The Lagbaja Story

Posted in music. Written by admin on January 8th, 2010

Lagbaja is a musical phenomenon that needs no introduction. In   this Christmas special interview he opens up on his growing up and shares his experiences with robbers Ego his former female vocalist and more. Its most revealing as you’s soon find out. Enjoy.

Let’s go back to the good old days. What was is it like?

It’s exciting. Every once in a while, I get to speak with people who have been in the thick of it, from the very beginning, who can write the history of how everything went.

It’s really nice and I always appreciate that opportunity, especially knowing that you guys have been supportive all these years.

From what you know yourself too, for any artiste, may be not every artiste but often, whatever would be big long time might not start up easily. So, it was definitely tough and rough at the beginning.

The Lekki Sunsplash concert  is an example of the baptism of fire. But the good thing about it that is that when you have a vision, once you can overcome such obstacles, you are prepared for whatever, because at that time, those were huge audiences and you don’t have such festivals happening much at the beach these days. It was an experience that made you more committed and you just have to keep doing your thing the best way you know how to.

What went wrong on the day of the concert?

Nothing really. If you remember very well, three other artistes had been stoned off the stage. What I remember very well was, it was a very big festival organised by DP Lekki limited and it usually had these huge pieces of equipment from 7-Up that you could hear the sound from the roundabout at Lekki.

That was their first year of using a different PA that wasn’t from 7-Up and there was really no power. Even before we went on stage, I went to complain to them because I care about technical things.

Lagbaja

I went right into the mixing stage because I knew the people who were mixing there to ask what the problem was. They explained it was the generator.

A professional would decide not to perform on that day. My brother, you go remember the story of Anita Baker, when she came to Nigeria. And Nigerians were yapping her because she refused to perform, that she didn’t respect her audience.

That’s not the issue. The issue is that an artiste has something he wants to project and how he wants to project his product. I don’t know the full circumstances of what happened with Anita Baker but I know she must have had a real reason after coming all the way from US to refuse to go on stage.

It wouldn’t be for any crap. It will be for a solid reason.
The same thing on that day, the normal thing will be to say I wouldn’t perform but here you are- you are new.

So, in our very small environment, we all know each other. The next thing is,  ‘ha the boy is troublesome, he is making trouble. He said he won’t play again.’

But the terms of the contracts stipulate that you have the right as an artiste, if the PA is not good enough, you could refuse to perform there and you’ve got to be paid.

So, an example of what could happen when you have such circumstances is what happens on that day. At least three artistes before us, the people were already throwing things because they were unhappy. The large crowd and the sound not over powering them, there will be trouble.

So, it was worsened by the fact that you are a new artiste. They don’t even know your songs yet and here comes a man with a mask. We can’t even hear what they are playing or doing. Is this a joke? And then, it was already getting late in the evening and the audience was restrictive.

It took us about 30 minutes to set up the equipment on that day. This itself contributed to the restiveness of the audience.

So, these technical things, plus the fact that you were new, and added to it you had a mask, it was just too much for the crowd. They threw banger, anything on stage.

After the first song, we had to leave the stage. That’s the basic story.

Between the period you were growing up and when you became a masquerade; did you play music?

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By Ogbonna Amadi Entertainment Editor