At a time when pop music was just gaining ground in Nigeria, Muyiwa Olofinkuade, aka, Jazzman Olofin played a significant role. And for him, the new generation of artistes like Olamide, Wizkid and Davido have masterminded the art of making noise with their music, unlike the old ones.
Jazzman, while speaking with The Point recently, said it might look as if the younger ones were dominating the music scene but the older ones were working as well.
“You saw me at an event and you quickly recognised me. Few weeks ago. I released ‘Wamiwa,’ on iTunes. I even dropped ‘Shade’ earlier before that. All these songs are online. But the new generation of artistes have their own style of music and they make noise than the older generations. For that, you cannot say the likes of Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey and Wasiu Ayinde are not there anymore,” he stated.
He lamented that most artistes who had failed to respect or value his contribution and that of certain people to the industry were still ‘bathing’ outside and wearing ‘pampers’ when they started music and did not blame them much for their ignorance.
He added, “But I have met some young artistes who are quite respectful, while others can be funny. You may have new clothes than your elders but you can’t have old ones than them. None of them have disrespected me directly because I love to keep to myself a lot. I know I am just here to play my part in the world. The only thing is that some of them pretend they do not see me at events. Probably, they think they are stars too.”
According to him, though all is not yet perfect for the music in industry, the veteran singer believes things are on the rise. He maintained too that there had been more online presence in entertainment than ever before.
“It is easier to promote songs now. You can record a song now via a phone and put it out there. Unlike before, you have to move around to radio stations and other important places.”
For him too, just like the younger artistes, managing women was a major challenge for him at a time and he had his share of affairs with women. But for care, he noted that he would have ended up having ‘babymamas.’
The father of three said, “Women at times may like you but they do not know what they like about you. In most cases, they like your music, not the person. I had my share of women too and I know they are women who would say I broke their hearts, but I did not promise them anything.
“I believe in the togetherness of a family and I do not fancy having children out of wedlock. I took my time to pick a woman and she is like air around me. I have never regretted getting married; I have been married for10 years.”
