Bawdy Songs Sell Because There Are
Willing Buyers
…Charly Boy
He is to many of his
admirers, Area Fada while to others, the Punk King and also bizarre.
Furthermore, majority of his followers call him Charly Boy. But he is Charles
Chukwuemeka Oputa, one-time president of the Performing Musicians Employers
Association of Nigeria (PMAN) that has for close to a decade beleaguered on
account of leadership tussle resulting in factionalisation of the body. In
attendance at PMAN’s launch of its new biometric identification scheme in Lagos
Uzo Chikere engaged Charly Boy this interview.
Excerpt:
Nigeria recently lost
one of her foremost traditional music icons, Alhaji Dan Mrarya Jos. How do you
feel about it?
Well, any death is a sad incident; whether they’re your
friends; whether they’re your colleagues, we live to die anyway. So, for me
it’s a sad loss. But when times come calling, time comes calling. When it’s
done, take your dues and quit the stage. All we can do is to always remember
him in our prayers and hopefully, he’ll be resting in peace.
This last week
witnessed the World Music Day, looking at the music industry in Nigeria, how
would you say we have done?
Individually, we’ve done well. I remember I was the pioneer
of the big money on the business side. But collectively, we have failed and I’m
not too sure if we are getting it right, and that is why I’m here to just lend
my little voice; lend my support to somebody I think wants to do something;
because this is a job you really need to be passionate about and for you to
make it work, other things must suffer. I don’t know if other things have
started suffering in his hands, because that’s the only way it can work. You
can’t do PMAN work and have your own life or do something else; it doesn’t
work, except you are just there for the title. That is what a lot of, past PMAN
presidents had to go through; that is how we’ve been wired. But then, as I
said; as per the industry is concerned, individually, I am very proud, but
collectively, we’ve not done much.
In the midst of all
of these problems facing PMAN, none of the past presidents is coming back like
you to help fix them. What will you tell them regarding the issues on ground?
Well, everybody has their different reasons; everybody is
bogged down with different problems, and the environment is not as friendly,
but I will urge people like Tony Okorji, my friend, to put in the little he can
so that we can all help because, he is just the past president that made any
sense to me; the rest are neither here nor there.
One issue that has
been a recurring decimal in the cultural sector is the need for instituting a
cultural policy that will touch every segment in that area initiated in 1988,
but presently, it seems to be going through review. What is your take?
It’s not a question of policy; it’s a question of the determination
of the right owners to say we want to do something. In my time there was no
policy; the roads were breakable, so to speak; we tried our best; it’s not
about policy; policies don’t cut it for you. We have good laws that should
protect the masses; what do you see? You see riffraffs who are breaking the
laws anyhow; with impunity, and nothing happens to them. Is it the absence of
the law or the policies? No; you just have corrupt people who are doing as they
like, and we are supporting them because we are all waiting for our turn to go
and do as we like. So it can’t get better.
Why has it been
difficult to cub piracy in the country?
I keep saying that we don’t have monopoly of piracy for
Christ’s sake. Not that it is difficult. It’s just like asking me why it is so
difficult to kill. It is for the same reason a lot of greedy folks out there; a
lot of people who don’t care about the general good; who want their own and
right here now. But piracy can be consigned to history if we continue in this
line that Pretty has laid; that is why what he is doing needs a lot of support.
And I don’t see it happening without the support of some of the people I have
mentioned; corporate bodies. A lot of witch
still dey inside dis industry; useless this people, and I keep seeing them;
they are not yet dead; I saw a lot of them in that hall and I’m saying this
poor boy has a lot to go through. Without the help of a few elderly people, I
don’t know.
As we speak, there
another faction of PMAN. What would you want to say about all the divisions in
this industry as it concerns your union?
Well it is natural that in any union, you will see a lot of
squabbles; you see a lot of disagreements; it depends on the leadership. In my
own time; in the beginning there were factions too. But, if you know how to
bulldoze; if you are so wired, or you solicit for help. I did solicit for help;
I didn’t do it on my own. But my help came from people outside the industry;
until you assert yourself, there will always be factions.
These days you notice
that the younger artistes dish out bawdy lyrics. What can be done to minimize
this?
If you are not buying, they won’t be playing. It is because
you are buying that they are playing. You listen to music either to relax or for
it to teach us something. So it depends on where your ears are; there are a lot
of illicit lyrics; there are other profound songs out there that can touch the
soul. But the young ones now are more interested in how much money they are
making than what they are teaching people and you can’t blame them for that;
they didn’t get into the business to come and be broke like me; they want to
make money…(Laughter)…
Are you really broke?
Yeah, I’m broke according to music. If I know that you all
gathered here like to listen to sexual tunes, I will play you sexual tunes, so that
you can buy more and I make money. Period
Why did you do”Big
Bottom”?
For that same reason I’m talking about; so that I can tell
you what you want to hear and you give me money…(Laughter).
