'Wetin Dey Occur' Lavolta Stars drops hit single to soothe COVID-19 pains

On June 26, 2020, Lavolta Stars, a group of professional artistes with the passion and drive for good music, released its new single, Wetin Dey Occur, on digital music platform worldwide.

Lovalta Stars revealed so many things about the foundation of the band and the journey so far to VICTOR OJELABI of Freelanews in this exclusive interview with one of the lead singers, Daniel Lombin Ogheneochuko.

Daniel, who is also the group’s Image Coordinator, is a multi-instrumentalist and a versatile vocalist who is very comfortable with a wide range of genres. He started playing music in the church. In his early days, Daniel played the Conga and later picked up interest in the drum kit, crossed over to the piano, and eventually embraced a singing. He is also a music producer with several songs to his credit as composer, singer and producer. Excerpts…

Background
The Lavolta Stars is not like your typical artiste, we are an assemblage of seasoned and dynamic musicians/instrumentalists with the passion and drive for quality music. We came together in 2017 to form a group to offer quality and conscious music. Consequently, I will try as much as possible depending on your questions, to tailor my responses to capture the overall picture of the group and not just my personal view as one of the lead singers for Lavolta Stars.

What first got you into music?
Well, as a young boy growing up, I never really saw myself doing music professionally, however, I was fascinated about entertaining a large crowd.

Who inspired you to make music?
My very first inspiration to make music came from my choir master in church back in the days.

How would you describe the music that Lavolta typically create?
We started out as band playing virtually all the music synonymous to South West of Nigeria from Juju, highlife, Afrobeat, afropop, to jazz etc. However, when we were deliberating on our first single last year, we decided to do Afrobeat because of our love for the arrangement in Afrobeat and the works of one of the greatest artiste to have come out of Africa, our mentor and icon, the late Abami Eda, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Following close to this is our love for Highlife music. We do Afrocentric conscious music with preference for Afrobeat, Highlife music and Afrojazz.

Is it easy being the lead singer in your group?
Please don’t get me into trouble with others in the band (Laughs). I am one of the lead singers but not the only one. Generally, we have mutual respect for ourselves, so we resolve issues amicably, we all bring in our various ideas on board and reach a compromise on the common position to adopt. Besides, we have very experienced and matured hands (that is our record label representatives) ever present with us to supervise strategic rehearsal and recording sessions.

What is your creative process like?
For me, it’s impulsive. However, our record label often guide us and channel us in some directions. More often, creativity is about connecting ideas.

What can you say of other band members?
Like I mentioned earlier, Lavolta Stars is a constellation of stars with a common interest to deliver good and top-notch music.

If you guys could go open a show for any artiste, who would it be?
I want to believe you mean, which artiste would we desire to perform with? If so, personally, my choice will be the multiple-award Grammy winner, Angelique Kidjo. She is an African music icon. As a group, Femi Anikulapo Kuti, Lagbaja, Kola Ogunkoya, Don Jazzy, Flavour etc.

What can you tell us about your new release?
Just like everyone else, we were heavily jolted by what befell the world with the COVID-19 pandemic. People dying, countries closing their borders and shutting down, economies collapsing, hunger, poverty, people going into isolation, and social distancing; we were virtually living worse than animals. The stars including our management and record label decided we do something to bring relief, hope and succour to the world through music and the idea of our hit single, Wetin Dey Occur (Translated as What’s going on), was born. Our single is a fusion of Afrobeat and Highlife, delivered in a melodious vibe to help soothe the pains the world is going through due to this very highly destructive pandemic. Just like we echoed in our song, Edumare press reset o (Meaning the God should press reset button over the pandemic).

How much has your record label contributed to your success?
Our record label has been super supportive, caring and committed to our career and success; we couldn’t have asked for any better. Furthermore, it has been very instrumental in the success of our most current work just like the works in the past. The team believes so much in the message behind Wetin Dey Occur; who won’t be? The message is unique, it cuts across the whole world, everybody is affected by the pandemic. People are pondering Wetin Dey Occur, wetin be all these wahala, social distancing, two meters apart, no gathering, nose mask etc. Edumare press reset o.

What is the most useless talent you have?
Eating (laughs)

Do you sing in the shower? What songs?
Yes I do, various types of music.

