{"id":11424,"date":"2019-12-01T00:06:21","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T00:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/ng\/?p=6016"},"modified":"2019-12-01T00:06:21","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T00:06:21","slug":"exclusive-interview-to-celebrate-35-years-of-music-performance-in-africa-i-am-the-first-reggae-legend-in-nigeria-to-have-composed-a-song-that-caused-awareness-to-hiv-aids-epidemic-several-years-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/exclusive-interview-to-celebrate-35-years-of-music-performance-in-africa-i-am-the-first-reggae-legend-in-nigeria-to-have-composed-a-song-that-caused-awareness-to-hiv-aids-epidemic-several-years-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Interview to CELEBRATE 35 YEARS OF MUSIC PERFORMANCE IN AFRICA: ‘I am the First Reggae Legend in Nigeria to have composed a song that caused awareness to HIV\/AIDS epidemic several years ago’-Pupa ORITS WILIKI, the Kole-man Revolutionaire …The project enabled me to drag the then serving Nigeria Minister of Health, Professor Olikoye Ransome Kuti into the music studio * ‘I authored, composed and produced FIFA World Youth Championships THEME SONG Tagged Nigeria 99’ * Recalls encounters with Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Sunny Okosuns, Lucky Dube, Ras Kimono * President BUHARI administration has done well in the area of Copyright Management *Based on constant success in the past, PMAN by now ought to be listed on Nigeria Stock Exchange *Intend to also release a Double Album of Classic Pupa Orits soon * Plans to unveil Academy for music for kids especially the Challenged in Orphanage homes * Confesses: ‘How I met my wife as an unlimited blessing from the outset’ GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU\/AMERICA Foreign Bureau Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Exclusive\nInterview to CELEBRATE 35 YEARS OF MUSIC PERFORMANCE IN AFRICA:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘I\nam the First Reggae Legend in Nigeria to have composed a song that\ncaused awareness to HIV\/AIDS epidemic several years ago’<\/strong>-Pupa\nORITS WILIKI, the <\/strong>Kole-man\nRevolutionaire<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

…The\nproject enabled me to drag the then serving Nigeria Minister of\nHealth, Professor Olikoye Ransome Kuti into the music studio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

* ‘I \nauthored, composed and produced FIFA World Youth Championships THEME\nSONG Tagged Nigeria 99’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\nRecalls encounters with Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Sunny Okosuns, Lucky\nDube, Ras Kimono<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\nPresident BUHARI administration has done well in the area of \nCopyright\nManagement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Based\non constant success in the past, PMAN by now ought to be listed on\nNigeria Stock Exchange<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Intend\n to also release a\nDouble Album of Classic Pupa Orits soon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\nPlans to unveil Academy for music for kids especially the Challenged\nin Orphanage homes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\nConfesses: ‘How I met my wife as an unlimited blessing from the\noutset’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GEORGE\nELIJAH OTUMU\/AMERICA Foreign Bureau Chief<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HE’S\nA LEADING MUSIC LEGEND IN THE GENRE OF REGGAE IN AFRICA’S MOST\nPOPULOUS NATION IN THE WORLD. ORITS WILIKI, famously called ‘Pupa,’\n‘Kole-man Revolutionaire has won many music awards, performed in\nseveral open air concerts in Africa and beyond its continent. Marking\nhis 35 years on music stage, this former Vice-president of the\nPerforming Musicians Employers’ Association of Nigeria, PMAN, had an\ninteractive chat with GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU\/AMERICA Foreign Bureau\nChief where he talked on varying issue ranging from the entertainment\nindustry to musicians’ challenges, evergreen moments and rare\nencounter with Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Sunny Okosuns and Lucky Dube.\nEnjoy: <\/strong><\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: You are a household name in Africa reggae\nindustry. What comes to your mind remembering you are celebrating\nyour 35 years on music stage by early next year February 22, 2020?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nspecial Grace of Jah Almighty kept me. You see we were many but few\nare left and even fewer are still standing tall l am one of\nthem.
