30 May 2009
Lagos — The Tocatina Music Development Fund is an initiative that provides professional development & support for musicians and artistes.
The fund provides access to world class music instruments, professional audio, video & media production equipment, global exposure and other resources to help improve the quality of artistes in Nigeria and Africa.
The IRIE Company, its founders & friends, artistes in their own right, have a long history of supporting African music and arts spanning well over a decade. "Today, we formalize our life-long commitment to music & arts with the pre-launch of the Tocatina Music Development Fund."
Two brand new music instruments will be donated to two musicians at this event. Excess proceeds of this and other events will be donated to the fund and used for artiste development.
The Tocatina Music concert series will hold every two months and will feature an eclectic mix of Jazz, Highlife, Afrobeat, Reggae & electronic music. The audience can look forward to an unforgettable experience of talent featuring Nigeria's best artistes such as Yinka Davies, Mike Aremu and more.
Ex-Super Wings Star Returns
Former member of the Super Wings, an off-shoot of the Original Wings which held sway in the mid-1970s, Prince Oku Njok II (aka Bob Oku) is set to return to the music scene 30 years after his first album, Let's Dance released in 1979.
Oku told THISDAY in Calabar that he would herald his return with two albums; "Destiny's Never Ruined" and "Jah's Gonna Fight" set for release in June.
The Cross River-born artiste disclosed that the albums would contain five tracks each and is mostly of the reggae and traditional music genre.
On his long absence from the music scene, Oku said he took a break because of exploitation by financiers and producers.
"I almost lost taste of the singing trade because of Africaman's mentality. We sincerely don't want to be transparent to one another especially in business like the publication of music where a financier claims he has the sole right to dictate whatever terms there have to be between him and the composer. In my case, I was exploited and I felt grossly cheated", he lamented.
The multi-talented artiste said that in addition to music, he is an actor, painter and writer. He disclosed that he has published two novels; Arrah and Orock the Devil.
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