Interview: I Want To Die On Stage—Sir Shina Peters
interview with the nation newspaper surprisingly
disclosed that he would love to die on stage while
performing. See excerpts below:
HOW often do you get contract to
perform?
It is when you are looking for fame that you tell
people that you play every day. Mine is beyond
that, because I do that every day. Can you imagine
the children that I performed at their christening
ceremony, telling their parents that it is me they
want for their wedding? And what do they want to
dance to? Afro-juju. Lots of them don’t know the
names of the albums.
So if I don’t correct them now, it will destroy a lot
of things. I could remember that, there was a time
during festive periods that people would produce a
record. It was when I came on board that I
stopped it. And said I will be doing just an album
in a year. It is not going to the studio that is my
problem. But my research has made me to discover
that my lyrics and where I want to place music is
at a very high level. I have done it before through
God, because I have done it before.
And that is why I do not joke with Him and my
fasting. I can fast for 90days and nights. I will just
stay indoors. That is my prayer room, my chapel; I
can open it for you to see. I am from a Cherubim
and Seraphim background, and that is what we
believe. And with my contact with Him, He is
saying I should take it easy. And when He says I
should move, nothing can stop it.
How spiritual can you be?
I sing inspirational songs in my albums. Who are
we to condemn other human beings, just because
they are not as spiritual as we are? What I can tell
you is that thank God for my life and where I come
from. In terms of being spiritual, it is up there. I
fear no one.
Are you saying you have not been attacked
spiritually before, considering your fame
and type of job?
How can? Nipa awe, ati adura, ki yio si nkankan
(With prayer and fasting, there shall be no evil).
You think I will just go on stage like that? There
are several times that I will be fasting and playing
on stage, laughing, dancing and nobody will know.
That is the reason I always advise the upcoming
ones, that what they are seeing is more to it. if you
want to play music, you have to be battled
spiritually. I don’t know any other thing than God.
I can’t serve two gods; I don’t believe in mammon.
That is the only way you can succeed in music,
because it is not an ordinary profession. Music
works with spirit. An example is when you are
performing and sweating, and somebody from the
crowd just comes up to use his handkerchief on
your face.
Where do you place that without the
backing of God? God is what they call voice in
music; so how can you excel without having a
relationship with Him? Your relationship with Him
must be intact.
What we all know you for is Afro-juju; can
you clarify us on this?
Afro-juju is a brand of music. It is like another
genre of music. What people refer to the Afro-juju
is the album titled Ace, which is just like
Shinamania, and they are both under Afro-Juju.
Let’s talk about your age?
It is His grace. I started at the age of 10. And I will
say I am one of the musicians that didn’t go to the
university but came into the industry and became
a star. If God could wake me up one night and
said this is my line, that I should go into the music
world and not bother doing any other thing. And I
left my parents, 2.00am that day till date. I have
played with Ebenezar Obey, Prince Adekunle, and
partnered with Segun Adewale, before finally
standing on my own.
And that was to do something on Juju, because it
was dying. So you don’t toy with His feeling. The
love God has for music is more than what we can
see. There is no religion that doesn’t have its own
kind of music – even those that worship the likes
of Ogun. That is to tell you that you have to play
music with the fear of God, and that is why you
need a clear conscience. Because each day, no
matter how late I ask myself what I have been able
to do and the number of people I have been able to
put smiles on their faces and tell myself I can do
better tomorrow.
With your age, you still show a lot of
energy on stage, how do you do it?
When you are in love with something, it is that love
that gives you the energy or courage to cross any
bridge. Because I love music, even if I want to die,
I want to die on stage. At what age? I don’t know.
But I always beg God, that if it is time, it should be
on stage, because that is the only time I am pure.
How do you mean?
It is the only time I am pure, because that is the
time I’m in contact with God; the lyrics that will
come out for people to like, what I will say for
people to shout, what I will do to carry my
audience along.
Do you have any of your kids toeing your
foot step?
Yes. Though they are not performers like me, they
are into the music industry. I am yet to see one
that will say I want to be like daddy. The only
thing I hear them say is daddy, you are over
working yourself. So instead of me to be like an
inspiration to them, they are scared. I am not the
type that tells his children what to do. Do what you
like, I will bless you and God will bless you too.
Being a man with a lot of kids, how do you
care for and communicate with them?
