Cobhams Asuquo's Greatest Wish

Multi-talented visually impaired producer and the CEO of COMP (Cobhams Asuquo Productions), is not your every day person. He has been able to prove to us that his sight is not a disadvantage.
Born into a humble family in Cross-River State, music has been part of him right from his early days. He makes sounds with everything around him that vibrates as a result of touch. “I produce sounds earlier in life with spoons, forks, knives, tables, my chest and every other thing around me that can produce sounds until I later found musical instruments. It was self thought but I have those who mentored me. My primary and secondary school music teachers were actually part of them. I will rather say I was taught the art of producing by God”. Today, he is one of the biggest producers in Nigeria. He won the Hip Hop World Awards for the best producer in 2008.
His challenges are meeting up with everyday sound and the ever changing demands of people. Contrary to what might be on the minds of people, he didn’t see his sight as a disadvantage. “My sight has never been a disadvantage because I have a fantastic team am working with. Like I always say, most surgeons don’t do all the surgery by themselves but they take the glory for it. That is the case here. They are my eyes and my extra ears”.
Due to his amazing talents and the different collaborations he has done with other artistes, many would taught by now he should be planning of releasing his own album, but Cobham is not thinking towards that direction. He is presently into capacity building and he may not release an album until he is 60 years. “Right now, am in the business of developing musical sounds for people and am enjoying it. The challenge of working with new people is actually very huge but I found it interesting”.
Commenting on the state of the music industry in Nigeria, he says it is better than what it used to be. “The business is becoming more lucrative but need more structure to be called an industry. Our artistes are beginning to compete favourably with other international artistes which is a plus on its own”, he said.
As popular as Cobham is among the Nigerian artistes, he still desires to work with some Nigerian artistes but with reference to a particular legend. “There are still some great Nigerian artistes I will love to work with but first them is Onyeka Onmenu. I grew up listening to lots of her stuffs. She is amazing.” Internationally, he will love to work with Don Moen and other ‘Integrity Music’ artiste.
One of his aspirations is to help develop the music industry and put it on the world map. Funny how it may sounds, he didn’t have any regret in life. “Regrets? I can remember any. Growing up was fanstatic”. His greatest wish is far different from what we would have expected. “My greatest wish is to make a heaven and that is not even a wish. I need to work towards it. My greatest wish is to keep my happiness. Am not sure I want to go about wishing. Most things in life happen as a result of work or prayer. God has already designed everything the way he wanted it. I just want to live a fulfilled life”.
His production outfit, Cobhams Asuquo Productions (COMP), is currently into capacity building. They discover, nurture and expose talents. Once the artiste is good and there is space for him, they will work with him. The few on the list now are Pheel of Star Quest fame, Omolara Ayodeji, Jone of West Africa Idols and others. He didn’t fail to tell us what we should expect from them. “Expect some of the best crop of artistes that has ever come out of Nigeria. The new breed of artistes who will do music the way it ought to be done. A new crop of artistes who has sought expression for a very long time and finally found it in an enabling environment to express music for what it is and not necessary for the commercial value but because is what their heart is inclined to. They will express it and get paid for it. Just expect something extra-ordinary to hit the Nigerian music industry very soon”, he said.
Make no mistake about it. Amidst all these, marriage is on the mind of Cobham. He will be getting married soon and the identity of the lady will soon be revealed. “Yes, I will be getting married soon, hopefully this year”. The lady he is getting married to has been a recurring decimal in his life for some time and they are a good pair.
As part of the blessings of God in his life, he recently moved into a new house in Ogudu GRA, Lagos which now serves as his home and office.

