By Tofarati Ige
We have had cause to report on the activities of this singer-turned-critic severally over the past few weeks, and we may not stop anytime soon as he keeps providing us with fodder.
Almost everybody agrees that Etcetera was a fairly decent singer. However, in the Nigerian entertainment industry, as many have come to painfully realise, talent is not enough to make you money.
You may have the voice of a nightingale and the swagger of a peacock, but how well do you connect with your audience? A music marketer would even tell you that connection with your audience is the most important part of the package; after all, fans are the ones who will buy the albums.
As a singer however, Etcetera did not connect with his Nigerian audience. People like Banky W, Bez, Praiz, etc have shown us that you can sing ‘slow’ songs and still sell-out shows.
According to popular OAP, Freeze, Etcetera was making the wrong kind of music for the Nigerian audience.
In an earlier interview with him, he had said, “It’s not like Etcetera is not a good musician, but he doesn’t understand the market he’s dealing with. It’s like trying to sell amala at Buckingham Palace. You’re going to have a hard time doing that; it’s going to be easier selling it at the Alafin of Oyo’s palace. Music also contains the element of luck. Five musicians may sing the same kind of songs, and only one of them would attain a level of success.”
Freeze is not the only one who thinks Etcetera was frustrated by not attaining success as a music artiste. Many people also say that Etcetera got disillusioned, bitter, and he decided to sacrifice his more successful colleagues on the altar of controversial fame.
Speaking with qed.ng, an entertainment industry insider, Bayo (surname withheld) said, “I could see right through Etcetera from the first line he wrote in his article in Punch newspaper. It was obvious that he was taking an antagonistic approach so as to court controversy and popularity. And he has achieved that because a lot of people now actually look forward to reading the guy’s articles. He has also started blogging actively, so you can see that his recent devil-may-care attitude is all to sell his new brand identity as a critic.”
A check on his blog revealed that more than 90% of the stories on it have negative connotations towards celebs. It should be recalled that he had taken Cossy Orjiakor, Tonto Dikeh and Halima Abubakar to the cleaners when he reported that Cossy went bankrupt in the middle of her movie production, and that Tonto Dikeh and Abubakar had fallen out over a Juju priest.
Recently, it was D’banj’s turn on Etcetera Live. In a new story titled, ‘Need a Back-Up Singer? Call D’banj’ Etcetera goes in hard for the Mr Endowed singer. He stated that D’banj fell so fast from grace that he didn’t know what hit him, and that he’s not now just on the grass, but rolling on it.
The article went on to say, “What led to the Koko Master’s downfall is hard to pinpoint, although it may have been in a wrap of marijuana somewhere. Joke or not, that’s a rough spot to be in.”
Although the article was written by one Pascal Uche, we can safely assume that it is a classic case of ‘hand of Esau, voice of Jacob’. The website is in Etcetera’s name, and he has a final veto on the stories posted on it.
Co-incidentally, Etcetera’s fans have also called on him to toe the line of caution. Commenting on a blog where Etcetera’s article was put up, an anonymous comment said, “I enjoy reading this guy (Etcetera)’s article, but I feel he can still get his message across without been unduly harsh and critical of his colleagues. I love it when he calls them out for telling lies and other lapses, but he shouldn’t go personal. Besides, he must be sure that all he writes are factual…in case someone decides to sue.”
