Kefee’s last interview-Branama Queen speaks on: ‘How my music career started + Why dad was angry with me’

Kefee-RIP

SHOWBIZPLUSng painfully brings you darling readers the last interview Sapele, Delta State-born singing sensation, Irikefe Obareki popularly known as Kefee granted Entertainment Express. May her creative soul continue to rest in peace.

 

After your last album that contained the hit song, Kokoroko, many have said that you have abandoned gospel music for hip hop...

(Laughs) No matter how it is, I am still a Gospel Ambassador, I love hip hop and dance hall that is why Kokoroko was like that. So anything I do in my album my work is actually the kind of things I like listening to. I get bored listening to a particular genre of music, I can’t listen to jazz all through, and I can’t listen to hip hop all through, and I can’t listen to reggae all through.

What inspires your type of music?

For instance, I like Kenny G, Tracy Chapman among others. Tracy Chapman sings about life, about herself and other people experiences. It inspires me a lot, because I still think sometimes, the only avenue and the only way I can actually talk about them is through my music. I am not a motivational speaker, neither am I a teacher, but I can sing and people will listen to me. I use that as a gateway to pass the message that I have to make my little contribution.

You recently performed alongside Grammy Award-winning artiste, India Arie, when you met her what did you say?

All I told her was that I am a big fan of your work and apparently she heard about me before I met her from her manager. So I went and told her that I am a big fan of her works, I listen to her music and I can tell you that she actually inspires me from her very first album. Then we started talking about other things, (laughs), it was like I have known her for a long time and because of my familiarity with her music, it was easy for us.

How did you discover music was what you wanted to do or did music find you?

I have this uncle who operated a record store and he had this big speaker outside. So we always hear variety of music while growing. We don’t have that kind of music these days then, there was Fela, Bob Marley, Jimmy Clive etc. For my uncle, playing music was marketing things because he plays any album on high demand. I just grew up listening and singing along to those kind of music. Like I told you, I can sing a lot of songs that I did not take time to really learn. Even traditional music was not left out of the kind I listened to then, like Sunny Ade, Sir Shina Peters among others at a time. Also my mum loves music too; I grew up watching them go for competition and during rehearsals too. So I was always listening to different type of songs, I think that got me exposed to different genres of music. I am not into a particular genre of music, I love different types of music. I just love music generally.

What kind of child were you while growing?

(Laughs) I was very lively and everybody said I was gentle and hardworking, but I think that I get restless; I wanted to know how everything was working. I was that kind of child that will want to know how people appeared on the television, when everybody is in the house I would want to go back and work. Maybe I get to spoil items in the house along the way and when my dad comes back, I get smacked. I was the kind of person that will go just to see how the clock was working; sometimes I break it, just to see how it works. As a child, I hate doing something over and over again. I was always smart, climbing tree, playing, so just like that, I was a lovely kid, everybody loved me because they said whenever I walked by I greeted. Everybody Mi Gwo, Mi Gwo (Urhobo traditional greeting). I see old people coming from the market and help them carry their loads. I was just like that.

Tell us about your family, you are not the only child are you?

No, I am not I have three brothers and two sisters, I’m the number three, the second girl, I have a sister, my brother ahead of me. I was born in Sapele, Delta State, even though we were six in the house. At a time we had a lot of cousins, living with us, so people were always coming around, coming to stay with us, my dad was seen as a disciplinarian. So people brought their kids to come and stay with us, believing that after staying in our house, they will come out better persons, and I think that actually worked for everybody that stayed with us. It was fun growing up in that neighbourhood, actually it was a small town in Delta State.

 My dad was a business man, a trader in electronics. He sold electronics while my mum worked in NEPA, Sapele, but she resigned later.

What schools did you attended?

Ok, I attended Emmanuel Primary School, Sapele and then Uhoma Mixed Secondary School. Then I attended University of Benin, where I studied Public Administration for two years, it was a diploma programme and now I do music.

Listening to those songs while growing, did it ever cross your mind that your breakthrough would come through music?

It looked like a dream, then when I was growing up in church I used to sing, and it was the same thing in school and end of the year parties. I sang with a friend, Hannah, I don’t know where she is right now but then in the church while I was in the children department, we were told to present a song and I did very well. So I always hoped that people will listen to me someday. But it wasn’t like I was sure of anything.

 

What were your childhood ambitions?

To become a great person, to become a great philanthropist, to be a force to reckon with I had always wanted to help people, so I want to render what I had to give.

 

Did your parents support your music career?

Interestingly, the very first encouragement I got was from my dad. After singing that day, he gave me money that he was very proud of me. The money was not what encouraged me because it was just N5, it was him smiling and being happy, that encouraged me.

I started singing in church and home, because by the end of the day, he will be happy and gives me money. So that was how I started in 2003 when I released Branama. But before then, I released an album in Delta State, I was in Lagos when I did Branama. I was in Delta State when I did my first album with a friend, I call Esthee. Esthee travelled abroad in 2003, then I decided to go solo, and that album was an interesting one. Esthee’s father is the general overseer of our church; my dad was a deacon in the church when we released that album.

At what point in your career did you make the decision to come to Lagos?

At about that time, like I said my dad was not very happy, about me putting on trousers, he was like, is that my daughter? It was generating a lot of talk from our church people, so at the end of the day, my uncle in Lagos, said come to Lagos, when you finish from your school, take a bus straight to Lagos. That was how I came to Lagos. I was in Lagos when Esthee travelled and I decided to go solo, I did Branama. When I did the video for Branama, I still wore trousers (laughs), when my dad saw it, he was very happy. He called me to tell me that he was very happy, he told me he was very proud of me, that the song was very good. At this time trouser was no longer an issue again for him.

How do you respond to the accusations that Kefee started as a gospel artiste, but now going secular?

Well, what makes a secular artiste? Do you have my first album? If you do, then you will know I am still doing the same thing. When I recorded my first album, I did Branama, I was enjoying myself, I had reason to because of what God did for me, and inside that album I recorded a unity song, in that album also I recorded “Everything is gonna be ok”. That song was to inspire people, to encourage them, that no matter what they are going through, things will still be okay. I am not aiming to please anybody with my songs, if I have the inspiration to do this then, I will do it.

Looking back, do have any regret about your past?

I don’t have any regrets. I think challenges in life actually add something to your life, if they don’t come, life would be boring. I grew up not liking to do something, over and over again; I always tried out new things. So not having challenges would make life so boring. So no matter what has come my way, it has actually made me stronger. It has actually taken me, where I am today, so I am grateful to God for that.

Answering that question, what will come to people’s mind is your marriage and separation from your ex-husband...

I just told you whatever happened made me stronger, I don’t want to talk about that, it is a plus to me, an added experience to me. It was just one of those things in life. My story is different from your story, but you still have your issues, and I am not interested, because it is your life, unless I can help.

You are looking so beautiful; I don’t want to believe that somebody is not behind it.

Baba God is behind it o (laughs)

On a more serious note, you are a young lady, full of life, at this stage, how has it been?

I am not alone (singing). I don talk finish.

 

What is your driving force, your motivation?

I have this passion to succeed; I want to be remembered for my success. I have that zeal to succeed.