All-female music bands, whose members are skilled instrumentalists in their own rights, are certainly not common in this part of the world. Although, Kush, a music group made up of talented female singers, did rule the Nigerian music scene for a while and held music fans spell-bound till it fizzled out in 2004, none of its members was known for handling musical instruments.
Yet, music fans have yearned for another all-female group capable of filling the yawning gap created by the exit of Kush. Now it seems that their dreams are about to come true.
After watching an emerging group of young female musicians perform in Akure, capital of Ondo State on Saturday, our correspondent concluded that the music industry would experience an unusual and positive change sooner than expected.
Known as the Topsticks, the band comprises Chinazor Anozie on the keyboard, Blessing Chibueze on the bass guitar, Titilola Simisola ( talking drum), and Tope Odebiyi, who handles the drums and percussions. The others are Tosin, one of the few female saxophonists in Nigeria, and a budding vocalist named Kemi.
Tope is the leader of the band, which is obviously named after her. She is a multi-instrumentalist with a bias for drums and percussions and quite amazing to watch on stage.
A Masters degree holder in history and diplomatic studies from the University of Lagos, Tope honed her skills at the Peter King School of Music in downtown Badagry and at the MUSON Music School in Lagos, before the idea to found an all-female band dropped in her mind.
“The idea came to me after I had participating in the 2008 edition of Star Quest. But Weird MC and Mr. Odia Ofeimun actually encouraged me to set up the band,” she told our correspondent on Tuesday. In the following months, she met most of the members of the band via the social network, Facebook.
What makes the girls unique is that they are all able to handle musical instruments. Most of them actually started doing this at an early age. For example, Chinazor played the piano, which was a common sight in her home, at the age of six; while Blessing learnt to strum the guitar from an uncle who had a special flair for the bass guitar.
But, for Similola, a final year student business administration at the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, the passion for the talking drum virtually runs in her family.
Incidentally, Akure was the first engagement for the girls outside Lagos and, judging by the response from the audience, which comprised Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his wife, Oluwakemi, it was worth their appearance.
They were so good that they kept the audience enthralled and forced the first couple to stay glued to the dance floor for about half an hour.
Still savouring the euphoria of that performance, Tope and her girls seem to be looking forward to an eventful and bright future. Their collective goal is to emerge as the best female band in Africa. But, first, there are hurdles that must be necessarily scaled before that dream is finally realised. One of them is finance.
“The most important thing now is to get a sponsor. Although we have managed to get by on our own, things are quite rough without a sponsor. We need financial support to go places,” Tope says.