IN THE STUDIO WITH NELSON BROWN BY BOB EJIKE

IN THE STUDIO WITH NELSON BROWN

BY BOB EJIKE 

DON JAZZY, LOULU AKINS AND NELSON BROWN

Almost certainly, whenever a hit came out of Nigeria, it’s color was Brown.
 

I spent two months with ace music producer Nelson Brown. Born in Epe, Lagos

state, of an Isoko soldier and trader parents, Brown lived in Agegunle, a breeding ground for different forms of talent. The young Onome started his musical journey in a church. At the age of 13, he was already a full blown musician.

Emotional and sometimes physical scuffles between him and his father who saw him as a loafer sent him out of his parent’s home and as a first child, he had to fend for himself and the other seven members of the family. Finally, he proved his father (whom he still strives to impress) wrong with albums such as Cashman Davies’s “Joromi” , Black reverends’ “Ayangba Girls”, Azados’ “you sis the one”, Sound Sultan, and Shiner Ray’s “Akwaoche”( which started a riot that cost several lives

and razed the Oyingbo market) Almost certainly, whenever a hit came out of Nigeria, it’s color was Brown. ‘what is the Magic?'

Nelson smiles boyishly, ‘it’s not just a magic, it’s knowing what the artiste wants, not all my 500 albums were successful, some were not well promoted so the public did not hear them, sometimes the artistes are not good or they don’t have the right material. A producer most be good and this involves making music for the public, not for himself. To achieve this, one must constantly study the market and give the people what they want’.

Brown and I have were working on a musical album entitled Afro Rock Fiesta, effecting such a project with Nelson Brown is every Nigerian musical artiste’s dream. Obviously, Brown had registered more successful records than everybody else in the country, monsters- hit like Baba Fryo’s Denge Poze, Daddy Showkey’s Diana, Daddy Fresh’s Faka Fiki Faka, and Elerugberu, Plantashun Boiz’ among 500 others, and for Brown, money is not everything.

He reflects philosophically: ‘You never know which one of these youngsters will be the next superstar, that’s why I give them my money and my time’.

He regrets turning down Tony Tetuila and took one feather off Nelson Brown’s hat. Brown has since learnt his lesson. He produces virtually every kid that comes his way, many a time for
nothing.

A comparism with his colleagues and predecessors such as Odion Iruoje, Sony Okosuns, Harry Mosco, Tony Okoroji, Pa Chris Ajilo, Lemmy Jackson, Leslie Bruner, Nkono Teles, the late Jake solo, Gordy Oku, Laolu Akins, Chris Okoro, Paul IK Dairo et al would amount to an injustice to Brown because he started out with most of these producers at a time when the Nigerian scene was

dominated by the reggae music of Tera Kota, The Mandators, Oritz Wiliki, Majek Fashek, Ras Kimono, etc. and while the others remained somewhat artistically static, Nelson Brown changed with time and took control of an entire generation of Nigerian recording artists leading them into the modern musical order. The music maestro admits that I was the first artist to pay him his worth, but no sooner did I pay him each day than he distributed the money to his artistes.

After nine and half years of recording in Nigeria, I had arrived at the realization that our beloved country is not a viable terrain for musical investment and growth, that having contributed my quota to development of almost every aspect of literary and performing arts, it was perhaps time to move on, when an innocent critique I did on a famous afro musician brought angry e-mails that reminded me that much of my 4000 songs have remained unrecorded. I decided to take the challenge off the pages of the newspaper, into the studios where it belongs, as that was the only way that the pugnacious argument could be of any use to anybody. To suddenly embark on this capital intensive project which would involve using both a digital studio for computerized equipment and an analogue studio for live instrumentation, I contacted Nelson Brown. Brown was however not the first producer I contacted for Afro Rock Fiesta. When I consulted Eddy Lawani, my former manager and showbiz consultant, explaining my intension to recreate a brand of afro rock music which had died with Osibisa, he was certain that the best bet for such a fusion of the

seasoned African root with contemporary musical forms was Laolu Akins especially with his seasoned African root with contemporary musical forms was Laolu Akins especially with his success with Shina Peters: I ran into Laolu Akins when I went to book Decca Records and after ventilating his frustration with the preponderance of hip hop music, he literally frightened me away with a production fee that was as much as my entire budget. But frankly speaking, I had gone to Akins out of respect for Eddy Lawani. Evidently I have my preference for a producer who is still in tune with the current trends in the industry, especially since this album is intended for the international market. Besides Akin was basically a pop producer when he launched a cynical Shina Peters with the all-time masterpiece ‘Ace’. I believe that Nelson Brown, with his Rap, Raga and hip hop background could bring into being an afro rock album that would change Nigerian music forever, putting it into main stream world music, a feat that not even Fela Kuti actualized.

Once arrangements were made and agreement concluded with Nelson Brown, I went shopping for percussive instruments, a blessing that God in his infinite mercies had endowed Africa with, but which is ironically often lacking in our music because of our incessant attempts at westernization.

At the end, I found 15 of them, sambas, bongos, maracas, various assortments of raffia, bead, bamboo and Iron shakers, wooden xylophones, gongs, bells, sticks etc.,

Sequencing at Agos studio was a mission impossible because Nelson Brown has a kind of cult followership among budding artiste, sometimes there were as many as ten people battling for his attention inside the studio while he records my music.

Brown and I built the musical backbone for seven songs, including Iyawo Mi, You Keep Me Guessing , Fiesta (duet with Stella d’light), Jealousy(Duet with Mr. Cool), Give Women A Chance, Mirror, Mirror, (On The Wall). Brown encouraged me to express myself for the first time as a multilingual performer thus there are intros, verses and rap in Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and pidgin English. He had made a mission statement that challenged all my previous producers including the European ones, and he was visibly living up to it functionally, he imparted the best of creativity on my music, leaving nothing to chance. All the musicians that he hired were the best in the country (no second best). The choral group of thirteen singers, led by Joane (who has performed in almost all Nigerian successful hits), did a good job.

 

BOB EJIKE