Many artistes are straying from real music – Sleek

Up-and-coming act, Olatunde Sleek, speaks on the Nigerian music scene, AKEEM LASISI writes

As soon as it was his turn, Sleek marched confidently onto the stage.

“Track1!” He told the DJ, who he had already given his recorded singles.

As is the practice with many contemporary artistes who do not parade live bands, Sleek was out to mime to the recorded works. But a shock of his young career was awaiting him. Although hundreds of guests were waiting to watch him, the DJ’s machine would simply not play ball.

“I had to improvise on my performance. It wasn’t funny at all, though the show eventually turned out to be cool,” he says.

The Osun State-born singer recalls this as the most embarrassing moment of his music career in an online interview with our correspondent. According to him, he learnt the hard way that day that an artiste should always prepare for eventualities.

The singer, who is also into IT, notes that he got into music professionally in 2006 when he could no more resist the urge to do so.

He explains, “Going professional was the next choice I had to make since it was my love and could also put food on the table. My mission is to make good music, I mean something you can listen to in decades from now and you still want to put on repeat – creating a standard basically.”

Sleek adds that everything inspires him – from the blue sky to the crazy bus conductor. So also is his environment, though he notes that he sometimes goes a little abstract. Although he believes that genres do no matter in music, he has a soft spot for rap.

While his mentors include Mode 9 and Asa, Sleek says one of the high points of his adventure in music is his participation in the Star Quest in 2011.

“I was one of the performing artistes in Star Quest 2011. My experience was wow because that was like the real test for me in terms of the acceptance of the kind of music I make. It was fun all the way,” he adds.

He notes that one of the challenges an emerging artiste like him is facing borders on the fact that he or she has to spend money on virtually all aspects of the business. Hoping that his first album will be out next year, Sleek is currently focusing on singles, together with his producer, Mikkyme.

Although many believe the Nigerian music is riding higher and higher, Olatunde has the fear that the real business of music is somehow suffering.

He says, “I think everybody is just doing their own thing. It’s been more of the business than music lately. But I can’t dispute the fact that a couple of people are still keeping it real.”

SOURCE: PUNCH