Romeo, Simeon and Francis are Sierra Leonean brothers known as Team StarBoyz in showbiz. In an effort to make their music more visible and competitive, the Gambian-based trio recently relocated to Nigeria. The eldest, Romeo, talks about the group’s dream.
How long have you been doing music?
We’ve been playing music since childhood, but my brothers and I took it as a profession four years ago. It has been tough doing music; we’ve had lots of sleepless nights.
How did your parents react to your decision to do music?
There was nothing serious because we are educated up to college level. We went to Licsal College, Sierra Leone. There are plans to improve ourselves, but our focus now is strictly music. Our father died about five years ago and our mother lives in Sierra Leone. Our father was a chorister in the church; music is part of the family, but he became so concerned about our future because he tried music too and it didn’t work out for him.
He didn’t want us to go through the same predicament, hence his decision for us to be educated. We did a song for him last year to mark his anniversary and when our mother heard it she gave us her blessing and said she was sure our father too would be proud of us. That happens to be our biggest accomplishment so far in music.
Why did you move to Nigeria?
Team StarBoyz desires to take Africa to the next level in music and we felt Nigeria is the right place to be. We’ve been here for more than two months and our first show was an invitation to perform at the four years anniversary of Yes magazine. The reception we’ve been getting are remarkable and we hope to do collaboration with some Nigerian musicians like Wizkid, Davido, among others.
How do Gambians view Nigerian music?
This is the more reason we came down here. Over there, it is well accepted in clubs and anywhere one visits. So, we said since the music is well accepted in Gambia and other places, it would be helpful to come to Nigeria and see how things are done. We can give more than 50 Nigerian musicians whose songs are well played in the Gambia, but Wizkid has more followers.
How is showbiz over there?
The music industry there is small and it is one of the reasons we came to Nigeria. Within the little period we came here, things are really improving and we’ve been busy with shows. We are not going anywhere till we fulfil our mission.
Do you think remaining a group would be a challenge?
I would say the music business is not easy, but as brothers we don’t drag issues to the extent of breaking up. We normally say in our songs that blood is thicker than water regardless of anything. We don’t really have friends; we are our friends and we are always together. So, there is bond among us.
Was there a time you wanted to leave music?
It wasn’t easy initially and it is still not, but I try as much as possible to motivate my brothers.
What kind of music do you do?
We do afro pop, Rnb and other genres of music. We don’t think there is a genre of music we cannot do.
Do you sincerely think you can compete well in Nigerian showbiz?
I am certain we can do well. For us, we love doing music. We are not signed to any record label yet, but we have management companies, Touch Play Entertainment and Eletu Concept. They are the ones guiding us since they are familiar with the terrain here. We are learning the native languages and local dishes too.
Do you have Nigerian producers you love to work with?
We desire to work with Don Jazzy, Mastercraft, Sarz , among others. Though the name matters, it is not all about names sometimes too. For now, we are willing to work with producers we believe they can bring out the best in us since we don’t have deep pocket.
No comments:
Post a Comment