broke up, Lara George has proved her mettle as
a talented singer. With many hits to her credit,
she has become a diva sought after both at home
and abroad.
But things have not always been rosy for the
easy-going, ever-smiling mother of two who
stormed Vanguard’s corporate office on Monday,
accompanied by her husband, Gbenga.
In a riveting chat session, she told her story; took
us through her journey and what she had to go
through as a gospel artiste to have her name
stamped on the music landscape of the country:
What really inspired the song Dansaki?
The song came at a moment in my life when I
was pregnant with my second baby. I was also
working on my second album. I was just thankful
to God. One day I put pen to paper and said “I
am acknowledging you for who you are in my life”
and the words just kept coming. I wrote half of
the song and I left it.
When I started to record, the other half of the
song came. It was one of those songs you never
thought would turn out to be a hit. I was just
trying to express myself to God .So it’s just such
a beautiful thing that people would pick from the
album and love it.
What were you thankful for at that point in time?
I was pregnant. It wasn’t that I had any issues
getting pregnant but you know the life of a
woman, time and chance just come to make it
come together. We had put off having a baby for
about six years. Each year came and I wasn’t
ready.
So for everything to be smooth when I wanted to
have the baby, I was grateful for that. I was
grateful for family. I looked around me and found
that there was nobody missing. Everybody was
intact .I could call on family and friends around
me.
I looked at my work and I was grateful.
Sometimes, I just get on the internet and
somebody sends me a message from Malaysia
thanking me, for a song that I did that
ministered to them. Someone saying their
marriage is still together just because I wrote a
song. I thought about all these things and I was
thankful.
You said you put off having a child for six years
and your husband allowed that?
Absolutely, for me and my career making babies
has to be something I would be ready for. We
(my husband and I) couldn’t deny the fact it
would have an effect on my career, no matter
how you wanted to look at it. My husband knew
the effect the first child had on me so we decided
to space it. Just when he was getting impatient,
God made it happen.
Why did you opt for Gospel music?
I have always
loved to call my style of music inspirational.
When I started out with Kush, that was the plan
and the vision. I believe music is a responsibility.
I have always said so and I just grew up believing
that. I think that music is something that can
influence generations.
I can’t imagine myself singing songs that will
engender negativity in any form. I have children
and I want them to listen to songs that will spur
them to greater things, not songs that will
encourage them to do wrong.
What is the difference between gospel music and
inspirational music?
I gave you a background of the group I was
coming from, which was Kush. Kush was
inspirational . Kush was the only group in Nigeria
that was described as inspirational. So, that
definition of inspirational music literally came
from there.
It was a vision we had as a team, and it was a
vision each of us had. You will hear it in Ty
Bello’s songs and in my songs as well. We had
songs that were hard core gospel, songs that
were directed to God and also songs about values
that were off God. For me, those are the songs
that I describe as being inspirational, as opposed
to being just hardcore gospel.
What is your opinion about the Afro hip-hop
music that seems to be the rave of the moment
now?
Honestly, I feel Nigerian music is beautiful in
terms of the sound. Unfortunately, much of it
seems to be lacking in depth and in content. We
are the ones who push the mundane kind of
music; we are also the ones who complain that
this is what fills the airwaves. This happens
because this is what we promote.
When you go to a radio station for an example,
they would tell you, “Sorry, we cannot play your
song because you are gospel”. They would tell
you that even on Sundays they have one hour for
all the gospel songs. There’s high level
marginalization in music too. Meanwhile, it costs
a gospel artiste the same amount of money that
it costs your highest paid secular artiste to
produce a song and to shoot a video.
It is not cheaper for me because I am a gospel
artiste; as a matter of fact they will charge me
more because they believe you are Lara George.
They believe one has made so much money
stacked somewhere.
We cannot deny the fact that you will have a lot
of people not doing gospel music because nobody
wants to put their money on it. Nobody wants to
open up the media to gospel music. A lot of
people are running from promoting gospel music
because they will tell them “Sorry we don’t do
religion”. That is the reality. That is what is going
on.
It’s the reason why we have a lot of young
people starting off who don’t want to have
anything to do with inspirational music.
