Popular\nJuju artiste, Seun Aransiola is one of the hot cakes in the Juju music industry\nright now. This beautiful babe started her music career 21 years ago and has\nsince then been making waves in that field. She sings with so much passion and\nenergy, whenever she handles the microphone, fans or guest are left with no\nother choice than to dance to her music. Despite being a lady, her Juju music\nis always one of the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nfact that she sings well makes her enjoy the admiration of prominent people in\nthe society. She makes sure her clients get value for their money, there is\nnever a dull moment with this delectable musician. Did we also mention that she\nis very pretty and she dresses gorgeously to any event she attends?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\nhas played for so many important personalities in the society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last\nweek, at City People Valentine\u2019s Party, she spoke with City People\u2019s Editorial\nteam, about her life as a female Juju artiste. Enjoy excerpts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How many years have you been playing Juju music?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\ndon\u2019t want to exaggerate but I think, I am close to 20\/21 years in the\nindustry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How has it been?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If\nanybody tells you it is easy, he or she is joking, there is nothing that is\neasy but I bless God because he has been faithful. Just like Teniola said, it\nis not easy. When you struggle hard, when you keep struggling, don\u2019t think\nanybody is going to help you but keep pushing. You will get there one day and\nthat has always been my principle from the onset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Would you say being a female Juju artiste added more to the challenges you had to contend with?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\ndon\u2019t think it has anything to do with gender. challenges are meant to be\nfaced. Whether you are a male or a female, you are bound to face challenges;\nyou have your own cross to carry. With experience my male colleagues, they also\nhave their own challenges. But I think our own as a female, has a little bit of\nthe unfair part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because\nyou have to face the fact that a fan wants you to come and play at their\nwedding and their girlfriend might see you as a threat in their relationship,\nand you know we females have a lot of challenges that surround us. Whether the\ngirlfriends are higher than the person, they don\u2019t care, that complex will set\nin, whether inferiority complex or superiority complex, the complex will always\nset in. So it takes the grace of God, it takes someone that is filled with the\nHoly Spirit to be able to say, I wouldn\u2019t mind a female to play at my wedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you saying being a female Juju artiste is very challenging?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes\nit is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How is it different from that of a male Juju artiste?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Like\nI said earlier, some of my male colleagues also face their own challenges. Some\nof them might not say it and some will be bold to say that they face ladies\nasking them out, saying that they just need to sleep with them. But for me that\nI cannot sleep around, I decided to carry my cross and ask God to help me\nthrough and God has been faithful, I won\u2019t lie, the Lord has really been\nfaithful to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can you share with us one or two incidents that was embarrassing to you in the course of doing your job?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nhave a lot but sharing with you means that I am trying to dig into my privacy\nand I really do not want that, being able to keep my privacy has helped me in\nso many ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How have you been able to draw a line between Seun the artiste and Seun the private person?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nhave been able to do that with the help of God because if I tell you that I\nhave been in the entertainment industry for more than 20 years, a lot of people\nwill say, so how old is she? However, not being able to compromise made me face\nwhat we call \u201cPay Your Dues\u201d. At the\nmoment, if you want to give me a job or you want me to play at your party, I am\navailable, not because you want something in return, if your aim is to get\nsomething in return, you can keep your offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So,\nif you want to give me a job because you want to sleep with me, you can keep\nthat job because I don\u2019t play with anything that has to do with my body, my\nbody is so special to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us a bit about your background?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nstarted music at a tender age by joining the choir, I was one of the youngest\nin the adult choir and that was how I started. The adults in my choir loved me,\nin fact they are the ones that took me home after every rehearsal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\nencouraged me to want to press further in the music industry. I will say that,\nif I add the tender age that I started music plus when I became a professional\nartiste, it should be more than 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Considering how you started, why the choice of Juju music?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Like\nI used to say, everybody sings Juju music, even those that call themselves\nGospel artistes, I stand to be corrected, present Gospel artiste sings Juju\nmusic, whether they want to accept it or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nbecause they don\u2019t want to be linked with the word \u201cJuju\u201d, they don\u2019t\nunderstand that the Juju is not the \u201cblack charm\u201d, what it simply means is\nthat, when a drummer plays a rhythm and you enjoy it, you are expected to shake\nyour body. Like I said earlier, even gospel artistes sing Juju music, it now\ndepends on how you categorise your Juju music. You can sing your Juju music to\nworship God and also to appreciate those God created: Juju music wasn\u2019t what I\ndecided I was going to sing initially, because I didn\u2019t know anything about\nJuju music but as time goes on, I begin to understand that the Juju does not\nmean black charm, it means, throw it to me and let me enjoy the rhythm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who are your mentors?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nhave so many mentors but most importantly my mother, Queen Ayo Balogun (the\nPresident of our Association). I have Baba Obey, King Sunny Ade, SSP, all my\nsenior colleagues are my mentors but those that I mentioned are the ones I\nappreciate so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you get your mum and dad\u2019s support when you decided to do music professionally?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nactual fact, my mother also used to be a singer in the church but she never had\nthe opportunity to become a professional singer. But she is a good singer in\nthe church and as for my father, he is a good dancer. They gave me their\nsupport, they prayed along with me and I am enjoying their prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How have you dealt with men who know you to be an artiste but still desire to date you?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nturn them to my friends because right from the onset, men are my friends, the\nreason is that, they will be honest with you; over time, I have had male\nfriends and I have enjoyed it, no strings attached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How has your profession as a musician affected your relationship because we have men who will say, I can\u2019t date an artiste?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nhave had an experience of somebody saying that, if I am going to marry you, you\nhave to drop music. I will open a shop for you, but you won\u2019t do music and I\nsaid okay but can you do me a favour? Will you allow me to be singing in the\nhouse, I will set instruments in the house and I will be singing for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\nsaid that will cause a lot of noise, I said okay, it means you are telling me\nthat my life is noise, if you want to marry me, marry me not because of the\nmusic, marry me because you love me for me and the trust should be there. I\ndon\u2019t blame men that have issues with my being an artiste because some of the\nold and young artiste have a bad reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nas for me, any man that wants to marry me must marry my music with me because\nmusic is my life, it is something that I grew up to know. So, for any man to\ntell me to drop music because you love me, it is difficult; I am not saying\nbusiness is not good, I always tell my band people, make sure it is not only\nmusic you are doing, most of my band boys are graduate and they also have\nvarious handiwork, so, when the music is not there, you have something to\ndepend on, some of the old artistes didn\u2019t plan for the future, I am not\ntalking about the likes of Baba Obey, K.S.A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When\nyou are climbing a staircase, there will be a time that you will need to come\ndown to pick something and in picking that thing, you might not have the\nopportunity to go back. I always advice my band boys that they should have\nsomething else they are doing aside music. When there is no music, you will be\nable to take good care of your family. Because if you go to your fans and start\nasking them for money every now and then, they will stop picking your calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n