What would you be doing right now if it weren’t for your music career?
8am – 5pm job. However, I am so happy doing music; I love music. Life will be so boring to me if I am not actively involved in music.

Where have you performed? What are your favourite and least favourite venues? Do you have any upcoming shows?
We really cannot list out the various places we have performed, if we attempt to do, sir, we will be here on music venue listing out isolation o (laughs). If we are not comfortable with a venue, we won’t accept the offer. But so far, we love all the venues we have performed. The industry has been slow due to this same pandemic, quite several of our shows have been postponed indefinitely.

How do you feel the internet has impacted the music business?
It has completely changed the face of the industry and really all human endeavours in general. I must say it has been a very positive one for our industry. The ease of making, sharing, distributing, and selling music has benefited greatly from the strides in information technology.

What is your favourite song to perform?
Of course Wetin Dey Occur for obvious reasons.

Which famous musicians do you admire?
We have a whole lot but we would just mention a few, the Abami Eda, Leniyan, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, (Fela lives on), late Victor Olaiya, late Cardinal Rex Lawson, Femi Kuti, Angelique Kidjo, Lagbaja, Brymo, Burna Boy to mention just a few.

What is the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?
I’m not sure I’ve gotten into a serious trouble per say, except when I was a kid; and you know, kids will always be kids.

What is the best advice you’ve been given?
Be quick to listen and slow to respond. Be consistent at what you do.

If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
Have better structures to make our industry well-regulated like is obtainable in some other climes so that the industry will be better protected from quacks and artistes will be better appreciated.

What is next for the band?
We have several works lined up for recording. We also have several shows, tours, concerts on hold and we hope our good God will use our song and the efforts of various stakeholders to put an end to the COVID-19 pandemic so that we can all breathe. We all need to breathe, COVID-19 is choking us, Wetin Dey occur, Edumare press reset o.

What message you would give to your fans?
Please remain glued to us, more awesome works in the waiting, we remain ever committed to you and we love you all.

Finally, I want to tell all our fans that our hit single Wetin Dey Occur is available on virtually all top online music stores and they should feel free to stream, download, share, enjoy and receive some soothing balm from all we have cooked specifically for them in our song. We pray Edumare Press Reset.

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Profiles of other members of the group

Kayode Awokoya
Kayode (fondly called Kay) is the Band Leader and Lead guitarist of the band. Kay is a graduate of the Peter King’s College of Music and holds a Grade 4 Trinity College of London Certificate in music. A music lover and astute instructor.

Sunday Okpo
Sunday, better known in the band as Sunny is the Music Director for the band. He is a committed, selfless, and seasoned Saxophonist, who is also a graduate of the prestigious MUSON School of Music, Lagos. Sunny brings to bear on the band a wealth of experience playing for several international bands and artistes like the late Nigerian reggae icon Majek Fashek, two-time AFRIMA Award-winning artiste, Kanvee Adams and involvement in several outstanding music projects. Sunny is also a certified music instructor.

Femi Omisakin
Prince Femi Omisakin, popularly known as Water Kenneri is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist with a preference for the lead guitar. Water is the most experienced Lavolta Star with three decades of stage performance under his belt. He has performed for several renowned artiste and bands over this period, notable among them was the late (Dr.) Orlando Owoh, Wale Thompson, Jimi Solanke, Ebony Jazz Band, Nigerian Navy Band, and Dayo Kujore to mention just a few. His love for Kenneries beat created by his music icon, the late (Dr) Orlando Owoh and his close similarity in voice texture with his icon led people to give him the nickname Water Kenneri. Water is the assistant Music Director.

Tosin Adefeso
A seasoned trumpeter and flugelhorn playe, Tosin comes from a music-loving family which dated back to several generations. Tosin is an ardent lover of Jazz, Afrobeat and Highlife music genres and he brings all these to bear on the band.

Dare Faduji
Dare, fondly called Poso is a multi-percussionist with a preference for the talking drum. Poso is ever smiling and a wonder to behold on and off the stage. He is a music lover and an instructor on percussion.

Gbadegun Samson Oluwaseyi
Samson is the first band leader of Lavolta Stars and Technical Coordinator of Lavolta Entertainment. He is a seasoned multi-instrumentalist who has played for several artistes and bands spanning a period of 22 years. Samson is currently an independent producer and a Lavoltan at heart.