Do you do as many shows as mainstream hip-
hop artistes do? How do you survive as a gospel
artiste?
I have had a lot of support from my husband over
the years. When I started my solo career I was
literally robbing Peter to pay Paul and the music
was not paying for itself. I got to a point where I
had to start saying no to everybody who
approached me for free events because people
always expect that once you are gospel, you
should do free events. Churches will call you for
free events or give you next to nothing .
The radio stations will call you for free shows,
even people who organize non- church events will
call you for free shows when they have charity
events. They expect you to do the charity event
for free, though they are the ones who have put
up the charity event.
I had to start putting my foot down. I started
charging for what I did. I made a lot of enemies in
the process because a lot of people started
saying: “Now she is acting like a diva”. The truth
is that the music needed to pay for itself, which is
what I am doing now; trying to make sure that
the music actually funds itself.
We are gradually getting to the point where some
gospel musicians are going mainstream .Do you
think its as a result of the content of their music
or the more promotion they get?
When you are looking for music that has true
content and true value you will find it in gospel.
Promotion has always been a problem.
Even when you have the funds to promote the
song, there is a glass ceiling that is placed on top
of those who are labeled inspirational. For
example, I released a song recently titled Love
Nwantintin which is a love song. I released it
to celebrate my 10th year wedding anniversary
and I took that to a very popular TV station.
They said to me: “We are going to play it only on
Sundays and I asked them, why only on
Sundays? I was told it’s because its gospel”. I
told them it’s a love song and asked them if they
listened to it. There is an assumption that
because one is mostly known for gospel songs,
all you do are gospel songs.
There are those in the industry who have always
supported good music. It’s because of people
like you that people like me have been able to
stay relevant. There is no denying that when
those people help to promote good music, then it
gets heard and then there is a platform for other
people to actually appreciate what is being done.
From idols West Africa to the present, what have
you learnt from that experience which has helped
your career so far?
I love stage; it is the crowning point of a music
performance. I was told years back that I could
not do music in a certain way, that I could only
do music that is quiet. I believed that for many
years.
So for many years, I didn’t try to do anything
different. It’s been an experience and I am still
learning even now. Every time that I attend a
concert and I watch other people, I try to take
something away and I hope that when I get on
stage next time that I will be a better artiste as
a result of what I have learnt.
What is an inspirational singer doing with a love
song?
Inspirational music is a melody that talks about
any topic, but sees it from the God perspective.
When Lara George chooses to sing about love,
she isn’t singing about it from the perspective of
cynicism , I am singing about it from God’s
perspective that says ‘ One man one wife’ and
hanging in there when you are married.
My husband and I celebrated ten years of
marriage, I wanted to sing a different kind of love
song that is unlike all of the cynicism that you
have out there.
What is responsible for your staying power?
To be honest, I don’t know. There have been
times when I wanted to throw in the towel and I
am saying that it happens all the time. Some
days back, somebody said to me: “Lara, your
songs are not popular, so we cannot have you on
our show”.
We get that kind of disrespect. I can’t imagine
them having the guts to talk to a secular artiste
that way. As a result of the fact that you are a
gospel artiste, they feel that it’s okay to talk to
you that way. They are trying to negotiate and
they believe that it’s a good negotiation tactic.
When you come across attitudes like that, it
makes you want to throw in the towel. It’s such a
big deal that the publisher of Vanguard likes my
song even when I haven’t met him. It’s an
affirmation that one is doing something laudable
when some people want to talk you down.
Every day, I just say to God that if you want to
keep the work going, you literally have to make a
way and he has made a way constantly. Every
time that I had wanted to walk away from the
music, some doors would open. God keeps me
going.
How is your music doing outside of the country?
It’s doing really well. I had a concert in San
Francisco and was amazed how many people
who knew my song. Before then, we had done
shows in Maryland, Houston and Los Angeles.
The one that was most memorable was the song
I did in Cotonou with over 10,000 French-
speaking people singing my song.
When they invited me, I was worried about what
to say to the people. Immediately I started the
first song, they joined me in singing it word for
word. They had done the remix of Kolebaje in
French. Everybody knows the song there; even the
remix isn’t as popular as the original version. The
reception from outside of the country has just
been amazing.
Source: Vanguard
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