My Participation In MTN Project Fame Doesn’t Disturb My Faith

 Getting Dupe Ige Kachi, popularly called IGE (pronounced ee-gay), to sit down for over an hour for this interview was almost turning to guerilla warfare. As a matter of fact, the chasing spanned over six (6) months but here we are.

She has been the vocal coach in the MTN Project Fame West Africa for over three (3) seasons now and doing tremendously well going by the products of her efforts that are being produced every season. She is an all-round performer who has been singing since she was seven years old. Born into a family of art lovers, she has always appreciated all forms of music and dance, from classical to jazz and R&B. She honed her art in the several singing groups and choirs of the various churches that she attended as the child of a clergyman, which include. Laz Ekwueme Chorale.

Even though she studied electrical/electronic engineering at the University of Lagos, the arts have been a part of her everyday life. Ige's singing style could be described as soulful Rhythm and Blues with an eclectic blend of classical music, jazz and new school flavour. She has also worked with a number of artistes like Sammy Okposo, Provabs, JC Qrew, Cobhams, Yinka Davies, Rhymzo and Sunny Nneji to mention a few. Her name, Ige stands for a message of hope to all. Her uniquely distinctive velvety voice serenades your soul, granting you an inevitable savory experience. Little wonder, her  fans call her "Golden Voice".

Please, enjoy this tell-it-all interview with our golden Ige!

RWN: We have watched MTN Project Fame consistently in the last 3 seasons and discovered that at the beginning of each competition, the contestants were always like the average person singing, but towards the end of the show, especially with the last six people; one would have noticed a lot of distinct transformations. Could you take us through the process of these transformations?

Ige: That’s why I consider MTN Project Fame to have an edge over other TV reality shows, not because of the fact that I am part of it but simply because of the academy. The objective of MTN Project Fame is to get young talents who we know are like diamonds in the rough, polish them by taking them through a process of voice training, music training, etiquette, speech exercises and make them present shows every weekend. So, it’s fantastic because there is so much pressure on them from me, Kaffy, Ben and mummy J that they don’t have any choice but to improve, such that when you follow them from the scratch to the end of the show, the difference would be very clear.

RWN: All these normally happen within how many weeks?

Ige: It’s actually for ten weeks.

RWN: Would you like to share your experience so far as the vocal coach for MTN Project Fame especially with the contestants?

Ige: It gets better and easier each passing year. I can remember the first year I started; I was a little bit nervous. Though I had been having students I took on private classes but before then, I had never done anything on that kind of scale where thousands of people can see your mistakes at once. However, it was a passion for me because I like to teach, so I summoned up courage and took it to God in prayers because the way I came about it in the first place was God.

Then, in season 3, I had a little difficulty on the show which Joke Silva, popularly known as “Mummy J” helped by giving me a new perspective to it. She said regardless of what was happening around, regardless of the cameras and other little things happening around, I should just focus on the contestants and really pour on them all the knowledge I could; wanting them to get better. So when you switch your perspective from the wrong thing and focus it on the right thing, it makes a whole lot of difference. That has really helped me a lot because like all reality TV shows, once you face the camera, you tend to start acting but for me, the most important thing is to get the message across to the contestants.

Moreover, at the end of each show, I go back and think of how to make the contestants better because they are all singers with common problems which makes you tend to leave the general and now begin to deal with the specifics. All the contestants have one thing or the other they individually need to work on coupled with the fact that each song presents a new challenge for them. So you have to begin to work on their individual challenges and how they can get better to strengthen their strong points.

RWN: You mentioned that you have been training some students. How many years have you been on it?

Ige: My first student was a rapper but now an artiste who jump-started it. Even though I knew I wanted to teach but some factors were still limiting me, like lack of confidence, time inadequacy etc. but he just came and forced me into taking him up. This started in 2007, which was when I started having students from various fields of endeavour, who utilise their voices as a profession like singing, broadcasting, actors, actresses etc but need voice training. And from then till now, I have lost count of the number of students who have passed through my tutelage. I run a musical class called "Find Your Voice With Ige."

RWN: From your experience, what are the problems you think are peculiar to the contestants each season?