Naija\nStandard Newspaper: What surprises do you have for your world music\nfan as you celebrate this epic music moment in history? <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s an opportunity to look\nback and give thanks and to also give back to the society while we\nare celebrating. We intend to lunch Academy for Music for kids\nespecially the Challenged and the Orphanage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pl26OS2MPIc\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: Can you tell us about your latest music album\nreleased or about to be released? What is the message about it? <\/strong>We\nintend to also release a Double Album of Classic Pupa Orits. People\nalways say \u201cthe older the wine the tastier it becomes.\u201d We have\ntwo albums for\nrelease on that day.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: As an enigma and icon in Africa music sector,\nwill you say your adventure into music as a career has been a divine\ncalling or what career will you have embraced if you are not into\nmusic? <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah\nit’s a divine calling that’s why we are still in the entertainment\nindustry doing it. The passion we have for the calling is the number\none driving force that propelled me from the start. That hasn’t\nchanged over the years, since it has kept us going even till now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: What are the highest points of your music career\nin life? <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many\nhigh points but most memorable will be been the first Nigerian\nmusician to compose a song to draw awareness to HIV\/AIDS. That\nproject made me the first musician to drag a then-serving Minister of\nthe Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof.Olikoye Ransome Kuti to the\nStudio. l am the Author, Composer and Producer of FIFA WORLD YOUTH\nCHAMPIONSHIPS THEME SONG Tagged ‘Nigeria 99’. Also, I am the Author,\nComposer and Producer of the Nigerian Sports Festival THEME SONG\nGateway Games 2006 <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nvb8iETXM5I\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: Can you recall some of your encounters with Lucky\nDube, Alpha Blonde, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Ras Kimono, Sunny Okosuns\nthat are still fresh in your memory? <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare so many encounters that we can almost write a book . With Lucky\nDube, we met at Calabar it was like we knew each other for many\nyears. In fact that meeting was to produce a Collabo until his\nManager Mr. FreeMan called me up to give me a shocking news of his\ndemise that afternoon. Then I was driving to Benin when he broke the\nnews. I parked at a Gas station in Ijebu Ode for almost an hour. Like\nshould I go back to Lagos because l was devastated. With Fela\nAnikulapo Kuti, he was like a Father to us all. My most memorable\ntime with Fella was when we took Shaba Ranks’ to visit him. Fela\nreeled out funny jokes that day. Sonny Okosuns was like an elder\nbrother. We became even closer when l produced his album titled\n‘Nigerian Artist for Peace’ and when l produced his THEME SONG video\nfor ‘Coja Games’. I have never met Alpha Blondy one on one we almost\nmet in a studio in Ivory Coast sometime ago. With Ras Kimono ? They\ncalled us (KIMONO AND I) Siamese twins because we were too close\nespecially during the last 6years of his life . His death affected me\nin no small measure because we had some dreams that were shattered.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: Who inspired you into embracing music as a career\nand how do you derive inspiration in a society like Nigeria? <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\nFather had been my number one music inspiration . He was a good\nplayer of the instrument called Accordion. He played it with an air\nof class that I used to watch him sing and play this instrument\neffortlessly. Listening to great ROCK n Roll songs and later lots of\nReggae groups like steel pulse ,Aswad, Third World eventually did me\nin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UMIVecm3Iro\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: Recently, Allen Onyema, the Chief Executive\nofficer of Nigeria’s Air Peace Airline was indicted by the United\nStates Department of Justice for fraud, forgery and money laundering\nafter been tracked since 2010. This same Nigerian organized the first\nNiger Delta Peace Concert many years ago where militants were made to\ndisarm, rehabilitated and pardoned. What is your take on this\nNigerian dilemma whom American government have alleged lived a ‘fake\nwealth lifestyle? <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\nBrother Nigeria is a very funny country that condemns you guilty even\nby ordinary invitation by the Police. My take is: if all the\npolitical criminals in Nigeria invest the money they loot into\ncreating jobs and employing Nigerians, l am sure even God will\nforgive them. They loot and take the money starched in Oyinbo\n(Overseas) country. Robin Hood on my mind. So let them do all their\ninvestigation and let other rumor mongers stop instead of these\nfrivolous speculations. ‘We no dey try at all’ (speaking in pidgin)\nas a people in maintaining anyone’s integrity. They find you guilty\neven before your case commences in court.\n<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=g_h24L2w3HY\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: Orits Wiliki means different things to different\npeople. As a Lion of Africa’s reggae industry, who is Orits Wiliki\npresently? <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orits\nWilliki is an Author, Composer, Writer, Producer and a performing\nMusician. Humble by nature but can bring out the beast in me if you\nare an oppressor. I hate pride and arrogance with utmost passion.