it. Isiaka Osunde, who studied in the Soviet Union, still captures the European romanticism. Grillo has the elongated figuring. We’ve tried to say this is what we can do and what we can not do but unfortunately, most of these artists probably work in one, two, three or four media and this is where I probably have an edge over a lot of other artists because I make use of 23 media with equal dexterity.
Aim
I aim at the feeling that my work should end up in a very happy home and that is the first thing about me. People come in here to say I’ve been to Mr. A’s house, I’ve seen your works. But if you look at him, you’ll know that he’s a status symbol man, who wants to say I want to be like Mr. Obi, who has 10 of David Dale’s works and Obi is a man who collects genuinely. Now, he wants to beat Obi, saying I’m going to buy 15 of your works. But the way he talks, you’ll know that this fellow is just trying to show off and I don’t allow my works to go to such homes. I feel the works should be part of the home and not say its there and you start flaunting it, I hate people who flaunt.
Why art
I had always wanted to be an artist. When I gained admission to the university, my family could only sponsor six of us at the same time, so they told me straight, “ If its Fine Arts you are going to read, you’ve got to sponsor yourself” and I sponsored myself through the university actually.
Recycling collectors
For us to have more collectors, we need more exhibitions. If you are a collector and you are able to drag one or two other people along with you to art exhibitions, it will raise new followership for the artist and his works. Nevertheless, we have a few good collectors in the country today.
Philosophy
It can be summed up as ‘do unto others, as you would want others do unto you.’ Don’t shy away from the help you can render. If you are ably placed to do something, don’t tell the Lord, ‘I can’t do it.’
Legacy
I can’t see any legacy I want to leave behind for the young ones because a lot of people come in here as interns and youth corps members. I’ve stopped that now because most of them come here to steal. The idea is that, some of these young people don’t want to put down their first step before taking another.
Role model
My school in England is my first role model. Then, the artist I refer to today, Picasso. I have the same attitude as he had for creativity. He didn’t create because he wanted to sell; he created because of the way he felt at that moment.
Future plan
If I am going to die tomorrow, I want to work till one hour to the time because that’s what Picasso did. He slept and did not wake up again. He worked till he died. He had a project at hand then. He held a party over night and said he was going to wake up at eleven o’clock to continue, but he never did.
Appreciation
I am a very serious artist. Anything I do, I put in a lot to it and for the fact that someone is going to buy it from me, I make sure that I put in my best. So, when he comes to spend two hundred thousand naira he doesn’t regard spending that much because I’ve put in all my best into the work.
Fraud is the bane of music industry
In this interview with Daily Sun, the showbiz impressario and image maker for All Seasons Hotel, explained his romance with entertainment, giving reasons for going into music and many more.
Myke Records
The aim is to contribute our own quota to the development of the Nigerian music industry. Also to discover and develop talents who find it difficult securing recording deals owing to one reason or the other. We also want to help export our music outside our shores. We also want those on our label to be part of the national cake, we have been in the entertainment business for long. This is our ninth year in the business of entertainment. We started with a nightclub in the East, after that we went into hotel business and also opened one of the best nightclubs in the South-East which is sited within the All Seasons Hotel and called N.V. Club
Artistes on Myke Records
We are trying first and foremost to ensure that some of them are signed on foreign labels and marketing companies. We are already discussing and negotiating with them. Once these deals are sealed, these outfits would help in the marketing of our products outside Nigeria. The works of all my artistes are of international standard and we are optimistic the deal would sail through soon. We also intend making the presence of our artistes felt here in Nigeria through the media and national tours.
Dreams
My dream is to build a good label with solid artistes who would be appreciated, celebrated and respected globally. We are talking of artistes who would be the richest in Nigeria and Africa. I’m also building a record label that would outlive me.
Myke Records and continuity
I have discovered why most record companies come and go, 90% of the people in the entertainment business are fraudulent. You daily meet people who are out to rip you off without giving you the assistance and mileage they claimed they would give. You will eventually back out when you are frustrated. The money I will make from my label is not what is driving me. It is the passion, because it supercedes the money and that is why Myke Records will continue to live and never die like others.
Rifts between record labels and artistes
The problem lies with the artistes and not the record labels. Nobody does business without making profit, some artistes like playing fast against their record labels. The truth is when a record label does not make money, so also is the artiste,and vice versa. But when one makes and the other is not making, that is when the problem comes in. Label owners take the first risk by investing in an artiste. Contracts are there, but sometimes our conscience has to over rule the contracts.
Difference between Myke Records and other labels?
The difference is that we are continually striving to prove a point and lead while others follow. We are new and making waves because we came in with a bang and lots of innovative ideas on how to better the lots of Nigerian artistes. We have also been able to change the face of musical videos in Nigeria with the laudable works of our artistes. My label produced the best video ever shot in Nigeria. It is on record. It came from Bumpa Clash and we don’t compromise on quality. Also, the video of Zhyon, Mamuzee and Freewindz, are all quality works that can compete favourably in any part of the world. In a year, we sign about five artistes. For example, we signed on five artistes in 2005, this 2006, we have signed on two more and few would join soon. And the newly signed artistes are in our studios cooking their works. We look out for artistes who can use their talents to tell the world that Nigeria is still good despite the many problems facing us. Nigeria is really good.
Artistes on Myke Records
As I speak with you, we have a total of seven artistes already signed on. Mamuzee, Freewindz, Zhyon and Bumper Clash already have their works released, while the others are still cooking.
Biggest problem
Piracy is the main problem and all hands must be on deck to reduce it to the barest minimum. When you report pirates and stop patronizing pirated works, it helps to push them out of the market. Intellectual property owners should reap from the fruits of their labour, we should not allow some faceless criminals to take from us the fruits of our labour. The government should assist us in fighting this scourge.
What Myke Records looks out for in artistes?
The artistes just like every good product, must have a hook. If they don’t, we are not interested. If you come to Myke Records, playing Ja Rule, R.Kelly, we will not look at your face, you must first-of-all, give us the R.Kelly of Nigeria because we are proud of Nigeria. You give us the Africanized R&B and we get you hooked on to our label.
Evangelist in music industry
Yes because music is the food of love, let’s play on and be happy. We preach happiness through music. We preach to people to be God fearing through music. We also preach people out of crime through music. So, in essence, music is the best form of evangelism and that is why as an evangelist of the most High, I’m preaching and reaching out to people through music via Myke Records.
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