Infinity Returns

Contrary to the their break-up speculations after one of the prominent member of the group, Kehinde, dumped the group for a solo career, the group has bounced back and ready to take their career to an enviable pinnacle.
The four-man group, Sunny, Joseph, Samson and David are ready for new challenges without Kehinde, the former group member. Their new album tentatively titled ‘The Seven laws of Infinity’ is almost done. The seven tracker album will comprise different genres of music because they don’t wish to be boxed into a corner as gospel artiste. The first single from the album, Sepe (brewed local gin), which they described as ‘Holy Sepe’ will be released in the couple of days while they round off work on the remaining two tracks.
The group declined that the departure of kehinde didn’t affect them in any form. “Infinity is still a very strong gospel group. The departure of Kehinde didn’t affect us in any form. We have performed in so many concerts after Kehinde left and nobody even noticed if we lost a member. We were only taking our time as regards our next album so that we can come out with something that will appeal to everybody. There is no point rushing”, said Sunny.
The group also revealed to Glitz Stage about their America and UK tour billed for September and November 2009. “We are having a U.K tour by September which we are seriously working towards and America by November. You can see that we are waxing stronger as a group. We are still very much in touch with Kehinde and we will be performing together in Dublin soon. We were even of great financial support to his solo career”, they concluded.

P-SQUARE DUMPS GLOBACOM

The once upon a time juicy relationship that started on a platter of gold between multi award winning artiste, P-Square and telecommunication giant, Globacom, may hit the rock anytime soon. This is as a result of the fall out by both parties to reach a consensus over the issue of terms regarding their ambassadorial contract.
The relationship between Globacom and P-Square started during the Glo Rock & Rule tour when the company had issues with their prized ambassador, D’Banj. The company decided to drop D’Banj from performing at some of the concert venues owing to some disagreements and the artiste that readily came to their mind as an alternative to D’Banj was P-Square. P-Square allegedly received a whooping N3M per concert till the end of the tour.
The company seemed to have been pleased with their performances during the tour and decided to make them one of the company’s ambassadors. This negotiation had been on for a while now and the company already thought the group had finally conceded to their proposal before the unexpected happened. The group was meant to travel with the Nollywood Globacom ambassadors to South-Africa to shoot a new TV commercial for the company. According to an inside source, they already had the passports of P-Square and their visas to travel to South-Africa had been secured before their manager, Jude Okoye, allegedly came back to collect their passports.
The company had agreed to pay the brothers N40M for two years endorsement deal but they are now rumoured to be asking for N40M each which the company finds outrageous. This is the same company that allegedly paid D’Banj N70M as an ambassador. The battle line seems to be drawn now as there is no going back on the part of the company and the artiste. Diplomacy may be the only available option to resolve the issue.

CHAARLES NOVIA'S SCREEN TO TEST COMMENCES

Charles Novia is back again in his unusual characteristic manner with a reality show looking for 25 winners. The reality show tagged, Charles Novia’s Screen Test’ is a reality show that is set to discover stars and give them fantastic acting opportunities.
This project will be solely executed by November Productions, Novia’s formidable production outfit. Charles Novia has always been a firm advocate for talent discovery and talent development, especially in the movie industry and he aims to re-brand the Nigerian movie industry with this concept by taking millions of viewers through an extensive ‘script-to-screen’ process after auditioning hundreds of new talented actors who will be pruned down to a final training class of forty; after which a final twenty-five member cast will be selected to feature exclusively in a new Charles Novia movie, ‘Chariots of The Wind’. They will also be contracted to feature in two other television series from the stable of November Productions within the next eight months. A visual ‘from caterpillar to butterfly’ development process will be shown to primarily enhance respect for the thespian arts as well show the viewer the intellectual processes involved in directing.
According to Charles Novia, “the actors and actresses have to be new on the scene. That’s what I’m looking out for. They must also be talented; that’s a factor. At the end of the day, we should all look forward to a fresh generation of talents who will be box office hits in Nollywood in a matter of time”.
This reality show will be beamed on syndicated network stations across Nigeria. Being one of the pioneer producers who supplied and supported Africa Magic on DSTV with outstanding content when the station opened in 2003, Novia’s reality show will also be broadcast on that platform as well as other international pay-tv stations across Africa and in the UK.
Forms for the reality show are on sale at all Zenith Bank branches across the country for N5000. The certified stamped teller will be presented on the day of audition at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. The audition process will take three days in Lagos.
Novia is the creative hands behind hit movies such as ‘Real Love, The Bridesmaid, Missing Angel, Caught In The Middle, You Broke My Heart, Atlanta, Husband and Wife, When Love Dies and The Covenant Church.