\nFake and dishonest people put me off\n<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: The Nigerian Senate is about to approve and pass\n‘Fake News Bill’ that will eventually permit law enforcement agencies\nto arrest any Nigerian who post any unfounded or untrue allegation\nagainst anyone on internet to be arrested and prosecuted, as a Music\nfreedom fighter, why do you think the Muhammadu BUHARI led government\nis now censoring Nigerians right of expression which will affect\nevery person including musicians at the end of the day <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nyou are a social media person and you read the rots therein you may\nbe tempted to think they have some reasons but when you now\nunderstand that Nigeria is a democratic Republic then that’s where\nthe conflict comes in. You don’t slit the throat of your wayward\nchild. The best you can do is to continue to advice your child make\nhim or her know the consequences of his\/her action until he\/she see\nthe reasons. I think they should scrap the National Orientation\nAgency, NOA, because that’s part of the legislative responsibilities\nfor lawmakers to do. They need to come up with an enlightenment\ncampaign on the need to stop hate speech, fake news and how it\naffects our society negatively. May be that will change people’s\nmindset but the government is just there doing nothing about it.\n<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qNXpMGyhGeo\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: How has Nigerian entertainment industry benefited\nfrom the current administration in Nigeria? <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well\nl think they have done something remarkable in the area of Copyright\nManagement. The government destroyed the virus of monopoly that was\nforced on us by the Nigerian Copyright Commission, NCC in the past\n24years. At least you now have about three approved collecting\nsocieties . I must confess that the destruction the forced monopoly\nhad on our industry was enormous but we thank God and the present\nregime for doing the right thing. There are other areas begging for\nattention like piracy. It used to be physical piracy but now assumes\nthe look of digital piracy, which is even worse. The NIGERIAN\nCOPYRIGHT COMMISSION needs to wake up from its slumber.\n<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=i0vKIOML_bo\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: After Allen Onyema was indicted by the United\nStates department of justice, elegant stallion Onyema Onwenu\ncommented on social media that the Nigerian press should leave Onyema\nalone claiming he has not been found guilty. Is she now supporting\nthis alleged attitude of Onyema? Or is she saying American government\nare lying on the indictment of Onyema? Or do you think she\nparticipated that time at the Niger Delta Peace Concert under late\nPresident Musa Yar’Adua? <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nI said earlier, Nigeria is a very funny country that condemns you\nguilty even by ordinary invitation from the Police. My take is: if\nall the political criminals in Nigeria invest the money they loot\ninto creating jobs and employing Nigerians l am sure even God will\nforgive them. They loot and keep the money in Oyinbo country\n(Abroad). Robin Hood on my mind. So let them do all their\ninvestigation and ‘We no dey try’ at all (speaking in pidgin\nEnglish) as a people in maintaining anyone’s integrity. They ( rumor\nmongers) find you guilty even before your case commences in court. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rGt_sGKP6B4\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: Will you agree\nthat by now, the Performing Musicians Employers’ Association of\nNigeria, PMAN, should have had Performance Centers in all states of\nthe federation to keep musicians daily engaged? <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely\nbut l thank God we are beginning to get our bearings back. A\nCharlatan like Pretty Okafor who thinks unionism is the platform to\nbutter his bread by creating problems has been shown the way out. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: Don’t you think\nif PMAN had been successfully managed, it would by now had been\nlisted at the Nigerian Stock Exchange <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can\nl agree with you any less? The answer is no. I happen to have been a\none time vice president under Charly Boy l am sure you are a witness\nof what went under. There was discipline and part of what we fought\nfor are what the youth are enjoying today. Artists are well respected\ntoday getting good deals before it was something else. Foreign\nmusicians were well paid and Nigerian artists were given peanuts. We\nfought all of that perhaps if we had continuity may be the story\nwould have been different.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naija\nStandard Newspaper: Finally, how did\nyou meet your beautiful wife and what are your regrets in life?\n<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well\nl met my wife on the line of music duty but nothing suggested she\nwas going to be my wife. It was business straight up. Regrets? I am a\nCapricorn we hold ourselves responsible at all times whether good or\nbad.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exclusive Interview to CELEBRATE 35 YEARS OF MUSIC PERFORMANCE IN AFRICA: ‘I am the First Reggae Legend in Nigeria to have composed a song that caused awareness to HIV\/AIDS epidemic several years ago’-Pupa ORITS WILIKI, the Kole-man Revolutionaire …The project enabled me to drag the then serving Nigeria Minister of Health, Professor Olikoye Ransome Kuti […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}