Ige: The first problem is their breath control. They don’t know how to control their breath and for any singer, your breathing is very important. Due to the fact that they are raw talents, they have picked up various breathing techniques that are wrong and by the time they get to the academy, we begin to disabuse their minds to make them cling to the right technique.

The second challenge common to them is that they love to do lots of ad-libs. They do the same ad-libs for different genres of music but the way you ad-lib for pop is quite different from the way you do for reggae and others.

RWN: Why do we always have tussle between the faculty and the judges?

Ige: Why not? If you are a teacher with a group of people you’ve been teaching and you know their strong points and weaknesses, you are helping them, encouraging them and with each passing day, you see them getting better but here, you have someone coming in just once a week and looked at all you’ve done and says it’s not good enough. What would be your reaction? Won’t you be very upset? The judges just come in once a week and expect a “wow” performance but we have seen the wow in the course of training during the week.

There is a saying that there is no bad student but we only have bad teachers. This goes to explain that if you criticize the student, you are indirectly criticizing the teacher. Even though, we disagree to agree at times we are on the same page. At the end of the show, we still hug ourselves, laugh and explain to one another.

RWN: I’ll have to take you back a bit. You spoke about talking to God few years ago when you had some challenges on the show. That sounds like a church-girl sort of a thing. It’s a common belief among young people these days that you can’t be that committed to God and still be a celebrity but in your case and few other people, there seems to be a contradiction sort of. Could you explain?

Ige: Let me start by saying that I am an unapologetically church-girl. My father is an Anglican priest and I grew up in the vicarage. I gave my life to God long time ago, got into a Pentecostal setting in the University which made me to grow more as well, so I’m just a normal church-girl. But I believe that there are some Christians who are called to do the church thing and there are Christians also called to make their mark in the secular world, be it in art, music, healthcare etc. Now, if you have found your calling, you have to pursue it. Narrowing it down to me, first of all, I am a gospel artiste and I also have a secular job which is voice training that is not restricted to gospel artistes….it’s open and it doesn’t disturb my faith at all. It’s just the same way a banker banks both church money and secular money at the same time. My job is to train voices while my calling is gospel singing, needless to say that my participation in MTN Project Fame doesn’t disturb my faith at all. It’s possible for you to be a Christian through and through and still make your mark in the secular world. Daniel in the bible is a very good case study because it got to a point that the kingdom couldn’t move on without him.

RWN: Okay, let’s meet Ige properly.

Ige: Ige is a lady who is a child of God, wife of one, mother of three boys and the last in the family of seven children. I studied Electrical/Electronics Engineering from the University of Ife and finished with a 2:2 grade. I love music so much that I started singing from age 7 with classical music. I have passion for people to sing well.

RWN: I would have committed the greatest blunder on this interview if you had not mentioned what you studied in the higher institution because I assumed you studied music……..

Ige: (…cuts in) Yes, my parents actually kicked against it and I’m not judging them for that. Like every other parent, they want the best for their children too by stopping me from going to study what they considered as hobby but for me, music is not a hobby. I was a science student in secondary school but a funny one because I loved Literature and music, eventually, I didn’t get to write music at school cert level due to the fact that I was the only one offering it then. I later settled for Electrical Electronics Engineering in the university which was tough going through because it wasn’t what I really liked but sometimes, you have to go through what you don’t really like to get you what you love and that’s part of what I would like the youths to know; they should understand the benefits in delayed gratification. Here I was, I knew I was going to be singing but I had to go through the rigours of the University and while there, I was still doing my music in the fellowship and other places. It was really a training ground for me.

RWN: I’m sure MTN picked some of the best hands in the country as faculty personnel in the show, I mean people who are authorities in the different categories of which you happen to be one of them. If you didn’t have a formal training in music, how did you then get grounded in it to have been this recognised?

Ige: I did a couple of courses in music from Muson Music School, did some piano, voice and theory courses too. But like I said earlier, I had been in the church choir since I was 7 years so church really groomed me especially in classical singing. Later, I had the opportunity to join Laz Ekwueme Chorale which happens to be one of the biggest choirs known for classical singing with different awards all over the country. But mostly, every other thing I got was my personal research, in reading, internet and practicing to improve myself.

