We Are Not Dead, We Are Back To Give Nigerian Lyrics A Meaning —Danfo Drivers
Remember the song Danfo Driver, The popular song which took
over the Nigerian airways a decade ago was sung by duo of Mountain Black
and Mad Melon.
Mountain Black and Mad Melon (real names Jimoh Olotu and Omeofa
Oghene) have revealed why they have been absent and their plans on
reinventing theirselves back into the music scene.
The men whose music genre is the Ajegunle’s Galala have been rumoured
to have parted ways by their fellow colleagues for some years now.
Thy gave an interview to Vanguard recently.
Excerpts: Q. Is it true that two of you have parted ways?
A. No, we didn’t split, we only quarrelled, but we are still
together. And we are still alive, so, no shaking. What actually happened
was that we went to school to further our education because we believe
education is the key to ultimate success.
Also, we’ve been going round for musical tour; first one was in
Mali, followed by another one in Portharcourt. We also performed during
the Portharcourt carnival. Presently, we are fully back to the music
scene and very soon we will be dropping our new album and that will be
in two months’ time as we are still working on it.
Q. Fans have been worried over your absence on the music scene. What has been happening to you two?
A. Yeah, what happened was that we had a contract with
Cornerstone, our record label and we agreed on a certain percentage as
part of the deal.
But when we were away in Mali for a Peace concert and in
Portharcourt for another show during the last election, someone notified
us that our marketter was printing our songs and selling it. That’s
piracy, and we weren’t happy about it because we were not told and
carried along. So, when we got back to Lagos we confronted the marketer,
who explained to us that it was our record label who gave the go-ahead.
We felt cheated and angry, and we decided to break our contract
with them. Now, we are coming up with our own record label to be known
as ‘Danfo Drivers records’ and hopefully, it will be launched in the
next two months or thereabout.
Concerning your misunderstanding with the marketer, what was your conclusion with him?
Of course it was a breach of contract and piracy and we took them
to court but later we had to drop the case because we got tired of the
case being adjourned every time.
But could this misunderstanding with your record label be another reason why you were away from the music scene?
Yes, it affected us a lot. We were supposed to be paid
our royalty but we weren’t getting paid. They were just cheating on us.
Another reason we decided to stop recording was because our record
label, Cornerstone Entertainment, which was supposed to be promoting us
were not doing so at all. They were not promoting our works and we were
not getting any measurable exposure.
This made some of our songs not to be released. The only song we
did that made it was the ‘Danfo Driver’. Apart from ‘Danfo Driver’, none
of our other songs was promoted. This got our fans thinking we have quit music.
They also talked about the lack of meaning in Nigerian songs, and said: Most
of today’s musicians don’t have message in their songs. The only thing
artistes of today do is to sing about women , love and drink . So we are
back to give our fans the best.
Danfo Drivers had been rumoured to be dead, they where said to have
been shot dead by policemen, but it was all false rumour, as those that
were shot were armed robbers with the name ‘Danfo Drivers’.
Can the singers who brought us the Lyrics, "Shebi You Be Danfo Driver
, Swo (X6) help out the decline in lyricism in the Nigerian Music
sector ?
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