One of Nigeria’s foremost music producers, Laolu Akins, shares his experiences with ADEOLA BALOGUN and ’NONYE BEN-NWANKWO
You don’t look like somebody who is 60.
I’m definitely above 60, but you know, age
is a feeling. Because I’m in this industry, it helps us to remain quite
simple about things. I’m particularly glad that I’m not bogus, so I tend
not to look my age and I thank God for that. I was born as a slim
person and no matter what I ate and what I eat now, I never put on
weight. So, I suppose it is just a natural thing. And I don’t really
think it matters what you do, it’s always important to keep fit.
You were recently involved in the Oleku Concert of Ebenezer Obey and King Sunny Ade as producer; some people may not know what a producer does.
The job of music production as opposed to
stage production is fairly related, but there are specific things you
would do in producing a music concert as opposed to doing a studio
recording. But one has been involved in the industry in several ways and
by virtue of exposure; it’s possible for me also to train myself in
specific areas. The industry is very wide: it’s not just about
performing, writing songs, and recording songs. If you avail yourself
the opportunities that abound in the industry, obviously you can go
beyond several others.
And you can expand your coast in the area
of the industry that you belong. I’ve been a performer; I’ve been most
things in the industry and I started production many years ago. I’ve
handled artistes in terms of management and producing their records, so
it gives me the opportunity of a wide range of involvement in the
industry. For the stage, you want to ensure that the sound of the
musician is as best as you can get it to be for the audience; you want
to ensure that the stage is set in such a way that it’s comfortable for
the artiste to perform. It’s also important to have a sequence of
activities that take place on the stage, whether you are having one
artiste or several artistes.
In the case of Oleku, it was the
first time we were doing like that anyway and it was two giants, Sunny
Ade and Ebenezer Obey. So, you had to be as detailed as possible even
though this particular concert was good and people said so. I still
believe if we have had more time to plan the concert, we would have had a
more magical presentation. So, as the producer, you would need to look
at certain specific areas to get the show properly going and for the
audience to enjoy what they have paid to see and for the artistes to be
able to do their best.
What of the studio production?
For the studio, it’s a different ball game.
First, you want to make a record and you also want to make a record
that will sell; something to attract a lot of listeners. You are going
to start from the basics: putting the music together, arranging it in a
structural form that will attract the ordinary listener whether he is a
vulcaniser or a businessman; whether he is emotional or sentimental. So,
various aspects take place in the area of record production. You are
concerned as a producer about the content of the music that you want to
record, including lyrical and musical; you want to ensure that the
artiste is able to deliver those contents appropriately and in the best
possible way. You also want to be sure that the technical side of the
recording itself is the best that you can have. So, in the event you
make a record that is deficient technically, no matter how good the
content or the artiste is, you will have a bad record. So, as a
producer, you will have to have all of those put in place.
Why did you decide to be behind the scene?
Interestingly, I started out as a
performer. I started in a group called Oscar, then Clusters and then
Afro Collection and finally BLO. All of those years, I was on stage
performing with my colleagues. We were touring and playing in schools
and all that. I think that it is always important when you are involved
in a job, for example as journalists, I know that if some of you decide a
book, you will write an excellent book, no matter what the subject. The
same way for the artiste, if you decide in yourself that you want to
excel, you must follow through a course by which you achieve excellence.
I told myself that having been involved thus far, it would be good for
me to be able to expand my territory in the industry that I belonged and
one of the things we did when my group was in the UK was we trained
ourselves as producers. Myself, Batley Jones, Lemmy Jackson, as BLO, we
were in Europe for many years, 1974 to 1980; and during those years even
as we were recording, we found time to train as producers and we began
to see things that we had done even as performers how we could actually
achieve them better than as artistes. That became knowledge acquired and
it’s impossible to acquire knowledge without utilising it. And before
we left Europe for Nigeria, we formed what we called BLO Production and
we decided that once we arrived at home, we were going to start working
with a lot of artistes producing them. Before we left BLO, we were
producing ourselves even though there were producers, but there was
Odion Irojeh, who was the major producer virtually producing everything
and we in BLO produced our albums before we travelled. We recognised
that there was a need for producers who really understood what music
production was all about and we decided to go into it and we came back
to Nigeria with the intention to start producing others, even as we
worked for ourselves. And when we came home, the first thing we did was
working on Chris Okotie’s I Need Someone; we worked with Irojeh
as producer, but we did the work together. And that was the first thing
that actually brought us out as individually and collectively as a
group and from then on, whether we were working individually or doing
collective work, we were producing virtually every artiste.
