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My showbiz odyssey [Sun, The (Nigeria)](Sun, The (Nigeria) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Skidd Ikemefuna (MC Skiddo) Skidd James Ikemefuna was the first Master of Ceremony to anchor the trailblazing talent hunt show, Grab The Mic, which saw the duo of Peter and Paul Okoye popularly known as PSqaure winning the Jos edition. He also anchored the Gold and Tones musical concerts designed to help project Nigerian musicians and provide a platform for professional performances. MC Skiddo, as he was then known, is now a gospel artiste. TS Weekend caught up with him recently and he spoke on his journey through show business among sundry issues. Excerpts.It has been long we heard from you. What has been happening to MC Skiddo? After my last album in 2007, I got busy with so many other things. Over the years, I have been recording in my studio. I have released about three singles and three musical videos to go with them. I have just concluded a 16-track album due to be released anytime soon. It equally has a centenary song in the mix to go with it, which took on a single. The musical video has just been released. I'm in touch with Premier Music, which marketed my first album. They would also handle the marketing of the new work. Our discussion has gone far. And I can actually say they would market the new album. This is based on the level of our discussions. And they are working out the details. Tell us your experience with Benson and Hedges? That was a long time ago. It was the Gold and Tones concert and Grab the Mic competition, which were both musical packages, designed to help project Nigerian musicians and provide a platform for professional performances. Gold and Tones had concerts that were run the way they should, with proper stage equipment, lighting and all the trappings of world-class shows. It was popular and a trailblazer. I was the Master of Ceremony (MC) for the event. And we had about 50 concerts all together spanning over a period of five years in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna and other places in the country. After that, we introduced the Grab the Mic Competition, designed to discover new talents. And many artistes were discovered under the platform especially PSquare who won the competition in Jos. A few other artistes were also involved. Of course, I was the first MC that ran the competition before handing it over to Junior and Pretty who handed over to Sound Sultan. At that point, I was the MC for the Red 14 Nigeria. Red 14 UK ran the event under the management of David Lynx and Gays Johnson who equally began the Gold and Tones competition. We had over 50 concerts across Nigeria. When Lynx and Johnson introduced the Grab the Mic competition, they ran it before eventually handing it over to a local company, which changed it to Red 14 Nigeria. I managed it then. We bided for the event directly from British American Tobacco Company (BAT) who were the sponsors and got the franchise to run it for two years. And I had Junior and Pretty as the MCs. After that came a merger between BAT, owners of Benson and Hedges and makers of Rothmans, who were in serious competition because they were the major brands. Eventually, Rothmans was bought over by British American Tobacco Company. They merged their operations and Jack Luther; a Swiss came on board to manage the events. That was when Sound Sultan became the MC. I was working with Luther as Director of Operations until I went back to Silverbird, which was expanding then with its television and radio stations. I worked directly with Guy Murray Bruce. I was a pioneer member of Silverbird Group. Don't forget that we did concerts in the early days of Kool and the Gang, Lakeside, and Shalama. After the first six years in Silverbird Group, I left for the UK. On my return, they created a Special Projects department for me, which was more into contracts. I served in that department as the General Manager until I resigned two years ago. You have been in the entertainment industry for years. How was the journey? I can say that it was fulfilling. To be honest, I learnt a lot over the years. I worked in every sphere of the entertainment industry. My journey started with broadcasting with the Voice of Nigeria (VON) where I studied Studio Management. From there, I went into production under the late musicologist, Adam Fiberesima. I got into classical music through him and was producing programmes in the music department of VON. From there, I went into presentation before I traveled to the United Kingdom. While I was with VON, Silverbird started operations in 1980. Initially, I was doing programmes for VON and Silverbird, but when my responsibilities became heavy with Silverbird, I resigned with VON and went on with Silverbird Group where I was made Director of Public Relations. I was in charge of logistics for local concerts. We set up Fantasy Nightclub and I became its General Manager. While in Europe, I was doing corroborative programmes with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) under Hilton Tyre, who was a presenter and a producer from South Africa, Caroline Dempster. The experience was revealing and scintillating because I was on another level of production. And coming back home all the experiences got playing out. I was involved with concerts and productions on a bigger level. Recall that I was part of Silverbird Promotions that brought to Nigeria international artistes. But the Gold and Tones platform provided a bigger one for me. Apart from concerts, we were running with local artistes, we also managed events for Nigerian Breweries. We produced concerts that brought to Nigeria for the first time Usher and Shaggy. The latter's concert was in the National Stadium. It ended up in fiasco because of the security arrangement. Meanwhile, it provided a learning turf because each time we did an event, one was learning more. Even, in my early days at St. Gregory College, Lagos, before I went into production, we had a band called Groto. We were signed on by EMI and we recorded two albums. So, I have been exposed to studio recording and presentation, and stage presentation in concerts. We had concerts in the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), which had over a hundred thousand people in attendance. And I have