You see I don’t want to go to that area; the reason
is because it will take a lot of wisdom before one
can understand that area. I am a man that does
not believe in being the biological father of a child.
If you were here with your child, instantly, that
child has become mine, because it is what I will do
for Clinton that I will do for him/her too. By doing
that, I have a lot of blessing and I’m happy. I have
trained more than 25 children that are not mine,
but bear my name home and abroad. But they are
my children, because he who trains a child, owns
the child.
And the only way it can work is to tell me before
hand if you have something to do and I will check
my schedule. If it is at a good time, I will do what
you want. But if it is the wrong time, you have to
wait. But some may not have that patience to wait,
and will go out to say Shina can’t take care of his
child. How can I not take care of my own child;
when I have taken care of several that are not
mine that have become doctors, lawyers, home and
abroad? They will not say, they were not patient, or
that it was his mum that taught him to leave.
They will now say Shina did not take care of his
kids. And I cannot be finding you, when I still
have those that need me more. If you are my
biological child, then you have to be patient.
Because those that are not mine might be afraid
that I might not cater for them again. That is why
I said it takes a lot of wisdom. I am a man with a
very large heart and that is what I am enjoying
today.
How do you relate with the people in this
community?
You see, if there is anything that makes me happy
every day, it is because of this community. If I was
not staying here, how would I know or understand
what is happening to people in the rural area? I
have houses too in other reserved areas, but here,
if anything happens even in the middle of the
night, it is my house that they will first come to.
Which include women in labour. If I was not here,
who will do it? That goes for transformer too;
when it blows off, it is my house they will come to.
I will have to pick my phone to call my friend in
PHCN. If I was not here, who will be doing all
this?
But what are you doing concerning the bad
road?
We are working on that. But the challenge we have
is the big water pipe that was passed
underground. If we say we should start
reconstructing the road now, some digging would
have to be done, which might get to the pipe and
get busted. But Fashola is doing something now,
that they will just gravel the surface and make it
presentable. We can’t do a proper road because of
the pipe.
How do you find time to relax?
The only time I relax is when I am praying and
reading my bible. At that moment I am off the
world; I prefer there than here. That is when I
enjoy myself. And I swim a lot too, but we have to
drain the water out because we are in the rainy
season, and you can see the home is too peaceful. I
have peace.
Having not attended a university, how did
you brush yourself up?
You mean, how did I ‘tosh’ myself? How can you
be moving with people like Aliko Dangote, Femi
Odetola, Lanre Tejuosho, Segun Awolowo, without
being ‘tosh’? That is why I say I am a self-made
man. Native wisdom, you don’t read it in the
school, it comes from God.
People have said to me several times, that I was
just looking for sympathy and that is the reason I
lied that I didn’t attend school. Why would I do
that? Yes, I try my best to belong. And that is why
there is a saying that says, show me you friend,
and I will tell who you are. It is the kind of friends
that I have, that their influence has ‘toshed’ me up
and God gave me the rest.
What is Sir Shina Peters doing at the
moment?
(Sighs) You know what? I don’t like to remember
my schedule because it is scary. But, there are a lot
of things.
Currently, do you have any work in
progress?
Let me be honest with people for a change, I
discover a lot about my music. People are still
requesting and asking for the Ace, Shinamania,
Experience, albums. People still call me for the
four evergreen albums. After the four evergreen
albums, I have done so many others, up to 16 or
20. But I discovered that what killed the ones I
have done after my first four is that people do not
have enough time to enjoy one before another one
is released.
That is why if you ask me to play Afro-juju, you
are referring to Ace. But if I sing Make una dance
o, and you say that is it, it is not the same, because
you are referring to the album Experience. But
people can’t differentiate between the albums.
There is no studio I want to go to now, because it is
those other first four that people are still enjoying.
People have refused to connect with the other ones
I have done, because they always refer me back to
the first four, which are the evergreen.
And if I don’t want to kill the rest… well that is
why all my master tapes are intact, so that I can be
remixing them. Maybe now I can be remixing
them with my brothers and sons in the hip-hop
world, so that people can enjoy the collaboration.
But now, it is not the right time for me to do
anything.
Are you working on any collaboration now?
We are working on You are the one for me. We are
doing a video, but I am still not okay with it. I am
a kind of person that doesn’t like rushing things.
There are times that you just lose it and won’t be
able to think right. I don’t force nature, so I just
tell God, whenever you want me to continue, just
let me know.
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