You said you started performing as a schoolboy, how?
In those days, most groups got themselves
together in school; having a common interest, started doing something,
even football or table tennis. It was the fashion then that people
formed music groups; those were the years when the Beatles and others
were hot and we fashioned ourselves in the mould of the Beatles and that
was how it started. I can tell you that many of us didn’t plan to be
musicians; it was simply fun and we did everything to enjoy ourselves
and then, it started building up. A couple of our colleagues went into
doing something else; some remained, some went away and never touched
music again, but some of us stayed and followed through. And I think
that once you are able to identify an area where you have flair, it’s
important that you follow it.
At times, some children would
want to do what their minds tell them to do, but their parents would
want them to do otherwise. In your own case, didn’t your parents frown
on your choice of music?
I was lucky. By the time that I started
playing music, my dad had died, and fortunately for me, my uncle whom I
lived with that could stop me had gone to the UK. So, I had my mum, my
sisters and other family members, but more importantly, if a child is
serious about something, you will know. If a child is just merely having
peer pressure that, ‘Oh, my friends are doing it, so I must do it,’ you
will also know. And it’s important you remain close to your children to
know which way you are going to be able to guide them. In those days,
parents didn’t believe that their children would become musicians and if
they found that they were becoming more serious about music, they would
call them and ask why they wanted to do that. My mum asked me that and
it was only the only time she did that. She said, ‘Is it this music
thing that you want to do?’ and I said, ‘No, it’s just a hobby,’and
anyway, it doesn’t stop me from doing anything else I want to do and she
said (it was) okay. That was the first and last time my mum queried me
about if I was following music. All my sisters and family members didn’t
because I wasn’t a loose child; I was broughtup in a Christian way, so I
didn’t have undue excesses and so it was not so difficult for me. But I
think I was just lucky, I didn’t have any problem with my parents but
many did have. In those days, because parents believed that musicians
went into drugs, they followed women, they lived a rough life, they
queried their children who wanted to go into music and I understand
that. Every parent would like their children to be successful engineers,
doctors, lawyers but things are different today. We thank God.
Apart from music, what did you want to do in life as a child?
I actually wanted to be a pilot to be able
to fly planes and I wanted to go to aviation school in the United
States, but it did not materialise. I was close to it, but a couple of
things went wrong at the time and that was botched. I didn’t give up
because when I first went to the United States in 1972, some of my
friends who we started together here were already in the aviation school
in Florida and I said to some of them that once I got back to Nigeria, I
would come back to join them, but I never did.
Was it music that took you out of Nigeria for the first time and how?
Yes. I was with a famous group then when
Tee Mac came into the country. He ran into my group and found that it
was a solid group that he would like to work with. He had plans to get
an African band to Europe, so he got together with us and we changed the
name of the group from Clusters to Tee Mac and Afro Collections and we
started working together. We were supposed to travel then, but we never
did. But in the course of all of that, a gentleman and very prominent
British drummer, Ginger Baker, who was a member of a very successful
British group called, Cream, came to Nigeria around 1969/70, about the
time the Civil War was coming to an end. He came to where we were having
our Sunday show called Martini Show at 4 pm every Sunday on the (Lagos)
Island. It was renamed Batakoto. Ginger Baker actually drove across the
Sahara in the very first Range Rover and came to Lagos on the
invitation of Remi Kabaka, who was also a top Nigerian musician. Ginger
Baker played music with us, which was filmed by the BBC and he was
thrilled. He went left and later came back and said he wanted an African
band which he would take to Europe. He came and invited me and members
of my group to work with him in what was called Ginger Baker and Salt,
and we started rehearsals and the first performance was at Fela’s Afro
Court in Yaba, then before we went to Europe in 1972. We first went to
Germany. It was the year of the Olympics and we had what was called then
Olympics Jazz Festival. That is how music took me out of Nigeria for
the first time. We toured Germany after the festival; we went to the
United States, then Canada, came back to the US, then to the UK, and
back to Nigeria. What happened in 1972 for me as a Christian said
something to me: the first time I tried to travel, I made all the plans
but something went wrong. Now that I wasn’t planning it, and suddenly,
this opportunity came and it was music. That was the point I became a
professional musician without meaning to and that for me became a
calling and I decided to follow it through. I went all over the world
which I would not have been able to pay for all by myself.
What kind of music were you playing then?