been an MC in 50 concerts without any stress. It was God that kept me going. The concerts were great exposure for me. Each of the concerts had its peculiar problems and we dealt with each one of them. The lesson to what I'm doing in the gospel scene today is that when God wants to use an individual, He allows him experience everything, and I think what I have gone through was designed for the kingdom of God. Now I am a born again, I have transitioned from being a Master of Ceremony to a Messenger of Christ (MC). All the music I produce now is gospel which glories God and edifies man. I have my own studio called Shalom. It was a product of a cry to God after I was robbed of my car, finished video and audio works for mixing. Walking back the bridge after the robbers dropped me off at 2am, I spoke to God, challenging him for my own studio. In less than six months, he blessed me with resources and I set up both audio and video recording studios. Your first album was secular. How many albums have you done since crossing over to gospel? I have done two albums. The first gospel album was a 12-tracker. And because I have a studio, I was also recording and releasing singles, and videos to go with them. I have a total of four singles. Your first gospel album was not a commercial success. What's responsible for this? My gospel music venture from the beginning has never been to make money. For me, gospel music is a tool for evangelism. I have never really worked at commercial output. It is just a pact I have with God, a talent I vowed to use to propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ. Most of my recordings, apart from the ones I sell, were given out as an evangelism tool. Music has never been a major source of income for me. Are you not bothered about piracy? I don't bother about piracy. In fact, the more people have the works in their homes, the better. The essence of evangelism is to reach souls. But if they want to pirate it, they have God to answer to. However, God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. By pirating the work, they are expanding the gospel; more are getting to listen to it and be saved. So, the most important thing for me is getting the message across to the people. Tell us about your latest album? The album is entitled 'I Am Blessed', and a 16-tracker. It is experimental because I did the entire recording alone, including the engineering. I also wrote the songs. One of the songs is a millennium one, dedicated to the state of Nigeria for us to live and work together as one. It boasts of different music idioms and recorded under the unction of the Holy Spirit. It has a message and no one who listens to it would remain the same. Each track has a specific message. It is a wonderful tool for evangelism. Why centenary song when there are more burning issues in the country? It is very important. That Nigeria has come of age after several incidences that tried to botch its corporate existence is not a joking matter. We have a lot of problems. And I don't think we are where we should be. There have been a lot of bad leaderships and mismanagement of resources but the mere fact that the country, despite her diversity and ethnicity, religion and culture, remains as one in hundred years is not by accident. It is a divine move of God. He has a plan for the country. Nigeria is the biggest black nation in the world. God has a divine reason for uniting the country. The mistake we would make is to ignore God's plan for united Nigeria. Those who are calling for the break up of the country are ignorant of God's purpose for the country. Nigeria is destined for greatness. We have had bad leaderships but I think we are on the right track. Nigeria is like a house run down and dilapidated and being rebuilt. It wouldn't be easy especially when it is being rebuilt on one side; others are trying to destroy it on the other. Several problems we have in Nigeria were humanly created such as Boko Haram, gangsterism, and kidnapping. They are distractions to what God wants to do with Nigeria. As an artiste, could you do a critique of your new album? I recorded the album in my studio and wrote all the songs. However, there are couples of songs I adapted like 'Sweet Mother', which I changed to 'Sweet Jesus'. Prince Nico Mbaga originally did it. I also did an instrumental version of a popular song in the church 'Bigger Than What People Think'. Apart from that, I wrote other songs. I think it is a great effort in terms of composition, lyrics and production. But the listener is left to judge. I probably overstretched myself trying to do all the vocals. I had my wife sing in some of the tracks. I did the rest and the choruses. The message is there for everyone on the need to get closer to God. What is your impression about the gospel music scene? Unfortunately, gospel music in Nigeria doesn't receive enough airplay in many of our radio stations. The secular world is still dominating the music scene in terms of acceptance and airplay. The presenters are not helping matters either. They seem to favour secular in place of gospel music. I see it as a battle between the forces of the world and God. I know that with time, it will eventually change. It is just that there are a lot of inducements against gospel music. Gospel music may not be as attractive to the presenters as the secular music because there are a lot of promotions coming behind secular music. Most of the major brands would rather rally behind secular than gospel music. For instance, Nigerian Breweries Plc wants to promote Star lager beer, would prefer secular to gospel music, likewise the telecomm companies. It is very difficult to see these companies touch gospel act, either for sponsorship or other promotions. These are some of the things that put gospel music at a disadvantage. But having said that, I must admit that gospel music is also gaining ground. There are a lot of gospel artistes who are doing well. They include Sammie Okposo, Frank Edward, Tinaj, and Chioma Jesus etc. Gospel music would always be on the chart as long as there are children of God. And the more souls we win, the greater the acceptance of gospel music. It is a battle, which I think gospel music would eventually win. (c) 2014 The Sun Publishing Limited. All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info, an Albawaba.com company |