‘I don’t know where my talent comes from’

Beautiful Nubia is talented; there is no doubt about that. He has sold over a million copies of his album, Jangbalajugbu from which the song, How Do you Do? (Owuro L’ojo) has become an anthem. He was in Abuja Thursday night to perform at Lola Shoneyin’s Infusion and as expected, the dreadlocked singer and spoken […]

Beautiful Nubia is talented; there is no doubt about that. He has sold over a million copies of his album, Jangbalajugbu from which the song, How Do you Do? (Owuro L’ojo) has become an anthem.

He was in Abuja Thursday night to perform at Lola Shoneyin’s Infusion and as expected, the dreadlocked singer and spoken word poet, born Segun Akinlolu pulled in the crowd.

And again as expected, the artiste raised the curtain with his anthem ‘How Do You Do?’ to a rousing applause and those who had not had a taste of Beautiful Nubia before then, knew for certain they were in for a treat.

His folkloric music is rich with Yoruba metaphors and rhythm. It knocks at the heart, gently, until a door is opened and Segun’s evocative voice and lyrics find a way to nestle somewhere therein.

Beautiful Nubia was all too willing to share the source of his inspiration for his trademark song and told the audience he had been asked to write the song by a radio producer for a morning show and the song went, “Good Morning, Sweet Lagos.” But the artiste later reclaimed his song and altered the lyrics to produce the hit that thousands wake up to every morning.

He followed that up with ‘Seven Lives’ which was as haunting as it was lyrical. Watching him perform leaves one wondering what if he had chosen to remain in his veterinary medicine practice.

Segun had graduated from University of Ibadan in 1992 with a degree in veterinary medicine and actually practiced for eight years before leaving to pursue his childhood passion.

“When I left, I was one of the richest veterinary doctors around,” he told the audience at Infusion. Music, however, has brought him fame and fortune beyond his wildest reckoning. Music was what he was born to do.

The singer/songwriter said he remembered composing songs off the top of his head at age nine during childhood plays. One of the songs he composed at that age made it into one of his albums. He is now 44.

But at Infusion, he performed a song he had written at 14, when he said his pimples forced him to retreat from the world, from his pubescent pursuit of girls. It was at this period that he was encouraged by solitude to meditate on his music.

The song, expectedly, was a love song and Beautiful Nubia said even though it hadn’t helped him much in his own pursuit of love, it has helped a lot of men woo their dream women.

“I don’t know where my talent comes from,” he admitted to the audience. He just realised he was gifted and can’t explain exactly how that happened, he said.

He, however, believes he had worked hard to improve his talent and has been inspired by circumstances he had been in and things he had witnessed. One of such songs was inspired by an image from the Iraq War of a child who had just had his arms blown off. He also performed that song on the night.

“My body is fragile, my spirit is strong but I have a very sensitive soul,” Beautiful Nubia said.

A popular song of Beautiful Nubia, Lamentations of a Broken Pot, has been used in several Nollywood movies as soundtrack and when the artiste was asked if he had written it specifically for film, he said Tunde Kelani, the ace movie producer, did ask him to write a song for his film and the singer did not want to disappoint because of the high regards he has for the film maker.

But as for the other films that have used the track, Beautiful Nubia said, “The thing about Nigerian movies is that they come to tell you they want to use your song and the next thing you discover is that it has been used already.”

Beautiful Nubia, who has published a number of poetry collections including Waiting for the Bones (1997), Thinking Big (2000) and Citadel Blues (fiction, 2004) said it has not been a roll all along.

There have been moments when he had wondered why he had left his vet practice for music and there have been times as well when he had been in pensive moods, question each and everything. He had, at some point, contemplated leaving music altogether. But something has always kept him going.

“On a day I get low, someone will email me to say, your music has saved my life,” he said.

For those who had the opportunity of watching this talented singer perform, it was a soul touching experience and Beautiful Nubia, with his guitar, wits and verdant lyrics has won himself more fans.