AZADUS DROPS NEW ALBUM

For those that thought he is gone for good and that he can never come near stardom again in music, you need to hear some of his banging new joints. It re-affirmed the fact that self styled reggae act is sure talented and knows his onions when it comes to music.
All efforts made by the act last year to release another album proved abortive. Despite the fact that some of the tracks were already receiving airplay on different radio stations then and enjoying good reviews in the media, it still didn’t appeal to the marketers. He even signed then with a company known as Banquaires Facilities Int’l LTD; the album still didn’t see the light of the day.
The artiste had no choice than to go back to the drawing board and the result is here. His 14 tracker album is ready album is finally ready to hit the shelves.
He shot the video of one of the tracks, ‘I Wish’, in Abeokuta, Ogun state few days back and it was directed by famous Yomi Amao. Some of the tracks on the album are Jump Up, Scopido, Selense, Ilove You and others. He featured artistes like 2Face Idibia, W4, Sal of X-Project and others.
The act revealed to Glitz Stage during the video shoot on phone that the long wait is over. “My fourth album is finally ready to drop and you will agree with me that it’s a long wait. It will be marketed by Hyprodum nationwide by the second week of next month”.Azadus started his musical career with a group known as Defo Clan in 1995. His breakthrough came in the year 2000 after signing a record deal with Kennis Music. His first album, Just Azadus, had the hit track, You is the One, which became heart rendering. In 2003, he came out with his sophomore album titled ‘Distinguished with hot joints like Madam and Warning On. He went underground after releasing his third album, Reflex

2FACE ROLLS OUT DRUMS

It is no longer news that this year marked the tenth anniversary of award winning singer, 2Face Idibia, as a recording artiste and his fans can’t help but wonder how long the celebration would last as they can’t afford to be left out of it.
As if to answer this, in few days time precisely on June 20, 2009 in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, at the Thisday Dome, the first phase of the 10th anniversary of 2Face Idibia will be celebrated in a show titled 2Face and Friends. The ticket for the show costs N5, 000 while the VIP tickets will sell for N10, 000. After the Abuja show, another one has been slated to hold in Lagos titled ‘An Evening with 2Face’ but a date is yet to be fixed.
Speaking with the ‘A’ list artiste few days back, he disclosed to Seun Apara that celebrating his 10th anniversary as recording artiste is another way of appreciating all that God has done for him in the past ten years. “I have been through many things in the past ten years. I have been praised and criticised. God changed my status from nobody to somebody. I’m hale and hearty. There is indeed every cause to celebrate”, he said.
He also addressed the alleged crises in his entertainment outfit, Hypertek. Rumour had it that he had sacked some of his staff due to financial circumstances and managerial incompetence which explains why he returned to Now Muzik for solutions but he dismissed these allegations with a wave of the hand. “There are no crises in Hypertek and I don’t have problems with any of my staff”, he defended.
As at press time, he is yet to reveal the name of the artistes that will be performing with him in Abuja on June 20.

