Dad had no problem with me doing music – Gloria Ibru

Weekend Magazine: How would you describe the Nigeria music industry?
Gloria Ibru: I would say the industry is growing. There is a lot of good music coming out but there is also bad music as well. We need to be able to filter the kind of music coming out. But in all the industry is becoming very large and if we have enough sponsors I think it will be a big money spinner for Nigeria.
WM: What or who inspired you into music?
Ibru: My mum inspired me. Growing up as a little girl there was always music around me. My mum loved the art of music. She took me and my siblings to musical theatres, so we grew up with music in our house. My mum was in the church choir as a young woman and made me and my sister join the church choir too. I was seven when I joined the church choir. Music has always been in me.
WM: At what stage in your life did you decide to go into music professionally?
Ibru: I have always been in music. All through my school days, I was in all my schools’ choirs; I did musical theatre as well. When I came home in 1987 after my first degree, I continued singing but as a hobby, seven years later I decided to go into music professionally.
WM: How did your parents react when you decided to go into music?
Ibru: My mother always loved the fact that we sang, sadly she died before I decided to go into music professionally, so she never got the chance to see me perform on stage professionally. My father loves music too and didn’t have a problem with me doing music so long as I was doing it well. My father always said anything you choose to do, make sure you do it well and this was what he was concerned with.
WM: How would you classify your kind of music?
Ibru: My style of music is a blend of jazz, highlife and calypso, those are my major genres. I refer to my genre of music as jazz-life.
WM: Who do you look forward to work with in the industry and why?
Ibru: There are so many of them. Tu-face is the best right now. I would like to work with Olamide, Wizkid and ultimately my hero Onyeka Onwenu because she is one of the people that have kept me going in the industry. She is a strong woman and inspired me to keep going. She still sings till date, so if Onyeka can do it, then a Gloria can too.
WM: With fame comes controversies. How have you been able to handle both?
Ibru: Apart from the fact that I am famous as a musician, I am also famous as an Ibru, which is a double meal for me. If I wasn’t a musician, as someone from the Ibru family, I would still have to be careful with what I do because it is a big family with a big family name to protect. I have always been taught to conduct myself properly and be careful with whatever I do because whatever I do will be seen and can be taken wrongly. So I learnt how to conduct myself properly. If we are to be truthful, I haven’t had any controversy, the only thing that has been written about me is that I have a kid, and that is not a controversy.
WM: What should your fans expect from you before the year runs out?
Ibru: Now, I am putting the icing on the cake for my career which has been for over 30 years. I have finally decided that I am going to release an album which has taken me approximately two years to do. By God’s grace the album should be out by December. I am also going to release another video before the album is released. I just released a new single called ‘Africa’ and the video should be out soon.
WM: What unique quality stands you out in your style of music?
Ibru: Like I said my style of music is a blend, how many Nigerian musicians do a blend of jazz, highlife and calypso? My style of music is a unique thing for me. Asides that, my album is done on life performance and not digital, it is all analogue and all performances are done live in the album.
WM: Piracy has become a thorn in the flesh of many artistes, how have you been keeping up with business?
Ibru: I am a live musician and have always done live shows, so it is easier for me than a recording artiste. One major issue we have as artistes is piracy, as a band owner it is difficult to manage humans. You have to try and get it right so that you can keep the band together for a long time. The government needs to step in to fight piracy in Nigeria.
WM: What would you consider your greatest career achievement?
Ibru: I can’t tell you one particular thing, there are so many things in my career that are large. But I think for now what would be my greatest achievement is releasing my album.
WM: Aside music what other things do you do?
Ibru: I work with my two sisters. One of them is the business person in the family and the other is the creative mind, so we all work together.
WM: If you were not into music, what would you have become?
Ibru: I have thought of that for 25 to 30 and I have still not come up with what else I could have done. I studied Communication Management and International Relations; maybe I would have worked in that field.
WM: What is your view on young artistes who sometimes portray nudity in their videos?
Ibru: In the world sex sells, it is ridiculous that we have musicians in Nigeria who will sell their music because of the naked women in it. Let us get fresh and real music without naked women in it, let’s sell music because it is good music and not for the naked women in it. Also, people shouldn’t buy music because of the naked people in it but because the music is good.
WM: Going into the music industry in Nigeria, many see it as a big risk. What is your opinion on this?
Ibru: I don’t think it is a big risk, people are just afraid of what they don’t know or understand. If we look at the world now as at the last time I checked, entertainers are the second biggest earners in the world. The only thing that comes tops above it is arms and ammunition. If we open our minds a little bit to entertainment and invest in it, then we would see that entertainment is a very large earner. Look at our musicians; they earn seven to tens of millions of naira per show. If the government begins to tax properly, you can imagine how much the government can make from one musician. I think with the new PMAN president things will become more organised, he is trying to organise the music industry in Nigeria and so far he has done a good job. I have faith in him.
WM: What have been some of the major challenges in the music industry?
Ibru: There are many. I told you of my album which is being recorded all live in Nigeria. We do not have a studio that has the capacity to record a live band at the same time. During the time I recorded my album I would go in first to record before other instrument would do theirs. This is very time consuming and expensive because I pay for studio time and also the musicians, so a lot of money is going into doing just one live recording. I believe that is why many musicians just go into recording instead of live performance, so what we need is people who would invest in live music and recording.
WM: What advice would you give to upcoming and aspiring acts?
Ibru: If you believe what you are doing is done well by you then keep up with it. Nothing in life is easy and doesn’t just jump in your face, you have to keep at it. There are three things that I say, if you believe in God, if you are hardworking and know that what you are doing is done well and you can’t go wrong, then it takes a while for it to settle because it doesn’t just happen. There is no honest work in this world that happens overnight, it takes a lot of work and stability.