In those years, all of us young music
groups started first by copying and aping the Beatles, the Rolling
Stones, Jimmy Hendricks and all the big foreign and famous musicians.
And then we gradually began to compose our own songs, but still
fashioning them after the British and European pop music. Young people
followed us and fell in love with what we were doing and we began to
build up something. And then in Clusters, we made a record called the
Choke around 1964 or so and then at the tail end of the world, we made
another single called Black Goddess. Our group was the first that went
to the East after the war ended and we came back with one of the best
singers that lived through the war, Chris Ogali. He was the one that
sang Black Goddess in Clusters. It was on that tour too that Beckley
Jones who became B of BLO joined the group from the East.
Why did the group break up?
BLO never broke up. As a matter of fact,
BLO and the Sunny Okosuns group were the longest groups that stayed
together. We had recording contracts with Decca Afrodesia and it was in
that process that we went to the UK as BLO in 1974. Decca thought this
was a group with potential and they would like to take us to Europe to
expose us to bigger markets. They got us a European management company
in the UK that managed us throughout the period and at the time we came
back to Nigeria, we were still on contract with Afrodesia. But then, the
company wasn’t willing to invest any more in the group. They thought we
had not made a hit record again and so until we made one; but we
believed that a group must be supported and motivated to be able to
perform optimally. That was the conflict and we decided to wait the
contract out but while doing so, we had already become producers and we
just carried on. BLO was formed in October 1972, we were on till 1982
when we made our last singles.
Who were the members of the group?
BLO was originally Beckley Jones which is
the B; myself, Laolu Akins, which is the L and Mike Odumosu, which is
the O. That is the original cast, but Mike Odumosu left the group in
1973 and joined the Osibisa and we had to replace him. We brought on
Biggy Wright who became the O. His name is Oladele and we continued and
the time we were travelling, Biggy couldn’t go with us because he was in
the military. So, we had to bring somebody else to be the O of the
group, but we didn’t get anyone who had O in his name, so we went to the
UK with somebody else which we never emphasised. And when we got to
Europe, we met Lemmy Jackson. Otuh was his middle name; so we brought
him in and he played the keyboard; while somebody else played the
guitar.
Which instruments did you play?
I played the drums, which I still do.
Did you start producing the big names when your group started music production?
Not really. The BLO Productions started
with unknown names. Chris Okotie was a student at the university. The
one that followed him, Ubemi Ama, was also an arts student in the same
university. They were even friends. Then I went on to produce a Benin
chap called Tony Ukate, who was not known anywhere. Then after, the
group produced Christy Essien-Igbokwe’s Give me a Chance.
Igbokwe had been around, but that was a major production for her and the
album was very successful. Thereafter, we did Onyeka Onwenu’s For the Love of you/All of Us.
Then after that, we started working individually and I went into
African music. I started with the likes of Shina Peters, I then produced
for Mike Okri, Funmi Aragbaye, Adewale Ayuba and so on. Onyeka also was
an artiste that I produced. We started with relatively unknown artistes
who became successful and eventually went to some big ones.
What makes a producer of those days still relevant today?
When you do a job and it is successful,
people want to work with you and it becomes a norm; people begin to say
that once he touches your job, it becomes a hit. I know about a lot of
artistes that said to me they cannot work with any other producer and I
take that as a compliment and I thank God for that. From my own point of
view, quite a number of producers in the generation that I belong,
first had experience as performers; they had experience as people who
went through the mill. A lot of us went through the mill, even before we
found the means of training at all in this industry. We were just doing
everything by trial and error. Experience is not something you can just
discard like that. Number two, we benefited from our formal training.
However, a lot of producers of today are doing a lot of things on their
own, which was how some of us started. But the good thing is that you
can train to be the best, even if you have the talent and I will advise
the younger ones to also avail themselves of training. Today,
institutions abound all over the world where you can train in all
aspects of productions; so there is no more excuse.
Where did you train?
I trained in the UK. Beckley and I trained
at the Orange Music Production Centre in the UK and in those years, you
didn’t even have those institutions per se, but organisations that
provided training for young people. Even now, there are non-governmental
organisations that run group training and mentoring for young people,
which I’ve been doing for free. I recognise that people need it.
What happened to your education apart from your training in production?
