Aquadragon
Lagos-based all-round artiste and entrepreneur, Jidonu Amusu, spreads his tentacles through performances, music promotion and leisure business, writes AKEEM LASISI
From far away Philadelphia to Lagos, the home of multi-culture, Jidonu Amusu has left none of the stones of his artistic talents unturned. The throat of the artiste otherwise called Aquadragon secrets music. His tongue fondles poetry while his lips are not averse to public speaking. But just as one might begin to wonder how he escapes being a jack-of-all, he crowned the entrepreneurial aspect of entertainment last December when he opened the Aquarbar in Elegushi, Lekki area of the highly commercial city.
And it is difficult to establish which aspects of the sector is his favourite as he says he had been involved in all since his formative years.
“My personal interests lie primarily in the art and act of delivering entertaining and educative audio-visual and otherwise tactile experiences to whoever may be touched, excited, stimulated, enlightened, encouraged by my music, visuals, actions, personal presentation and words,” he explains. “My business interest is currently manifesting as active personal investment in some aspects and seeking investors in other aspects of the industry that supports the performing arts.”
Amusu does not believe that it is a big deal to be a singer, dancer, songwriter and fine artiste simultaneously. Together with debating and sports, these were things he did regularly while in school. As a result, he feels there is no need to reconcile the different acts as they are all necessary elements in the delivery of high quality entertainment.
He adds, “I actually think they aid one another – especially on business side because I basically have less middlemen to consult. As an artiste, I believe it also aids one who plans and executes from more than one angle at a time. So, I may plan and choreograph and visually interpret and construct as well as orchestrate a whole production to top quality tastes even with added elements for mass market if the particular artistic endeavour required such. I do have to restate the business focus of things.”
Aquadragon’s stubborn persistence is paying off in terms of the volume of works he has produced now. Apart from having three singles on air currently, he has 30 tracks he has yet to release. On air are Microphone Daydream, Put Iyanga and She No Care. While Microphone Daydreams, which mixes hip hop with poetic elements, is a statement about Amusu’s frustrations with his past experience in the Nigerian and American hip hop music market, Put Iyanga is a playful depiction of a first time meeting between a boy and a girl. She No Care is a warning to young men to literally pay much closer attention to their girlfriends.
On why he has continued to amass the tracks, he says, “Creation of the songs and pushing them to the market appropriately are two different processes. So, knowing how busy one gets with all the things I’m trying to do on the business side, it pays to have a buffer of quality works prepared from the get go. Now, I can take my time and show growth in my work as I let fans enjoy this and try to catch up with my music and my other businesses hopefully.”
In the Aquadragon’s profile that easily opens like the lips of a model confident about the colour of her teeth, Amusu notes that he started performance by turning political activism into music. First, he is interested in offering alternative imagery to the picture of Africa depicted in western platforms. Yet, as much as he would not want to become a career politician, and without being too antagonistic of governments, he liked to lend his voice to principles that could guarantee functional governance.
“I became interested in the examination of political systems and governmental systems and how they affect one another especially in a place like Africa, where areas and regions remain so affected by each other, ” Amusu explains, adding that he does not have faith in politics because of the unpredictable character of most politicians.
“So without becoming an enemy to the government, I approach politics in my entertainment products mostly as statements pleading for change lightly wrapped in satire or jokes or otherwise hard-lined direct questions stuffed in between lines of poetry,” he says.
As a student in the US city of Philadelphia, he participated very actively in poetry slam. According to him, this hugely contributed to his development as well as his artistic development.
He recalls, “I lived in Philadelphia around the turn of the century. This could be considered the height of the neo-soul music’s popularity. Philadelphia, as some may know, is the birthplace of neo-soul and of Motown Records. I got to witness and participate in Afrocentric poetry and music and dance at an amazingly high level for a sustained period that honed my skills. I saw several musicians such as Floetry, Music Soul Child, Bilal and many more go from neighbourhood heroes and cult favourites to becoming US and worldwide musical phenomena.
“I realised that fora such as open mic and poetry slams are perfect opportunities to test out new material and also to bond with people who may become fans or even other musicians, poets and Industry executives.”
In the course of growing as an artiste and music entrepreneur, Awusu has, however, also been forced to learn some bitter lessons. One of such came on the wings of Living Proof, a project on which he spent all his savings and ‘bet’ his entire business – but which earned him a woeful disappointment at the end.”
Amusu narrates the story, “In 2003, I had started a promotions company in Philadelphia and hosted parties in nightclubs in the city as well as around area campuses. We quickly expanded into doing small video work. Then a huge opportunity presented itself. An artiste formerly signed to Motown/ Universal wanted to work with us on a joint brainchild - a documentary about ghetto life but conducted by ghetto people to ask the right questions about change, simply because black people worldwide need change.
“It was meant to explain the conditions that create the violence and gangsterism that has been overly glorified in media at times. With the project, misled people across cultures might understand better the manifestation that may be mistaken for behavioural trends and lifestyles. It was meant for Africa and we intended to extend the series to Africa so we could show new dimensions of Africa to the ghetto people in the US, the African American community in particular. We had already finished the documentary and a 14-song soundtrack before we decided on two more songs. Then, in-fighting on percentages amongst directors in the company began.”
Unfortunately, Amusu and his co-sojourners did not have any signed agreement that could help see them through the confusion that eventually enveloped the project. The gentlemen’s agreement they thought they had fell flat when the chips were down.
“That was the original and ultimate lesson,” he concedes. “But other lessons learnt include the fact that the soundtrack/documentary was of a larger capacity than one could normally handle effortlessly.”
Aquardragon’s record promotion outfit, Aquamusic, is grooming a bunch of fresh talents. Such include Yung Play, Jahman, Ms. Moz and Fountain of Music. He says they have a lot of promise for the industry.
And what is the origin of his nickname, Aquadragon? “Aqua is a Latin expression for water or water-based things, while ‘dragon’ is an expression used to describe a seasoned businessman,” he explains. “I’m from Badagry in Lagos State. Badagry is very aquatic. Also, I grew most of my formative years in an area of Apapa named Waterside, which is linked to Ajegunle via a creek. I attended the Nigerian Navy Secondary School for my secondary education and afterwards, schooled in the coastal city of Cardiff and eventually Philadelphia, which itself is a coastal city. In other words, my heritage and most of my personal experience is aquatic.”
Interestingly, too, his last job was also aquatic. He was involved in running the shipping department of a major Nigerian oil trading and delivery firm.
Source:Punch
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