Once I picked up a guitar, I couldn’t put it down – Tarri

Weekend Magazine: What was growing up like?Tarri: Growing up was an ‘education’ I am grateful to God for, because I went to the farm sometimes in Imiringi village and tended to my mum’s trading businesses in the small shop, and then helping with cooking for the family. I got used to domestic chores and my […]

Weekend Magazine: What was growing up like?
Tarri: Growing up was an ‘education’ I am grateful to God for, because I went to the farm sometimes in Imiringi village and tended to my mum’s trading businesses in the small shop, and then helping with cooking for the family. I got used to domestic chores and my love for cooking and experimenting with the different tastes and textures of methodology towards food preparation was born right there in Imiringi village.
My early upbringing consisted of such a significant daily chores, functional component that even now I still have to take my turn in the weekly roster to cook breakfast and dinner for the entire family, clean-up after the meals and maintain the kitchen, whenever I’m at home in Yenagoa.
A major influence from my upbringing is that though my parents have a relatively big, affluent and comfortable house, we have never had house helps, so we all do the house work! Even the truly uncomfortable things such as clothes washing (for me) always had one person who didn’t really mind and so we grew up getting used to  housework deals whereby I would undertake Tukus’ kitchen (my sister’s) week while she would do my washing requirements!
It has given me the discipline I require now and the closeness to my siblings that makes me balanced and hard to be unduly influenced in my relationships with others!  
What were your desires growing up?
I wanted to be a Reverend Sister when I was very young (laughter) then. When I turned eight, I wanted to become an electrical engineer because my dad, a mechanical engineer, made me assist with generator repairs as a kid. But I wanted to do something close to what he was doing, but with a slightly differently sounding name.
A significant aspect of my career path has been the fact that I didn’t even plan to be a musician. I just picked up the guitar in the university and, before I knew it, I couldn’t put it down! It became a part of me!
I only knew I wanted to be a professional musician in my final year and I only became certain that I would be one, a year or so later!   
How did music start for you?
From a very early age, all I ever did outside the house were  school, farm, shop-assist and church, church, church!!!
I guess that should be blatantly obvious  to the public  about many good professional vocalists from traditional African communities (with the inevitable exceptions) – Whitney, Beyoncé, Cicely, Aretha, Mahalia, etc!
I suppose church is the global African community’s ‘voice training school’ so to speak!
I became choir director at a very young age and that taught me a lot about how to get people to do things they might not ordinarily want to do.
Then, also, my father, a guitarist, used to force us to play the guitar which, therefore, wasn’t fun, so I liked to sing in the choir as my preferred mode of musical expression as well as playing the piano as my own rebellion against his autocracy!
I didn’t really pick up the guitar until my second year in the university, perhaps because of the tremendous amount of time, on my own, that exploded out of being away from home!
And the rest, as I say, is “my story”! I have never had formal guitar lessons nor opened a guitar   book!
Tell us about Rasolafrik!
So, ‘Rasolafrik’ came about quite naturally by my simply just playing and repeating the guitar chords and sounds that agreed with my own ears! In other words, I created my own chords and chord structures, progressions, and  my own style!
That style is a mixture of every genre of music that I like to hear, and is particularly influenced by reggae, soul and traditional African music, hence the name! There’s also quite a bit of rock and a little hip hop rhythm in my music, but then the name wouldn’t sound so good, would it?
What was the experience like in Project Fame?
It was fun. A bit shaky until I realised I was trying too hard to please others and so I just relaxed and expressed myself.
I kept being told I was arrogant just because I put a straight face on nearly all the time. I didn’t see why I should pretend whenever I wasn’t up-beat.
Of course, when I got on stage it was different. And then  when I was evicted, the same people who said I was arrogant came to me and said “don’t listen to those who want to change you. Be yourself. You were the best” etc and I thought, “wow, are you for real?” People old enough to be your parents exhibiting such hypocrisy! But hey, it was just a musical competition and I had fun.
What’s the experience like writing songs for stage plays and other occasions like straight up studio recording?
Writing for dramatic stage is another wonderful experience. Have you tried studying Operatic lyrical construction? It made me learn a bit of Italian. It taught me a whole new world of dramatic expression with music. 
Who is Tarri off stage?
Tarri, offstage, is Idoubo to my family, a loving, caring, hardworking, respectful, kind, loud, playful, and sometimes, stubborn sibling and daughter! She is Tarri   to my extended family and friends, a confident, hard-nosed, caring, kind, playful, fun-loving, out-going, and  sometimes, ‘crazy’ companion! She is Tarri  to acquaintances, fans and business associates, a quiet, hard-working, purposeful, respectful, playful, fun-loving, out-going, original, professional guitarist, song writer, vocalist and clothes designer!
To all three groups, she loves to play the guitar, write songs, sing them, make clothes, cook, swim, dance, have fun and sleep!
What projects are you working on?
I am always working on several songs and several albums at the same time, because I have a clear idea of what I want to do as a body of work for the next half a century, God willing!
Outside of that I am working on a video shoot for “Pinyokop” on my debut “Guitarri” album and I think it promises to make a simple but significant social statement regarding our cultural attitudes and priorities!
Performing on stage or recording: which brings out the best of you?
Recording is one of the most fun things I do in my life. It’s great because it allows one to be creative, to mix things up in a beautiful way and however you want that beauty to come out. Performing, too, is great and allows you to be more spontaneous and to improvise.
They are, therefore, tremendously creative pursuits, the former being more deliberative and the latter being more off the cuff!
I love them both! Equally! 
Your style is not one  many know. Do you have any worries about how audiences and listeners will perceive your songs, especially with live performances?
No! I let others do the worrying. I just perform to my liking. And I think many have liked it!