Even in the music industry, the process of
training is fairly academic. There is a language for training doctors,
engineers, lawyers; the same way is music. I had basic education; I went
further to train as a music producer. I also even learnt how to write
songs and I’ve written hit songs. One of my songs is being used as a
film track in the US. You can do a number of things with raw talent but
you cannot go far without education. I believe that young people should
understand that: your talent will take you to a level but education will
take you further and show you how to apply your talent and make it
better. I went to elementary school in Ibese, the Anglican school in
Egbado division in the Western Region in those days and I came to Lagos,
where I attended Lagos Technical College. Thereafter, I didn’t do any
schooling anymore until I went to the UK.
In your sober moments, do you regret not following your dream of becoming a pilot?
No. It was something I wanted to pursue but
now, I want to see it as a hobby. Even though you may say I dabble in
music and what I have become, I believe some spiritual forces must have
directed me at the time it happened. I still would like to fly planes
for fun because it is a great feeling when you are up there and do what
you like with the aeroplane. I’ve also taken time to read a lot about
planes and I’ve quite a lot of friends who are aeronautical engineers
and pilots and when we sit down to talk, they understand where I’m
coming from.
What prompted you to want to fly a plane?
I came on an excursion when I was in school
to the airport many years ago and we saw a lot of aeroplanes. I looked
at them and I wondered how the planes went up and came down. When they
were showing us around, they told us where the pilot sat and the
engineers and the navigators and I just told myself that I would like to
be a pilot. So, it was there for me as a goal until destiny took me
somewhere else, but I don’t regret it at all.
You lost your dad early, how was your mum able to train you?
My mum was a gem. My father had four of us
before he died and I was the youngest, so I was mummy’s pet in a way and
she took me everywhere. While everybody else was allowed to look after
themselves, I was looked after and my mum was interested in everything
that happened to me, She was also interested in my well-being and to a
large extent, she made sure that I went to school. We were of average
family; though my mum remarried and I lived with a stepfather for a
while before I moved out. I had four after me, two boys and two girls.
What would you consider as the high point of your career?
First and foremost, my group – BLO – became
widely accepted and we became very famous in Nigeria. At a certain
point, even a foreign record company found us worthy to be taken out of
Nigeria to a wider market. That was an achievement; for something
started from nothing. Second, when I began to have world exposure; it
wasn’t just playing for large crowds around the world. The opportunities
I had exposed me as a better artiste and able to practise my
profession; that was a high point for me. Then beyond that, when I
finally got all of that together and came back to Nigeria and began to
produce artistes who made big hits; that for me was another high point. I
may not have been able to make a lot of money, but I think that not a
few people refer and recommend me to people as someone who is successful
in turning things around.
At what point does the producer get something for his effort at producing an artiste?
A lot of artistes today are doing business
with friends and when the record becomes a hit, you see them fighting
with themselves. It’s because they didn’t do what they were supposed to
do in the first instance. It happened to me, I had experienced that.
I’ve written songs for artistes which became hits after they were
recorded and I’ve been denied royalties because they said I didn’t put
down my demand. My mistake then was that I took it for granted that
everyone was aware of the norm and I learnt from that and I want people
to learn too. The industry is very open and wide now and so nothing
should be done without a written agreement. It’s a standard in the
industry all over the world and that is the way it should be here. As a
producer, I get royalties from records that I make, the same way the
artistes get royalties from their recording companies.
You said you were brought up as a Christian and went into music; hasn’t that affected your Christian upbringing?
At a point in my career, I hardly had time
to go to church. That happened to me for many years and I know it
happens to a lot of artistes, but I think there is a point that you
reach in life that you can no longer put aside God. Not that I didn’t
recognise the path of God in my life; I prayed at every point; but I
wasn’t attending church as I should and as I used to. But I tried as
much as possible to find a way of making up for it because personally, I
believe absolutely in the power of God for my direction in life.
How do you handle temptations that are often associated with your kind of career?
Is there anybody that is not tempted? One
good thing for me is that discipline has helped? I don’t do anything in
excess; I don’t even feel like doing anything in excess. I feel
comfortable among friends; I drink when I feel like and I’m in control
of what I eat and drink by the grace of God. If I want to drink water
for three months, I will stay with that and if it is soft drink, or red
wine, I can stay with it, but I know when to say stop. And that is due
to discipline which I recommend for everybody.
Do you still produce?
Of course, I still do.
What of your family life?
I’m happily married and we have three
children: two girls and a boy. My wife is in the aviation industry and
she is a wonderful woman that God gave to me. Two of my children have
done their master’s programmes and we’re grandparents already. We’re
waiting for the other two to bring their partners.
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