ENT: Adeh Gbolahan-- Why no artiste should perform with CDs at concerts

By AYO ONIKOYI 

Budding musician, Gbolahan Adeola Jeremiah aka Adeh Gbolahan, is passionate about propagating Africa to the world through his music, which he describes as ‘Unstyled.’ In this chat with Star Tracker, he speaks about his career and future goals.
Enjoy… Beyond that, how would you define your style of music? I’m an eclectic guitarist and I play mostly at Jazz festivals. I think the best way to define my music is ‘African.’

Afro music is inbuilt for me. I also describe myself as ‘Unstyled’ musician; I could do Afropop, Afrobeat, Afrojazz, Afrofusion, Afro-highlife etc. In my latest song, ‘You and I,’ I have a potpourri of genres in there such as jazz, highlife and the likes.

Tell us more about your latest song, ‘You and I’ I thought I needed to do a love song in an African style. ‘You and I’ is a wedding song that has deep lyrics. It was produced by ace beat-maker, Wole Oni. I want to implore everybody to go online and download the song, and I can assure them that they would enjoy it and wouldn’t regret doing so.
So far, the response has been positive and overwhelming, and I appreciate everyone who supports me. Do you think Nigerians appreciate love songs? Yes, they do very well. Especially when it’s a matured song, and not dirty.

Tell us about some of your other songs? A lot of my songs are gospel. I have ‘Slavery,’ ‘Iwo ni mo ni’ which was recorded in South Africa; ‘Ose Baba’ featuring Segun Obe. It seems most of your songs are gospel? My first album was gospel, but my newer songs border on inspiration and love.

Do you think the likes of Davido and Wizkid do Afro music? Yes, they do. Their style is called Afro-pop, fused with highlife, hip-hop and other genres of music.
I started playing music professionally in 2010. When I started, I was playing the guitar for established artistes such as Segun Obe, Kenny K’ore, Nigga Raw, Ice Prince, Tiwa Savage, among others.
That must have been a period of tutelage for you;
what did you learn from playing for these artistes? I won’t say it was a tutelage period, because I was already a professional by then. They only contracted my service to be part of their band. However, they were all fantastic, and I enjoyed the time I spent with them. I also learnt craftsmanship from them.
Music is beyond just playing instruments or recording in the studio; you also need to connect with your fans.
What are the challenges you’ve faced so far in your music career? Acceptance by parents and family is a tough one, especially when they spent a lot of money to send you to school. At a point, finance was also a challenge. You mean finance is no longer an issue? (Smiles). I’d just say things are better now. Are you signed to any record label? No. but I have people that have interest in me, and they have always supported me.
Your educational background? I have a Diploma in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management and a BSc in Marketing, both from Lagos State University.
What do you actually want to achieve with your music? With the style of music I do, I see myself as one who showcases African culture. There are a lot of traditional African folk tunes that I will like to export to the world.
Do you think there is a place for Afro music on the global stage? Yes, there is. A lot of Nigerian artistes are already getting international attention. Besides, there are elements of Afro in the music of many international artistes such as Jay Z and Drake.
There’s a belief that a lot of Nigerian songs don’t carry messages, what do you think about that notion? Well, I think whoever writes a song has a reason for doing so, and they have a target audience in mind. I can tell you categorically that some people don’t like to listen to songs with messages; all they want is to dance to the beat. These are the hard truths we now face. However, I don’t do music without messages.
How do you derive inspiration for your music? Life situations, basically. When I was at LASU, there were a lot of chaotic situations, and things like that propel me to write songs. Some of my songs like ‘Aluta’ and ‘Testimony’ were actually inspired by real-life situations. Nature also affects my writing process.
If you were in a position to change one thing in the Nigerian music industry, what would it be? No artiste should perform with CD at concerts. Everybody should play with live band. That way, we would improve and promote our brand.
Which artistes do you admire? In Nigeria, I admire people like King Sunny Ade (KSA) and Ebenezer Obey. And on the international scene, I admire the likes of George Benson, Chuck Lowes, among others. How do you unwind? I watch movies, and I hang out with positive-minded friends. By the nature of what we do, depression sets in some times, so having positive-minded people around you helps a lot.
How would you describe your fashion sense and style? Just one word: Afro. You can’t detach that from everything about me. I like to appear African, and portray Africa in a good light.