Who have you enjoyed working with the most?
I’ve enjoyed working with some very creative minds in Nigeria.
I’ve not really worked with many people, but the few I’ve worked with I have enjoyed working and performing with all of them!
IBK Spaceshipboi, Nene Soul Diva, Wura Samba, Ini D’Minstrel, Cobhams Asuquo,  George Eju, Bez!
Who do you look forward to working or collaborating with?
I am quite fortunate that I love to play the guitar, write guitar-based songs with it, and sing them along with it too. It means I am influenced by, and appreciate, a range of musical genres and artistes as wide as the instrument traverses because I can interpret any song and/or style of song with my guitar.
In other words, if I begin to tell you the people I would like to work with, we might be here all day! I may have to show you why I would like to play these particular songs with these particular people and they would be totally different styles entirely! And of course in my own unique style!
This character of mine is best depicted by the fact that every album of mine will be ended by an “Outro” which is a cover of a particular song as tribute to the original writer and performer!
That said, as a song-writer, I do tend towards respecting those who I think master the art of the song. And I have a bias for those whose guitar playing I like.
So, I would look forward to working with Barbara Streisand, Sting, Mark Knopfler, Chris Rea, Led Zeppelin, Winston Rodney, India Arie, R-Kelly, Michael Franks, Stan Iyke, Jeremiah Gyang, Gyptian, IBK Spaceshipboi, Bruno Mars, Lauryn Hill, Christina Aguilera, Paul Simon, Nas, Queen Latifah, A Tribe Called Quest, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Matisyahu, Youssou Ndour, Tuface, MI and one or two I may have forgotten.
How many albums do you have?
I have recorded the songs for my first five albums, but I am well on the way to playing enough songs on my guitar  to fill 15 albums. That’s the part of my work that I enjoy the most. 
 What informs the themes/subjects upon which your songs are based?
Life, philosophy, relationships, society, attitudes and love!
What other instruments do you play?
I first learnt to play the piano, and then the guitar took over totally. I still try to play the piano, my last seven-octave Keyboard got burnt in a fire.  So, I only play the guitar, although I must master that keyboard one day.
Being relatively new in the industry, how would you describe its challenges?
Apart from my answer to your question about Project Fame, which affects people around the world,   the other challenges, perhaps more pertinent to Nigeria and African-American communities  are  a dearth of the intellectual component  of the music, which is the truly development-economy, at the end of the day.
When an European, American or Asian kid is faced with the choice of music, it ranges anywhere from operatic, to jazz, hip hop, soul, R&B, punk, rock, metal, reggae, acid, techno, satanica, gospel, easy listening and loads more.
The Nigerian kid is fast being given just one choice – “make we enter club” music! And the African-American   hip hop and soul/R&B! Period!
I don’t think that bodes well for our communities, economically. I mean, not everybody is going to be good at hip hop, selling drugs in the ghetto or in our case, not everybody will know how to dance ‘Kukere’ or ‘Azonto’ na!
The kid who will grow up in the ghetto to master the flute and go on to a great career in the London Philharmonic will not have his money refused when he wants to buy a car, would he?
I think this is where the other community continues to trounce the African community anywhere in the world when it comes to music.
One community puts kids into 100 different genres while the other puts all their kids into two, or  in the case of Nigeria, one.
How do our governments, our banks, our music and other arts institutions  help our kids (our future) to overcome this quite unnecessary limitation?
So that we may truly develop an industry, which (last time I checked) depends upon kids picking up and buying instruments and going on to create masterful long term development-economic intellectual products. At the rate at which we are going, there won’t be one trumpet in Nigeria in 100 years’ time and artistes will be composing  songs  on their phone. As it is now, ask the average kid what a Cello or Violin or Oboe is and the answer might shock or make you blush.
Femi Kuti put it very well in an interview when he advised kids to learn an instrument, because it’s no good walking into the studio and asking the bassist to play “du du du du du du du”! We run the risk of becoming the laughing stock of musicians, instrument designers, equipment manufacturers and real music industries all over the world!
Where do you see yourself in another three/five years?
In five years’ time, I would have written perhaps enough songs to fill 30 albums, on my guitar, by His grace, and completed the recording of the songs for maybe 10 albums, because I’m not writing and recording, understandably, as much as I used to, because other things have become priority such as promotion, brand creation, etc!
And I will be releasing my fourth album, doing my 12th to 15th video, going on my third concert tour, and launching my third charity endowment, enjoying my music, my designs  and my life, and thanking God for being able to pay the rent, and other bills, with it!
What did it feel like performing again at AMAA?
Amazing! I was surprised that my state government were co-hosting such a cultural event and I was not automatically on the bill of performers.
It was clear again this time with the wonderful South African instrumentalists, dancers  and vocalists who came. The guys who played the flute while performing the most energetic dance routine with melodies reminiscent of Soweto were amazing.
The highlight for me was Joseph Temboh and the Groove Magic Band from Malawi. It was a shame, also, that Nigeria’s musical offering on the award night was a talentless half-naked chap, with nonsensical lyrics “okporokoto” voicing gibberish about big backsides, miming to a CD, and a second song that glorifies and glamorises prostitution!
I performed four songs on Friday night at the stadium to an extremely boisterous crowd and they gave me a resounding ovation and applause after my first song that even I blushed.
On the award night I performed for over one hour, and I received so much love and support from people far and wide that I had tears in my eyes.
The event brought me deals in South Africa, Seychelles, Nairobi, Tanzania, Malawi and beyond.  And the most amazing thing is that they all have called on Sunday and today, expressing love and support and saying goodbye.
And some kind Nigerians have now taken it up to worry the Bayelsa State Government to support real and original artistes like Gbonz and I!