Olushola Babajide Aloba Bakare aka Jydo, is a graduate of Mass Communications from  Olabisi Onabanjo University  where he finishedin 2007. After a brief stay in the United Kingdom he was forced by circumstances to come back home where he once again found his voice to sing. He has a number of singles and videos to his name.

He calls his kind of music ‘High-grade, a blend of highlife but Jydo has a different perspective on what music should be about and he shares his thoughts with our reporter. Hear him:

By Iyabo Aina

Jydo

Tell us what motivated you to choose the path of Music
Well, I love music and I believe music is my destiny and I don’t see myself doing anything else.   I chose music because I think it  is a gift God gave me. And with my own style of music, I believe I will be able to carve a niche for myself.

What has your experience in the Nigerian music industry been like?
It has not been easy. I came back to Nigeria in 2009 and I  ve been doing a lot since I came back from the UK. It wasn’t easy coming down here and trying to understand the system.

When did you start this profession?
Professionally, I’ve been doing music for seven years now and it’s been great. But sometimes I get to hear a lot of people saying that my kind of music is for the old mind, but I just believe music is for everybody. When you hear good music, you should mean something to you.

How do you get inspiration?
Inspiration comes from what I see around me, what I feel in my mind and what has happened to me.
For instance, in 2009, I lost my mum and my two brothers to fire disaster in my house and I was in England at the moment and I had to come down   to Nigeria immediately the next morning   to take over the family business . So with that, I try to express myself through my songs. And if not that we have bad governance I wouldn’t have lost my family to that fire disaster because there was nobody to help . So indirectly life hasn  t been fair to me

How has the journey been so far, and what do you think about the music industry?
The journey has been great and I look forward to the future to bring better things. And talking about my experience, I think I’ve had a lot of experience both personally and from people. For instance, if you look into the music industry, people don’t seem to do what is known as music aside from having a good producer.

But when it comes to content, I don’t believe music should be something that everybody will have to dance to or using cheap lyrics in your songs but it should be something that can be played in the next decades.   And there is this Nigerian mentality that once you have a good beat you have a good song. No, it shouldn’t be. Though good beat sells these days but music is more than just the beat.  I don’t see music as a way of making money because it’s better to do a song that can be played   forever .

Why did you leave UK to do music in Nigeria?
I didn’t leave Uk to Nigeria because of music, I relocated from Uk to Nigeria because I lost my mum and my siblings   to take over our family business   . And before I left Uk, I was doing music but it was on a low-key.

How can you compare music in Nigeria to music in the UK?
Music in Nigeria is more interesting than music abroad. Reason being that in Nigeria, you always find something going on, unlike in the UK. Another thing is that here in Nigeria, you get the opportunity to mingle with different producers that understand more about the indigenous songs .And as an indigenous musician , I hardly found a good producer who could give my song a good touch and make it more interesting back there.

Are your songs also the regular commercial music we are presently experiencing from many young Nigerian acts?
My songs are surely not the regular ‘noise making’ ones I sometimes see around. Songs are most times meant to address societal issues or used as medium to pass out messages. In as much that I want to do the regular party or feel-good songs, I still want to pass out message to the government and the young people out there.  One of such songs Efi Opolo di ibo ( Vote wisely). The song addresses the issue of   how and who we vote for . Commercial songs to me are songs that allow an artiste to cross over from his original genre and not just ‘noise-making’ or ‘ass-shaking’ songs.

Jydo

What do you think will stand you out in the saturated music market?
I think my selling point will be that I am coming in with a new sound. I am not doing what everybody else is doing. I think when a lot of my materials are out people will understand me better.

What is your kind of music and how many singles do you have presently?
My kind of music is high-grade which is a bit of highlife which has reality in it. And I have about thirty six singles.

How do you handle female admirers, and how does your wife feel about it ?
Generally, music on its own has a way of attracting the females but I tend to get attention from the older ladies as a result of my kind of music. My wife on the other hand doen’t have any qualms about it because she knows she always has my deepest love and she also understands the kind of profession I am in.

What is the idea behind your new video shot on June 12?
I shot that video Efi Opolo di ibo to address a whole lot of abnormalities in the country today. And with the way it’s going, I don  t think the government is willing to change anything and the main problem behind it stemmed from the way we vote.  I believe if we vote wisely there is a good chance we will get a government that will solve most of our problems,

There are so many ills in the society. Prostituiton that used to be a thing of shame is now being flaunted everywhere. Look all around you; no good road, no water, no electricity and yet we keep voting the same bad eggs into government. The kind of songs I want to be doing are those that will address all these ills in our society not just songs to dance to.