‘Masquerades are symbolic for us’
What is Takulukus and what’s the origin? Takulukus Nyamazenga is the great-grand father of the TIV race and his wife, Aliwee the mother of TIV which means the leading masquerade. The name is derived from Swem-Karagbe which is the seat of the Holy Shrine of the TIV people. The first group started in 2003 and […]
What is Takulukus and what’s the origin?
Takulukus Nyamazenga is the great-grand father of the TIV race and his wife, Aliwee the mother of TIV which means the leading masquerade. The name is derived from Swem-Karagbe which is the seat of the Holy Shrine of the TIV people.
The first group started in 2003 and released their first album entitled Kwagh er ve, followed by E don happen in 2004. They were successful releases in Benue State and its environs. We are working on a 13 to 15 track album which will soon be on air with the hit song, ‘Game not over’. It is one of it’s the type that has never been watched in Nigeria before. The video is hot, just watch out!
We have performed in different concerts in the North and Benue State,
What is the essence of masquerades in the video?
The masquerade in the video is trying to cast our minds back to those days of our tradition. We are trying to bring our tradition into hip-hop music letting people know and understand our culture and origin. We are trying to garnish the African culture with the Western elements as we showcase to the world what our culture and tourism is all about.
What is the message in the song, ‘Game not over’?
The message in the music is for everybody. We are trying to let people in the city have a feel of village life. Some people don’t have time to travel down to their villages even during festive periods, to see the things we swagger down there. This is our way of keeping them abreast, and we plan on doing more of these types of videos.
We believe that we should keep preserving every aspect of our daily lives. It may seem to fellow ‘spectators’ that it is over for me and you, but things can turn around for the better because the whistle and officiating is by God.
What impact is your music supposed to have on Nigerians?
We want listeners to feel more African in terms of tourism and culture. The football aspect of the music video is telling people more about the game of football, during this period of the very first world cup on the African soil.
Nigerians can be forgetful but I want to remind us of what happened in the Atlanta 1996 cup where everybody was saying Nigeria will lose to Argentina but at the end Nigeria won.
The boxing in the video is trying to let people know how strong Nigeria is, that we Nigerians can face whatever and whoever. We are strong and mighty; whatever comes we are ready.
Who are you preaching to?
We are preaching to the whole World, Africa in particular, the poor masses on the street struggling and trying to make it happen; the unemployed, the corrupt, and the religious.
We should not give up, let’s go with the adage which says ‘the first shall be the last”, so we should all be encouraged. You know the best is yet to come.
What kind of music do you do?
I can tell you, we do good spice of African hip-hop i.e. hip-hop that contains sweet aroma of African culture and tradition.
Do people in the city enjoy your music and dance to it?
Yes, our brand of Hip-Hop is dance provoking; people enjoy and dance to it very well because they try to learn more about the dance steps and they enjoy the masquerade tang to the music.
They love the cultural aspect of the music because everybody has a culture except the whites. Unfortunately, we in Africa are trying to copy them at the expense of loosing our beautiful heritage.
How can you relate your music with everyday life?
Life itself is a game. Anything you do in life is a game; you either gain or you lose, so relating our music as regards everyday life is something serious. Whatever you do take it serious and pray for God to give you the grace to carry on to the very end.