Juju maestro, Ludare is 50. Ludare whose real name is Oludare Olateju turned 50 last Tuesday 14th March, 2023, the same day his son Foluso also marked his 5th birthday. They are birthday mates. For those who are still wondering who Oludare is lets quickly tell you that he is that super talented musician making waves in the Juju music industry. Until he left the corporate world a few years back, he was a brand Manager with one of the brewery companies in Lagos and by the side he did music partime. Now, he has become a full time musician, taking after his late dad, Emperor Wale Olateju, the Sabada exponent, who is his lifetime was one of the contemporaries of KSA & Ebenezer Obey, the 2 great music icons. At 50, Oludare who many call Ludare is set to revive his fathers music and music label. For years, he has had a band called Ludare & His music icons. Now, Ludare has become the new Sabada king. He has stepped into his fathers shoes. No wonder many call him Ludare Omo Sabada.
On Thursday 9th of March, 2023, the Publisher of City People Magazine, Dr Seye Kehinde, led a team of journalists made up of the Video Editor, SALISU NURUDEEN and the Reporter, ABIODUN OLUSOLA to interview Mr Oludare Abimbola Olateju for his 50th birthday which comes with the commissioning of a house in the honour of Emperor Olawale Olateju and lunching of his album. And the reason he left his corporate work to be a full time Juju musician. Below are excerpts of the interview;
Let me start by congratulating you on your 50th birthday, how does it make you feel and what are the preparation?
Tuesday 13th of March, marks my half of a century on earth. I don’t know how to express my feeling, in terms of my growth, development, and how I have survived for the past 50 years. A lot has happened during that period, at least I can still remember my childhood days when I was 4 years old. The major landmark then was the death of Muritala, we were living at Post office road in Mushin back then. I remember that day, I saw soldiers on the road and it was unusual; there was teargas everywhere. There was first news that they’ve killed Muritala and they caught Dimka. There are things I could still recall, and that was 1976. From then till this moment, I thank God and his grace for keeping us till date.
What role has music played in the evolution of your 50 year?
Well, I think by the virtue of me being born into a music family, where my dad was actively practising music and always listening to music in the house, I grew up with some artists like King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey among others. Music has been part of me because I am also a good listener of music like my dad.
I remember my 9th birthday, I was in primary 4; in our house then at Owode. My dad’s band came to rehearse and one of them wanted to teach me how to play guitar. My dad will refuse and insist that I should pay attention more to my studies. He said that I must study to be a doctor, that music is not for me. Interestingly, that was what made me to pick interest in music. I wanted to be like my dad, I wanted to be with him, around him and among his band; but he did not want me to come around music. Subconsciously, I think I leant parenting from there. Because, there should be a good explanation, let people understand the reason why you are resisting some certain things for the children. So he wasn’t doing it out of hate, may be he had a vision or a future he wanted for his children. Then, I did not see it from his own angle but I saw it has daddy did not like us.
Still talking about music, how did you see the role of your dad’s generation, King Sunny Ade, and others who have sustained the juju music?
They really tried, I must give it to them. If we are to look into the world of those days, I don’t know may be all of them were accidental musicians. But they also had other trainings to support music as at then. If we look at the way the economy was, like wise our political structure; there was product of this environment like liberation. We wanted freedom from our colonial masters to speak up for our ourselves, to find our identity as an African. So music serves as a vehicle that helped them through that period. So music was beyond a vocation, it was also a means of expressing their identity, that was the time music played a good role in nation building. As at the time we got our independence in 1960, if you look at the level of situation of the country related to the type of music people were singing they were very original and very cultural. It was all about their identity, they thought the Europeans were repressing them at that time, that was the role music played. Later, people looked out for other things to sing about. From there, different genres of music started coming out, as Nigerian artists started singing Rap, Blues, Reggae in the 80s. Music now revolved round the development of that period.
Looking back at your Dad’s contribution, what would you like to remember him for?
Emperor Olawale Olateju that is my dad’s name, the Sabada king. He had his days in the industry. In all of his career, he was able to manage the family and his career. With his fame, he had time for his children education, he was devoted to his family. In terms of his relationship to the music industry and other artists as the time passed on, he was already defined , because he was one of the board trustees of AJUM. He was one of those people that started PMAN, I still have his identity card, his number was 008.
He was a firm person, he was contented, he was a decent musician, he also lived by his means.
For a very long time you’ve been able to balance your two roles as a corporate person and as a music artist. How have you been able to juggle the two?