RWN: Who are your mentors?

Ige: I have quite a number of them in different spheres of life but my parents have been the greatest of them all. They taught us how to believe in God. My husband too is my mentor. He is a rock….so strong! He is so strong to the point that I decided I had no choice than to be strong myself.

RWN: Would you like tell us how you two met?

Ige: We were together in a drama group some years back called rhythm of the black man. We were not really getting to meet each other then because he was just handling the lights until there was a little misunderstanding that brought us together as friends and later became my manager.

RWN: Could you tell us more about your dating/courtship days?

Ige: My husband now was a cell leader in our former church so from there, he was teaching me a lot of things especially on leadership…..

RWN: (…cuts in) were you dating then?

Ige: No, we were not dating then but just good friends so it was a proper thing for me to follow him. Shortly after that, we began dating and that made us to be more passionate about our goals in life because he brought out the best in me. I will never forget a day he sat me down, gave me a sheet of paper and asked me to start answering some questions about my goals in life, my calling, my gift, my message to the people in song and so on. He insisted that I should answer them and that seriously got me thinking. We were not hanging out much for leisure but were praying much more.

RWN: (…cuts in) but you guys could do as much of hanging out as you desire these days….

Ige: (…in excitement) oh yeah as much as we want right now.

RWN: Do you mind sharing one mistake you made in life and how you handled it?

Ige: It had to do with a relationship I was in before. I was dating someone who happened to be a clean good guy but I realized that each passing day, he wasn’t just right for me but I didn’t know how to go about breaking off from him. However, one watch night service of a particular year, I cried to God in the service to send help my way….I really poured out my heart unto Him that night. Shortly after that, my husband came on board and while trying to consider issues, something happened that put a question mark on his integrity and I quickly told myself, I needed no further sign, I just broke the relationship and moved on with my husband.

RWN: Were you not considering the fact that he could change? Were you not adding a bit of sentiment into it?

Ige: I couldn’t…….I had done it long enough and couldn’t afford to do it any longer.

RWN: When you look at both gospel and secular artistes these days, what’s your judgment? Don’t you envision threat to the survival of gospel music?

Ige: (…with a heavy sigh) It’s a very touchy issue because I have senior friends in the music industry so I know what goes on. One of them actually said to me one day that very soon, we won’t find singers in church any longer! Talking about talents, we are good, in fact better than some top-notch secular artistes but there is a point talent can only get you to but won’t sustain you, it’s your character that will. Character of self discipline goes a long way to help. A secular artiste would do a 6-hour rehearsal at a stretch for a show but in gospel field, we tend to give in very little just because we think we are talented so it would be given to us on a platter of gold….

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RWN: (…cuts in sarcastically) or perhaps Holy Spirit will always take control….

Ige: oooh ….yes, that aspect of the Holy Spirit involvement is even more annoying. Tosin Martins defined PRAISE as Perpetual Rendition of Adoration in Standard Excellence. So if you are a gospel singer and you are not ready to do praise in standard excellence, then you are not ready yet. You see one thing about church singing is that it will always flow no matter what because God is just honouring Jesus’ name in our lives but when it comes to the secular platform, it becomes a different ball game entirely.

The contestants in MTN Project Fame do make that mistake too because some of them are actually from church choir and I normally correct them that they shouldn’t bring in church singing style. I am of the opinion that we shouldn’t add to the mediocrity going on, needless to say that we are not doing enough at all. Also, I feel the churches are not doing enough.

RWN: How do you mean?

Ige: Look at the secular artistes, most of them came from churches and has anybody bothered to ask why? It will always be if the church doesn’t give her support. The church is supposed to be our landing board but the support is not there. For example, if you want to do an album, what sort of support and encouragement do you get from the church? It’s not as if this is the condition but some people need that extra push, extra care to move on which they are not getting enough of it.

RWN: MTN Project Fame is on now. What should we expect from you?

Ige: Well, the same thing I have always done. To be passionately involved in the lives of the contestants, to make sure their singing improves, to make sure they are better musicians, better singers with better characters….just my usual nice person because I am the nicest person among them.

                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                          (C) rwnomoreloss 2012