Juju star, Wale Thompson, talks about his career and the declining fortune of juju music, CHUX OHAIwrites
Popular juju musician, Wale Thompson, has explained why he always takes a long break from music after releasing a new album.
The singer said, in an interview with our correspondent, that he would rather take his time to release an album that would leave a lasting impression in the minds of music fans than rush to a studio and come up with one that would earn him criticism.
He said, “I like to be perfect in anything that I do. I don’t just want to go into a studio and come out with an album that people won’t say good things about. As a musician, I always want to make my fans happy. I don’t care how much it costs me. I like to make them to keep listening and dancing to my music for a long time.
“It does not matter whether I spend a long time on an album or not. What matters to me is the fact that my fans enjoy my music. Whenever I release an album, it gives me a lot of joy to see that my fans like it. I always look forward to and appreciate their comments on my work.”
The last time that the music act, known for creating hip Juju – a fusion of juju and modern hip hop in the 1990s – released an album was in 2013. Unfortunately, the product of that effort, titled, No Rival was hardly noticed by his fans, let alone make an impact on the music charts in Nigeria.
Wale was virtually absent from the juju music scene between 2013 and 2015. His absence triggered off a rumour that he had finally dumped music and relocated abroad to do other things. But he denied it.
“I did not relocate abroad. I only went to play music in London. I would have returned to Nigeria immediately after the visit, but people kept asking for more. I had to stay there for a longer time than I had earlier planned,” he said.
Although the failure of that album and the financial loss incurred still haunts the artiste, he has not given up. Even the declining influence of juju on the Nigerian music scene has not discouraged him from pushing on.
“I have learnt my lessons, but I am not discouraged. After Michael Jackson released his Thriller album, he made other records that didn’t make as much impact in the market. But that did not in any way diminish his status as a superstar,” the juju star told our correspondent.
One other thing that he seems to have learnt from the poor reception accorded No Rival is never to allow music fans to put him under pressure to release an again.
Determined to safeguard his future as a juju musician, Wale has founded his own recording label and looks cool about it. Also, he has almost concluded work on a new album titled Silifa. “The album is recorded, mixed and mastered. I want to shoot the video and release it a couple of weeks from now. I don’t want to release the album without the video,” he said.
However, Wale expressed concern over what he described as the lack of support for juju music in the country. He lamented that Nigerians had abandoned juju for other music genres and nobody was prepared to promote indigenous music any longer.
“When I say indigenous music, I am also referring to apala, fuji, waka and shakara music. Nigerians no longer promote them the way they used to do in the past. Everybody now focuses on other kinds of music,” he said.
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