I’m a lover of reggae

Aituaje Iruobe, popularly known as Waje, made singing seem like a stroll in the park as she effortlessly serenaded a private audience in Lagos last Sunday evening. The talented singer talked about not only her music, but about growing up, and how the highlight of her career thus far is participating in the ONE Campaign, JOE AGBRO JR. Writes

EVERYONE listened. Not wanting to miss a second as she delved from one song into another across genres. Billed to be a one-hour performance, the show which held at Bogobiri House, Ikoyi, Lagos, was eclectic, with music for every fan. Dressed in a short ankara jumpsuit, and silver high heel slippers, Waje looked every inch a diva. Whatever she sang, be it reggae, afro beat, highlife or popular music, the transformation was angelic, and her belting of the octaves confirmed it.

The private event which had an audience of about 50 people drawn from the singer’s select friends, corporate supporters, as well as some journalists was a cozy affair. Stars like Timi Dakolo, and Omawunmi also graced the event. Despite only releasing her first album  in 2013, as far as singing is concerned, Waje is no neophyte.

Born in Akure, Ondo State, to an Igbo mother and an Edo father, it may not be trite to say that fate thrust music on Waje.

‘I’ve always loved singing and my dad used to beat me a lot,’ Waje said in an interview published in 2013, ‘because I was using screw drivers to drill holes on our walls and turn that into my imaginary microphones.’

From sitting on the stool and getting up intermittently, a relaxed Waje crooned and joked in the intimate setting, intermittently speaking Pidgin English, and sharing her life story.

“Growing up in Benin was bitter-sweet,” she said. “You know, in a child’s formative years, there are always some things that are confusing. For me, I would say the sweet things I enjoyed about Benin were camp meeting choir, because that was where I would meet my friends and we would sing, and do dance-drama.”

Waje also attended the Word of Faith School, owned by Archbishop Benson Idahosa, the late founder of the Church of God Mission. It was while singing in the choir that Idahosa had a close-up of her singing prowess. The Archbishop became endeared to Waje. That won her a scholarship to continue her education. Waje would later gain admission to study Social Work at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

University education, however, would not slow her down. At 18, she signed with Dome Records, a record label based in the East, which was owned by a family friend. “I didn’t get to read through or see what I was getting into,” she said of the contract. “Sometimes, people have good intentions but time and chance happens to everyone.” For 10 years, she was with the label without recording an album, though she did release two singles; Somewhere and Kolo.

“Though the contract didn’t expire, it was amicable when I decided I wanted to go my own way and pursue my dreams. This was when I released on my own “For a Minute.” That signalled the beginning of the singer doing things for herself.

“I had to learn to look for the right people to promote me, look for the right producers to work with and all of that. Even when it comes to your look and your style. For a very long time, I didn’t have a style. For me, it was all about make we just go there go sing come out. But I didn’t understand that as a female brand, you’re also a visual brand. So, your looks say a lot to about your career.”

While Waje confessed she has a fear of songs Nigerians consider as ‘acceptable’, she proudly announced, “I’m a lover of reggae. But there are certain messages you want to pass across and even as you’re writing it, there’s a genre that just influences the song. And you don’t know how you got it. Like I wrote a song about my daughter that is going to be in the next album and the song has six-eight beat which I have never done before. But I was thinking about my daughter when the sound came to me. I recorded it and I sent to the producer, he did the beat, and he sent it to me. I think it’s fun and interesting.”

But she does thank her team for their work in sieving through her sounds. “When you finish doing the music,” she said, “you play it for people to hear. You sample opinions. And I’m a strong believer in my talent. I believe that for every single mood, there is a soundtrack. And I feel there’s an audience to cater to as well.”

Waje considers this versatility, a “blessing and curse” and said she tries to actually “box her music.” However, she said she has since decided to “just let the music flow.”

In her native language, Sabongida Ora, Waje means laughter, but the musician says for her, Waje is simply an acronym for ‘Words Aren’t Just Enough.’ The name is ironic because she has triumphed on the power of words, though expressed in music.

Waje went professional in 2007 when she did a re-mix of P-Square’s Omoge Mi, which she called Bobo Mi. In 2008, she burst into national limelight as the anonymous female voice in P-Square’s Do Me. It did not take too long to know the voice belonged to Waje. Waje said that experience wasn’t palatable and laid the blame on her record label for not pushing her brand.

“I felt a feeling of defeat at the time,” she said. “I really couldn’t do anything about it. I was signed to a record label that didn’t put their foot down at the end of the day because the whole point of a feature is so that the artiste bites off the popularity of the other person. So, if I couldn’t bite off the popularity, then the aim was defeated. To be honest, they (P-Square) reached out to my record label and told them that they were travelling. But maybe they didn’t have the money. The record label didn’t want to foot bills. So, at the end of day, whatever the story was, I just thank God that God just try sha. He make sure say, eventually, people hear say na me.”

Shortly after that episode, Waje participated in a TV Reality Show, Advanced Warning, organised by MTV Base and Zain. The show had the likes of Kel, Terry G, MI, Pype and Blaz. And it was while there that she wrote Kolo, with the assistance of Cohbams who was the music teacher in the Reality Show. The song was recorded at the SABC studios.  Though, she did not win, Waje was the last woman standing. For Waje, it was the beginning of great things.

“It was from one success to another after that,” said Waje.

She recalled meeting Wyclef Jean at a concert in South Africa not long after the Reality Show where he announced her on stage impromptu to perform.

