By Adedayo Odulaja
REPORTER, Lagos
Remember the two enchanting guys that held the whole country bound to television and radio sets few years ago with their spectacular dance steps and swaying moves? They go by the name, Zule Zoo and really, that is one name that many people will not forget in a hurry. Their reach was so wide and their strutting so seductively suggestive that it attracted the ire of the National Broadcasting Commision, NBC. Subsequently, Kerewa, their massively popular hit track was banned but according to Ibro Zule Zoo, who founded the group alongside his secondary mate/childhood friend, it only helped to expand their hold on the industry.
“Well, then we did not even know what NBC was saying and when they said they banned ‘Kerewa,’ it was like comedy to us. It was nothing and you know Nigerians and their inquisitive nature, everybody wanted to know why and it even helped the album to sell more. It was a real blessing in disguise but they wouldn’t let us see the money.”
Ibro, named Hassan Ibrahim, an Igala by tribe reminisces on other parts of their music, message and essence and, once again, says they are not breaking up.
“To be realistic, I won’t call it a break up. It is just that we want to do our things individually. I am just coming back from Abuja where I had a meeting with my partner. We are embarking on a tour and we are still coming back to work together on our label, you know we jointly own a label that is called Moonlight.
And on a personal level, I am coming out with a new album which is my fifth and when I say that, it means that I’m combining the albums we have as a group and the ones I have done since I went solo as Ibro Zule Zoo.”
A typical reaction from members of Nigeria’s musical units, but Ibro says this album, titled Ekelu, (which means fifth in his language) is the bomb that would be felt everywhere.
He also tells of how he found himself in music:
“I came into music a long time ago since when I was a kid. I just discovered that I was an entertainer right from childhood. I started by entertaining my mother and sisters in the house and later decided to take it to the next level by joining a theatre group called Ebony Theatre and stayed with them for about five years. After that I joined another theatre group for another four years before I relocated to Lagos where I joined up with Black Marble with the likes of Ijo Dee and it was from there that I started seeing myself in the musical side of it all and although it has been rough, I give glory to God.”
How did you meet Michael, your partner? That was the question and with his eyes seeming to light up in the fascinating pool of remembrance, he recalls:
“We met during our secondary school days, I was the leader in the school band and he wanted to join but I don’t know why, but I didn’t want him to somehow but he later became an integral member and later as friends, he liked hanging out with me but there was only a place I used to go that he did not know; which was for my rehearsals. One day, he traced me there and I was shocked but he said he would like to join too. I said it was okay and we became not only close but we got to understand ourselves so much that we became an item to the extent that when I am on stage, he would be on the drums and vice-versa. Later, there was a National Troupe auditions we heard about over the radio and as we wanted to became members of the troupe, we decided to come for the audition and after the auditions held in Lagos, those who had transport fare to go back home left but I was stranded. For two years, I was looking for transport fare to go back to Benue; you won’t believe it. It was like that until a voice spoke to me: ‘Anywhere you lay your head is your home, why don’t you stay here in Lagos’ and that is how I became a Lagos-based artiste and I ended up dancing for a lot of artistes. Julius Agwu, 2face Idibia and many others. I also went for Star Quest in Benin and came third and I said to myself that there must be something about you that would have made you come out like that in such a competition and so I decided to take it seriously. “Michael also came to visit me in Lagos and he told me he was tired of life over there where it is all dry and I took him to the people for him to join a theatre group so he can learn the style of dance. I took him to Cultural Ambassadors where he was for three years but when he said he wanted to work with me, I wanted us to bear different names but he said we should use the name, Zule Zoo which people had been calling me before the time. That was how it went and we have been working together both home and abroad before we decided to go solo. We knew people would misunderstand it but that is what we have decided, that we must do solo albums and at the same time, do the group’s album.”
Just what the name, Zule Zoo, means was easily offered to Saturday Independent.
“The concept is representing the true African culture even if there is a little bit of contemporary in it. If you look at the music industry four or five years ago, you discover that a lot of Nigerians musicians were trying to do like Americans and we know we have our roots and we want to show the world there is a place called Nigeria and Zule Zoo means positive warriors in the music industry who are out to preach the true meaning of African culture. I am Hassan Ibrahim, an Igala by tribe while my friend is Michael Aboh, a Tiv.”
Not a few music buffs would say they are nowhere to be found anymore in the entertainment playground but Ibro does not think so.
“We have the group’s project that will be ready soon in this January while my own album, as well as Michael’s album will be ready soon. It has been wonderful except for the pirates that would not let us rest and the crooked marketers everywhere in this country. Because of these problems, we are thinking of marketing it ourselves by using a unique way of selling on the streets, maybe through young and unemployed people.
“Well, entertainment is not only about Lagos. Many people think it is only when you are everywhere in Lagos that you are making it, they are getting it wrong and for instance, I have just come back from a tour of the country and you need to see how much people enjoyed my performances even though many of them had not seen me before. Another thing is that, when you listen to Wazobia fm, if they play two hundred songs, one hundred and fifty are my boys who have featured me. That is something I consider very highly; my dream is to be able to bring up as many as possible talents and turn them into stars, that would be my greatest joy because it is the greatest legacy you can ever think of leaving for posterity. Because as it is, there is nobody who can live forever and also make people know that after Fela, there is someone else in Nigeria who made Africa proud.”
Fela introduced and called his music Afro Beat, Ibro Zule Zoo calls it own, wait for it, Takuruku beats.
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