He
has been in the entertainment industry as a voice over artiste but he
became a household name after he was involved in an auto crash in 1999,
which damaged his spinal cord, and which facilitated his entry into full
time music.
Since the release of his debut album, Sweet Experience, Yinka Ayefele’s profile
in the music industry has been on the rise. In this interview with The
Entertainer, Ayefele speaks on his grass to grace story and how he has
been maintaining stardom. Excerpts:
How I started
I have been in music since when I was in secondary school. I used
to be a member of the Boys Brigades in my hometown where I played
trumpet. I started playing guitar when I was in the choir. I actually
developed the talent in music when I joined FRCN in Ibadan by producing
jingles for programmes and so on. This was the time I discovered I had
the potential in me especially when I had the accident and I had cause
to raise funds, I discovered that I could work in the music industry
full time.
Growing up
I came from a poor background. I was a child of a headmaster and I
grew up in a disciplined environment. Imagine my dad as a teacher, he
nurtured me with good moral qualities.
My music career
I usually say nobody knows tomorrow. I never knew I would become
what I am today. As a matter of fact, I wished I became a banker. I
strived to get a job in a bank but to no avail. I eventually found myself playing music.
How I maintain stardom
It is not easy because to satisfy everybody is the major problem. I
found out that it is very difficult to satisfy everybody. As you know,
my job can’t be done on my behalf like any other job. Like going for
shows, attending programmes, people want to see Yinka Ayefele and not
any other person. To maintain stardom, it takes a lot of financial
resources, time and devotion.
Challenges
My major challenge is piracy. It is piracy and the menace of people extorting money
from us while performing at shows. You can’t give these people any
amount you can afford, rather they prefer to bill you heavily and there
is nothing you can do about it. With these challenges, we are deprived
of the fruits of our labour and this has been a major setback.
On entertainment industry
Like I usually say that the Nigerian entertainment industry is
doing far better than others in the world. Why? The entertainment
industry in other parts of the world might not be able to handle our kind of musical equipment but here we can handle any musical instrument.
Also, there is creativity in our music. Look at hip-hop, gospel,
juju and fuji, there has been changes through fusion and creation of
niche. Unlike the olden days when there was wide disparity among these
genres of music, we now have Afro-juju, tungba gospel, apala gospel and
so on. And this has brought a lot of improvement. Right now, the
Nigerian entertainment industry is leading the world.
How I developed tungba music
I called my own type of music tungba because of the sound that
comes out of the beat. It is like tungba-tungba – that is the rhythm
that comes out of it. That’s how I came up with my own tungba gospel.
On the proposed demolition of my house
Naturally, I felt bad about the proposed demolition of my house.
It’s a multi-million-naira property and imagine someone coming one day
to demolish it. I thank God they are working around it. It is a way of
beautifying the state and expanding the road for the benefit of all.
No political motive
It is just an insinuation that there is political motive behind the
demolition. I am not a politician and I am not biased. It is not only
me that the Oyo State government’s policy is going to affect so I see no
reason why people should insinuate a political motive to it. Because
Yinka Ayefele has a name, is that the reason they will witch hunt me?
Never! I belong to everybody and I play for all political parties and
everybody that likes my kind of music.
On my new hotel
It is a great achievement. I just sat down and thought of something
else to do if tomorrow I don’t play music again. That is why I decided
to build the hotel though I wanted it bigger.
Life as a broadcaster
I love broadcasting; I love journalism. As a matter of fact,
journalism brought me where I am today. The support I had from my
colleagues catapulted me to this level. I love journalism and will keep
on supporting journalism and also continue to be in it because once a
broadcaster, you forever want to be a broadcaster. We have an Internet
radio here and we are waiting for our license from the federal
government to take off our terrestrial broadcast. We transmit 24 hours
here now via the Internet.
Secrets behind my success
I oversee everything by myself. I’m troublesome in the sense that I
want to be everywhere. I want to oversee everything by myself. I love
perfection. I want to be in the music studio, in the radio studio and
monitor the engineers and make sure everything is perfectly done. I work
round the clock to make sure everything is perfect.
On politics
God forbid! I am not a politician and I have no plan to go into
politics but I play for politicians and entertain them. A politician’s
time is limited but mine is unlimited therefore, I play for every
politician that comes to power.
Philosophy of life
My philosophy about life is ‘what will be, will be’. I believe that
whatever happens between you and I has been predestined. God allows it
to happen for a purpose.
Future plans
I always say that only God knows tomorrow. Everything is in God’s hands.
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