“I killed it,” an excited Waje said of the performance.

Waje also featured on Banky W’s Thief My Kele and M.I’s One Naira.

On May 1, 2013, she dropped her self-titled debut album, Waje, featuring artistes such as Tiwa Savage, Asa, Sarkodie, M.I, Phyno, Eva, and Burna Boy. Two of the tracks, Ijeoma and Onye were done in Igbo. And last year, Waje starred in Tunnel, a drama about a young pastor, alongside Femi Jacobs, Patrick Doyle, Lepacious Bose and others. Waje, a Glo brand ambassador, has also featured Tanzanian group, Diamond Platinumz, and worked with some of the best in the Nigerian music industry, such as the likes of J Martins and Cohbams.

Over eight awards, including Hip Hop Awards, City People Awards, South-South Awards, Nigerian Entertainment Awards, and more testify to her hard work.

 Tough times too

But it has not always been rosy for Waje. As a youngster, her parents divorced. Afterwards, she moved to the East to live with her mother.  And when she was 17 years old, she gave birth to her daughter, Emerald. The experience of having a child out of wedlock was not one that Waje envisioned.

“Who plans to have a child out of wedlock?” she asked, responding to a question about the incident after the show.

The incident, however, made her closer to her mother. Her mother became her anchor, taking care of her baby while she attended university. Waje says her mother still takes care of Emerald, now 16, who just finished secondary school and will go to university next year. Expressing concern for her daughter’s future, Waje said she wants to give her better opportunities than she had, while instilling the values she learnt as a child herself, and as an adult.

“I try my best to teach her, and I hope and pray that these things help her in due course.”

Girl power

Perhaps, those early struggles seem to have prepared Waje for her role in the ONE Campaign, which focuses on empowering women in a so-called man’s world.

“When ONE called me to join them in this campaign, I felt it was good for me as a human being and my career as well.”

Only last week, alongside other African female personalities, she attended the World Economic Forum held in South Africa where she performed. “If dem tell me 10 years ago say I go go that kind place, I go tell the person, ‘back to sender’,” she said in pidgin, laughing. Waje also said it was great working with the other big female brands from other countries on the ONE Campaign.

“It was very good,” she said of meeting the other females from other parts of the continent. “At the end of the day, we can’t all be carrying flag and be saying ‘we are Africans, and not intercultural mix. So, I felt that was very good for me. It forced me to go out and look for their music and know who they are.”

Describing being a part of ONE as the highlight of her career thus far, Waje said that poverty is sexist and females are at the receiving end of it.

“Poverty has a female face,” she said. “In rural areas, the people most affected by poverty are women. Take agriculture… We have more female farmers than we have male farmers. But the truth is that they can’t even increase in the business because lands are not allocated to them and things like that.”

Call it feminism or any other thing, Waje doesn’t really care. “And I feel, somehow, that (ONE) is the path for me. I don’t just want to be known for just being a musician… but also being associated with a brand that I’m very passionate about. Like I’m passionate about women… So, if I’m going to be doing stuffs, I want to have the peace of mind to know that I’ve done things enough to change my environment and the circles that I’m in so that my daughter can have a better upbringing, and better opportunities than I have had.”

To her, ONE campaign is about advocating girl power in all spheres of life, something she’s down for.

“At the end of the day, you discover that you have a mother, I have a mother as well. Some of you are married, you have wives, and you have daughters. And you know; you see the strength and the values that women in your lives bring to your community, your family, and your environment. And that is what we are saying. We are saying; empower them so that they can reach their potential a little more than they are reaching now. That’s just what ONE is all about.”

Waje thinks the recently passed Bill by the senate which gives life imprisonment  sentence to people who have sex with children below 11 years old is disheartening.

“A child is a child,” she said. “The body of a child has not even been formed at 15. We are saying there are certain laws that should not even be thought of.

She also works with youths in her community through Waje’s Safe House, an organisation that teams up with other NGOs.

Waje currently worships at This Present House, TPH, but the glitz of other venues has taken over. “Once in a while, I’m invited to sing a special number with the choir,” she said. “But I prefer not to be in the choir.” According to her, it is because humans judge people even when they don’t want to. “I want to be free in the house of God and the day I want to cry, I lie down on the altar without somebody looking at me and checking, oh, is that Waje or is that not Waje?”

But people may be worried over other things concerning her. At 34, some of Waje’s fans are wondering when she is going to marry.

To that, she laughed heartily in response, saying “it will come.”

“Just join me in prayers,” she laughed, sayings there are plans though she does not know when.

“I know that when the time is right, it would happen.”

She, however, revealed that her next album is going to be released next year on the same date her debut album was released.

The live-band showed the versatility of the artiste. And as she belted out the high octaves, it was not in doubt that she could sing. And dance too.

Waje revealed that she hopes to continue to fete her personal friends, and supporters of her brand in such manner.

“I feel that when people invest in your music by going out of their way to buy your material and they come out to watch you, you should give them variety,” she said, recalling that performing artistes like Fela and Lagbaja had locations they performed regularly for their fans. “I intend to be a live performer as long as my body can carry me.”

After more than an hour, an ecstatic Waje abruptly ended the show. ‘It’s really over,’ she said. The audience weren’t about to hear any of that. Waje obliged. As fans jostled for photographs and conversations with her after the song, it was evident that no matter how long she sang for, for many of them, it’s perhaps a case that Waje’s ‘Words Ain’t Just Enough.’

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