Well, for a lot of us multitasking is a big problem. But I learnt something in school when I was studying for my masters in business administration. Those are the practical things I learnt. At the end of the day, if you work there will be a time you will need to do stuff for yourself either planned or not planned. For me, one of the ways of getting to that level of education was my ability to do something for myself. Best way to create wealth is when you do something for yourself, and have a back up plan. I have always said to myself that, if I don’t become a director in where I work, I think I want to be a director on my own and do stuff for myself, that had been my own goal. All those time that I used to buy musical instruments it was all about me working towards that goal. I used to have a plan of 15-20 years ahead. Juggling it at that point was deliberate because I have seen what the big picture was. So my focus was on the big picture; not minding the level of inconveniences, not minding the level of disruptions and a lot of challenges I went through. For instance, after work on Friday, my next gig might be in Ondo. So I need to manage and conserve my energy to travel down to have a good gig. You can see the level of discomfort, but I was doing all of that because of the tomorrow I was looking at some years back. It was one of the motivation and big picture that was driving me. I can’t explain that much, but the grace of God was there for me always to help and keep me through all the challenges.
How easy was it to let go of your corperate life?
It wasn’t easy, but it was something that was time bound. I had to look at it because most people used to make their resolution every 31st of December or 1st of January. So, I had initially put a cut off time some three years back. But I don’t think I was ready enough but I always renewed it.
My fan base, I needed to give them that opportunity. Because, when I was in the corporate work, I could not release me song, and album due to the conflict of interest. In a way, I am denying my real fans and people that kept encouraging me offering me the opportunity to have Ludare. To scale up and commercialise the talent, I realised there is limit I can keep pushing the cut off time.
When it came, how did you handle it?
It was easy and a smooth transition. In a sense that I moved from one office to another and I have been busy. When I checked my calendar I was booked for the 12 months after my cooperate life and things are not slowing down at all,I really bless God.
Tell us what we should be expecting from the album
We have a 10 tracker and a bonus track which is the tribute to Emperor Olawale Olateju that makes it 11 tracks. We have 5 tracks on one disc and anther six tracks on other disc. Each of the songs has its own message and essence. Basically, I tried to rework some of his own songs. There are things around Sabada, there is Edake Jeje and couple of my own songs too, like Baba Ose, Ijo Mi among others. We try to mention our main tempo; its very easy to listen and enjoy the Yoruba music styled Sabada.
What are the other aspects or contribution you have not mentioned?
Basically, the celebration is 3 in 1. The 50th birthday which was meant to be commencing with the golf kitty at Abeokuta golf club, then the commissioning of the house, and launching of the album.
I noticed you used to sing some other songs when you’re on stage, does that happen often?
Let me explain why that is, we are still building our albums. You will see people will begin to understand our style and we have a lot of music and songs they can relate with. For me I have a bias for King Sunny Ade music, and it is what I have built my trade on. There is no crime to that, when king Sunny Ade started that’s how they followed people before them. It also goes with the mood of audience of the party. To give people what they want to listen to.
How does the role you played as a marketing person affect your music life? Will there be similarity or differences in it?
Definitely, building a career in marketing communication and doing that for the past 22 years, its going to add value to whatever I do, even if it is pure water I want to sell, I should be able to bring the benefit of haven worked with those multi -national companies, haven learnt something in and around marketing or being a fellow of marketing institutes in Nigeria. So, I should let it reflect in whatever I do. Mainly, I should let my band members to understand the importance of how we turn out for shows, the principles and how we build equity into our name. So when people hear our name, it is not just that they are expecting good music alone, we must depict other positive things.
Will you involve your kids in music or allow them to have the mind of their own?
Of course, they have the mind of their own. What I try to do is that, I make all the instruments available for whoever has interest in it. Like my dad, he didn’t allow me to carry his guitar but my 5 year old today plays with the ground piano, because I’m trying to create an atmosphere where they get familiar with it and by the time he comes of age it will be more easier. My first two kids they both can play two instruments each. My first son plays keyboard and saxophone, while my daughter plays violins and keyboard. All of them also show interest, they started with recorder and the harmonica. If they choose to build careers out of it that’s their choice or the business side of the enterprise they want to focus on like running a label. But for me, as long as I live, this business that my father started I will do all I can to make sure I pass it on to the generation next. A good example is the resucitating of Adebo record. When my dad left Chief Bolarinwa in 1975, he started his own record and he released quite a number of works on Adebo Record label. Adebo record today is registered with corperate affairs commission. We will start to build again from the scratch via an organic growth to the level we will appreciate and be proud of.