THE KWAM1 MATERNAL PROJECT

The widely acclaimed King of Fuji Music, King Wasiu Ayinde, a.k.a, KWAM 1, is not your regular Fuji artiste. Over the years, he has proved to both fans and critics that he understands perfectly well game of music. No doubt, he has remained the undisputed king of this genre for many years.
Few days back, precisely on Tuesday June 2, he was in the studio with 9ice and ID Cabasa recording. I had thought about so many things before I got to the studio wondering what he was trying to achieve with the new collaboration but when I couldn’t come up with one, I quickly concluded that he has joined the train of Fuji artistes planning to release a hip-hop album but he disagreed with me. “No matter the genre, music is music once it’s good. I won’t agree with you that am going hip-hop. What we are doing here right now is a digital production and this is not the first time I will be doing it”, he said.
The venue of the recording was Foster Zeeno’s Studio in Ikeja. Percy Ademokun, K1’s long time manager had earlier informed me about the commencement of the session but I was stuck in the bottle neck traffic from Adeniyi Jones to Oregun - Opebi Link Road where the studio is located. When I eventually got to there, ID Cabasa had already finished producing the beat. I met them discussing the number of bars that should be on the third verse. After exchanging pleasantries, 9ice was ready to go into the vocal boot to drop the first verse. He was hearing some distortion in the head can but Cabasa told him not worry, and assured him that it would not affect the recordings. After laying the first verse, he did the back-up but the harmonising period took longer than expected. He was actually doing it right but Cabasa kept drilling him till he got what he wanted. At this point, K1 turned to me and said,” you see how we operate in our kitchen? We have to add the right amount of ingredients to make it sweet. It is the food of the soul. It is spiritual”, he concluded as I nodded in affirmation having been a recording artiste once myself even though I couldn’t make a success of it. Any way, I dumped it for music reporting on the long run. While K1 was talking to me, I was fathoming the great chemistry between 9ice and Cabasa in the studio. Neither complained till his part was eventually finished.
Despite the fact that it is the first time K1 will be working with ID Cabasa , they got along perfectly. He easily adjusted to his production style and he was out of the vocal boot in no time. It was an-official break thereafter as everybody found time to attend to their aching stomachs.
Is it true you are eyeing the House of Representatives in the next dispensation? I asked K1 few minutes after his lunch and he answered like a typical politician. Politicians never go straight to the point when ever they are answering such technical questions. “I have heard about it too but I have never discussed something of such with anybody. I even heard it in some quarters that I have intentions to contest for the Senatorial seat. I don’t actually know where the whole thing is emanating from but have not made any comment about it. It is rather better to be in politics to serve than exploit the nation. I love politics of service like the one currently going on in Lagos State”.

He also gave an insight into the secrets that have kept him on top of his game. “To whom much is given, much is expected. The people expect so much from me and I have been delivering. Nothing sells like good music. I put my whole mind in whatever I do and the result is here for everyone to see”. On why he reconciled with Saheed Osupa, another Fuji artiste that seriously contested the throne with him at a time, he said he is a bridge builder. “One of the characteristics of a godly person is the ability to forgive. When somebody feels he has offended you and he apologises, you just have to forgive. What legacies will I leave behind if I started singing abusive music at this point in my career? I can do that as a corrective measure if the people in authority are not doing what they are supposed to. Whatever I do from now on counts because am getting old”.
Why has he chosen to work with; 9ice, Sasha, 2-Shotz, Muma Gee, Ara and others? Why is he partnering with the Lagos State Government? What is the Maternal Project even all about? K1 saw all the curiosity in my eyes and was delighted in taking his time to answer all my adrenalin pumping questions. “The maternal project is an initiative between the Lagos State Government and me. It is very important at this time because of the alarming increase in the mortality rate of pregnant women. There is also the issue of unwanted pregnancies and some ladies also getting into a wrong marriage due to bad counsel. The aim of the project is to enlighten them on the appropriate measures to take when confronted with these situations. It is not good for people to take drugs without the Doctor’s prescription. Collaborating with some few artistes on the project is strategic. 2-Sortz is from the east, Muma Gee represents the South South, Sasha is a rapper, Ara is a talking drummer and I represent a certain genre of music. We believe we will be able to cut across to lots of people across the country and serve the original purpose for which the project was initiated. Lagos State Government is a staunch supporter of good health and that is why we are partnering together. I believe very soon too, that the Federal Government will take a cue from this”.
K1 is also into real estate, importation of musical equipments and car designs for top rated auto companies. Three of his children have also toed his path.