Segun Obe is a top gospel singer. He has been around for about 2 decades. He has shared the stage with foreign gospel artistes like Lionel Peterson, Donnie McClurkin, Kirk Franklin, Pastor Marvin Winans, Kurt Carr and several other artistes on the local scene, like the popular Tunde & Wunmi Obe(T.W.O). He has also played at top notch shows around the world especially in Europe and the UK as well as many states in Nigeria.
He has been the Choir Director with several ministries in his musical career as he has worked with Winners Chapel, Lagos ; Foursquare Gospel Church Choirs, several Redeemed Churches (to train their choiristers as he is also a voice trainer of repute) and of course House On The Rock 's Chosen Treasure choir.
Despite his achievements, he has been a bit quiet. BOLA AKINBOADE met with him recently, and he opened up on his music career, why he has been quite plus his latest project.
What’s been happening to you lately?
Basically, there is time for everything that is what I believe. And for me, I think it was time for me to sit back, look at how the year is going to unfold for me as a brand. And then attack it headlong. So even though I have been behind the scene, I have been planning and doing a lot of underground stuffs since I came back from the states.
But I have not really been that quite, it’s just that I have not been out there, like I used to and that is because I have been planning. I was recently part of the Future Awards 2011, where I did the national anthem with other stars. I have been working on a lot of projects which are about to unfolded. So my quietness is about to yield fruits in the sense that I have a couple of things I have been working on underground, and they are about to manifest.
At what point did you move from just been a musician to a vocal coach and what led to it?
Like I said, the vocal training kicked off 2 years ago. It was a vision God gave to me, and I didn’t even plan to go into training voices. But because over the years, I have picked up a few things, which have to do with how to empower and better my voice. It just dropped in my spirit. I am a Christian, so of course I will say God dropped it in my spirit, that I should empower others and all these things I know about vocal cords, I should share with people who would want to know. And I decided to create an avenue where they can come one-on-one with me, and we have a conversation. We have a classroom setting, where they can ask any question they want to ask based on vocal. I will be there to take them. Of course, I also bring in other professionals who either are world class producers or world class singers who come and also share their experience. Its just a way of bridging the existing gaps, any body who is interested in learning, we have people there, who is willing to teach them.
How has it been so far because Nigerians are not familiar with voice training and all that?
Yeah, I have realized that most people chant these days in their music. They don’t really quite sing, there are no vocals anymore like we used to have. Those days we used to have singers like Lionell Richie, Michael Jackson, Luthervandross, who will sing and you will wonder. That’s how I grew up, I grew up learning from vocalists, I grew up listening to singers, Steven wonders, and wanting to sing like them, but these days, people just chant, once you can do something that sounds like a street song, everybody just catches on and they start chanting. I know that in churches and in some other places, we still have people who want to sing, who still want to be able to have a voice that can melt hearts, want to have a voice that can compete anywhere in the world, and not be ashamed or afraid. I think it’s important even though you can chant; you need to still have a voice that can fit into the world wide market.
As a voice trainer, who constitutes your target client. The churches?
Yes and No, though you have people in churches, you have choristers obviously who will always want to improve their voices, but at the end of the day, you also have individuals who sing on different platforms, who will also want to improve their voices. And it doesn’t have to be musicians only, it could even be a public speaker who probably does not have a good voice dexterity when speaking, this is for you to also come to understand your vocals, maybe you raise your voice too high sometimes when you are talking, and after a while, your voice box cannot take it. So you need to know your voice range, so many things you need to understand about your voice. So it’s not just even for singers, if you use your voice for anything, it’s also for you.
How does inspiration to do all these come?
I’m a private person, I can be in my house for weeks and you probably won’t know I’m in there. And that is when I get time to create. I get to sit down and write songs. You can get a good song when you are all over the place all the time. You need a place sometimes to just shut yourself out, and go within yourself. And of course, the God factor cannot be taken out, you have to also ask God for direction and he would give you a very good song
As a gospel artiste, people wonder why you did collaboration with 9ice, Ruggedman and Ksolo
(Laughs) Sometimes, we should realize that music does not have boundaries; you don’t place boundaries on music like that. The only thing is, I will never be vulgar in my music. If you hear a song that have vulgar messages, or songs that does not contribute right to the society, or children cant listen to and you hear my name attached to such, then somebody has 419ed you. What I have tried to do over the years is, whatever I sing, there will always be a positive message at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who I callabo with. When I bring these people into the studio, I let them understand, they know where I’m coming from, who they are collaborating with, so they even bring their best on the table. They can’t bring dirty lyrics. And that is the way of even actually impacting on them. So it’s been fun working with them, and I wouldn’t say I have to discriminate or I can only work with this set of people, and not sing with these sets, music cuts across.
You don’t seem to release albums, you do more of singles. Why is this?
That is my style, everybody has his own style. People feel that when you release album all the time, it makes you relevant, but I also feel that I want people to get used to all the tracks in my album, so by the time I release an album, and playing back to back, every track will mean something to you. You can sing along. When you release albums all the time and none of it is making impact, after a while, you are not taking serious. But you need to release an album that you know you have put in so much energy into, and by the time it comes out; everybody will just want to get a copy.
What’s your greatest challenge?
My greatest challenge is that you have to change your style to suit what is going on out there now , but I wont call it a challenge, nobody should even be static and stay in one place for too long, because after a while, it becomes stale, nobody want to listen to you any more. So you have to be able to change gears. But the challenge is, maybe it’s not the style that you are used to, and all of the sudden you just have to change and do what everyone wants to hear. Secondly, there should be even distribution album of all artistes.
In what way has your brother Tunde Obe, a popular musician influenced you?
I celebrate my brother right now, I will always celebrate him, he is somebody who has influenced my music a great deal. And without people like him in my life, I think my music would have been crappy. There was a time I used to sing to satisfy myself, I used to throw my voices all over the place, but he called me one day and said, guy, sing for the people, come down, sing something more that will touch people. I can boldly say that, without him, I probably be that old singer who is just interested in showing his vocal skills, but not touching people with his music. So I thank him for been there, and of course his lovely wife, they are doing well for themselves, and I’m trying to make them proud, anytime I make good music or do something new, I know it puts smiles on their face. www.mannamart.com
