In this interview with Thisage, Gentle Lucky explains his slowly but determined rise as an exponent of his brand of music, Afro Raga, the few tricks he has learnt on the way and how he is grooming new artiste on his recording label, Lukobrand. Excerpts;
Your brand of music is called Afro Raga. Why?
Yeah man, it is a long story. Actually, I started music very early. As far back as when I was seven in primary three and in my secondary school days, I had started singing. I was part of the church choir then and when I came to Lagos in the 1990s I joined the Aniocha/ Oshimili Cultural Troupe, my local people here in Lagos. It was through this group that I blossomed. Based on my experience, I decided to blend our cultural and western music. That is why I call my brand of music, Afro-Raga. So you might say it is a blend of Reggae and African cultural music.
What would you say about acceptability of the music?
The music is yet to be popular in a global sense but it has a cult following in Lagos. The reason is partly because I have been doing other things on the side. I run a primary school and with my training in aviation, I also set up a school, all in my bid to source funds to produce my brand of music.
Did you approach known producers like ….
(Cuts in) Well some of these producers are later day producers when I started. As for Kenny Music, I can remember that in 1997, when I approached them with my first album, We Must Survive, they were not too open.
How are you solving these challenges?
My major problems are finance, marketing and promotion. But I have been trying to overcome these challenges in a number of ways; trying to create some businesses to generate income to fund my recording is one. Having done that, I have been able to get a record label, Lokobrand, under which I recorded my latest work, I Love You, last year. Now my videos are on Y-tube and other online medium. Right now I have ringing tones with Airtel, Etisalat and Glo, MTN. The tunes I have with them are Afro raga music, I Love You and African Heritage.
So you are you smiling to the bank now?
Ha, ha, ha, Just something to keep the work going, that is all for now. But the fact that I am not yet a household name should not be the yardstick to look at my work. The experiences I have gathered through the years are enough. If I have to deal with marketers and promotion now it would be on my label.
What is your advise to upcoming musicians and artiste, considering the challenges you had gone through?
Yeah man, what I would say is that they have to be determined, they must believe in themselves and have a well defined goal, which no rain or shine would shake. When they fail with one album, they must not give up. Unlike when I started, now with a singles you can hit the jackpot. But if it does not happen, they should not relent.
And from my experience, I can promote artistes, put them on Lukobrand label. I currently have one on my label. So if the area of concern for upcoming artiste is consultancy, promotion with the latest technology, I am ready.
I can put upcoming artiste on my label, promote them and give them the benefit of my years of experience which is hard to come by in this age of technology when the studio have everything ready made. Many artistes cannot play one instrument, which is very unfortunate. Some have no ear or feeling for the music they are playing as long as the money chase is on. It is not good for our music, whether it is highlife, Afro, reggae, gospel, juju and so on. Music has many dimensions to it, including the physical and spiritual, which should inspire and heal the human being.
