Dede Mabiaku, the Afrobeat, Highlife and Jazz music icon, has over the years proved himself a force to be reckoned with within and outside the shores of the country. A protégé of the Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Dede who says he learnt the stagecraft at the feet of Fela, opens up to Global Excellence’s metro reporter, ARTHUR RICHARD, why he has not been featured in Felabration, his personal life and 
candid views on younger musicians, and more. Read on…
Where did you pick your brand of music from?
Where I picked my brand of music is obvious, everybody knows that. And it’s only one person that has the control of that and that person is Fela.
What actually attracted your interest in Fela?
Truth, simplicity, quality, value, Africaness, originality and quality of purpose. Those are the things that made me to follow that line.
What was actually your relationship with Fela?
Fela, my father, my friend, my mentor and my spiritual guide.
For quite some time now, you have not been seen around Fela family, you no longer come around the African shrine, what is your relationship with the Fela family now?
Around where? The family is big.
You have not been coming around for some years now, you‘ve not been part of the Felabration. Are there issues?
I don’t have any issue with any of what you have mentioned. That I have not been invited by them to perform at the felabration, it should be your duty to ask them how and why.
But I am asking you, the people will like to know and as the conscience of the people I want you to tell us why.
If you are the conscience of the people, then you should ask the question from where it came. The question is why Dede has not been performing at the shrine at the felabration. Have you asked Femi and Yeni? You shouldn’t ask Dede, you should ask the source.
But Dede is part of the family as we see it.
Fela had his own mind, his own attitude and his own attribute. Like we know, everybody does his own thing. So you nor go ask me about another person thing, you go ask the person, why?
You have your own album, you have been doing your own stuff. I think people mix up things many times. A profession is focused on different dimensions. In the music industry which is an arm of art, there are different ways of expression; people go out sometimes to release tracks, albums, records, singles, it’s deep. There are others who are in the profession for the sake of it. For instance, we say we are in the art for art sake, so we are total. Now, in that rhyme, the issue of having to release album or not release album doesn’t come to play. What comes to play is making sure that the art grows in different ways, forms and manifestations. I have my own songs recorded, yes I do, they are over 50 of them or so. Have I released them?, No, I haven’t, because, did I see any reason for me to do that at that time.
So why haven’t you released those songs?
Sometimes in life, you must understand that people have their views and opinions that must be respected. I wish it will do you good if I explain to you why, but I know personally the sanctity of the situation, it really was not necessary for me to do any release.
Does that imply that Fela actually outshone you?
No. Are you not the one that has come here today? An overshadowed object or subject cannot be visible. I’m out there doing some other things anyway, I’m an artiste. I’m a thespian, a well-trained theater arts graduate. I come from a good home; I did not come from the gutter. So my normalcy and focus are controlled. I’m not in a unit for competitiveness; I’m in a unit for collectivism, for truth in its total form. When people come with questions of this kind of nature, it borders on why you haven’t released. Those are not necessary questions for people like me because the art is a way of life for us. There are so many things in the art, and music just happens to be a part of it.
What is your view on the Nigerian music industry at the moment?
For a while, there has been a shift of the younger generation wanting to focus or tap into the African sound which is good. But when you want to do something, you have to do it the right way round. Musicians should learn how to play instrument, should learn to be true musicians. Most of the young ones are not musicians, they are studio based performers who are just groomed within the studio, they loop a few beats together, auto tune their voices even when they can’t sing and ditch out materials. And when it’s time for them to deliver it live, it becomes a problem, a major problem. But if we concentrate on wanting to develop the art in this part of the world, we need to start it where it needs to start. Musicianship in this part of the world needs to be improved. We are a cultured people; we are a people with loads of things. Now, if we say that younger generation is doing well, we are not saying something wrong, we are saying can they do it better? Yes they can. Now what do they need? They should be more content-oriented, they should be more content-driven, they should develop the act of musicianship.
At the moment we have few artistes that are making waves. In your own judgement, we have the likes of Wizkid, Davido, Phyno, Olamide and the rest that are doing very well. Who among these artistes will represent the future of the Nigerian music industry?
I will start by saying that all of them starting from 2face down the line are the younger generation to a person like me. 2face will come here and I will keep fighting him, pushing him, ‘look guy you need to start doing this thing with live band’, same thing with D’banj and Don Jazzy. Daddy Showkey started playing live band a long time ago and he knows what he is doing and there is no way you can shift him out of the business because he is still relevant. I remember, 2face started without playing live, but I kept pushing and pushing him, now he is gaining more presence, he is gaining more ground because he is playing live. He has a band solidly behind him, and now he is more spontaneous in value delivery. Now coming into the band, Flavour, that is a young man I doff my hat for because I have watched some certain things he has done. He is a total package, he’s a wonderful package. He plays all instruments. One other person I value too much is the guy called Cobhams. That is one solid and gifted Nigerian. Then you have Asa, you have Ayo, a Nigerian lady who is based in Germany. She is doing very well, she has been there before Asa. In fact, she opened the way for Asa in the international market. Then, Nneka, Nneka plays guitar, and they are doing very well. The rest can now start to gain from these ones and follow the trend and begin to culture their sounds more on the live effect than the studio DJ drop it, track 1, track 2 effort. I heard Wizkid is beginning to culture a band. I doff my hat for him, let him still keep it, he won’t go wrong because that is only the way to solidify and make your sound more grounded. The rest of them should follow that pact, it will help them a whole lot better. Olamide is doing something very solid and unique in its presentation, but I think he should have a band behind him. Seun Anikulapo Kuti happens to be the most toured African artiste right now. Yes, the Egypt 80 Band is the most toured band in African right now and Seun is heading it because it’s a live band; all major concerts around the world, he’s always there. He doesn’t do club settings but major settings all over the world like Japan, China, Europe and America. Right now, he is in South Africa performing live. The younger generation should realize that they are the ambassadors carrying the flag of this great nation. They are the ones who will hold firmly to what we are.
Let’s take it from another angle now. You have been part of the talent shows, the West African Idol, the Nigerian Idol, these discovered talents were supposed to be the future of the Nigerian music industry, but unfortunately aside Timi Dakolo and Omawumi, we do not hear about them, they just vanished the very moment afterwards. What can be attributed to this?
It is the same thing I have been telling you. Many of them that came from these shows; yes, they shone for a while, some of them are even still shining, Timi Dakolo has a band, Omawumi does her performance with live band and that is why they are still there. Many of them could not culture their sounds, so where are they? You see what I have been telling you? It’s not about the competition, yes the competitions will bring out the people who desire fame, but how did those who the competition bring out bring themselves to the people? Do you package yourself artificially or you package yourself naturally? Do you package yourself in the studio or you package yourself live? You see, the content of what you cultured is the content of what you will deliver to the people. Would you not prefer if you go to a concert you will see the band, the dancer, the singer, particularly when they are performing? You will love the ambiance of it. If you have a performer indeed doing a night thing with that kind of group, you will boycott a sleep because you will enjoy it better than going to watch one person standing in front of the stage making dj track 1 dj, track 2, dj track 3, you understand where I’m coming from? Because this is something people must know about musicianship.
