His love for music didn’t rear its head until he was of age. From that moment, Kaka Igbokwe, second son of Chief Edwin Igbokwe, Media top-notch Manager and husband to late Chief (Dr.) Christy Essien-Igbokwe (MFR), has been romancing music production. He has been doing that for years now. In the course of it, he met two top producers – Laolu Akins and Lemmy Jackson. Both influenced him greatly and he produced some celebrity acts like DJ Jimmy Jatt, Weird MC and few others. However, this Jamboree suddenly stopped and shut him out for years when he lost his mum. But fate returned him to the center stage six years after, when his wife convinced him to produce their talented daughter’s music. The bearded youngman opened up to our Contributing Editor, IFECHI OKOH recently on his musical odyssey and how it has been years after the death of his mum. Happy reading.

May we know you and have an insight into your background?

My name is Kaka Chinwuba Igbokwe, I am the second son of Chief Edwin Igbokwe and late Chief (Dr.) Mrs. Christy Essien-Igbokwe (MFR). I am a music producer, data analyst and an ICT instructor.

What was your childhood dream and why?

This is a tough one! I have always wanted to be an archeologist for as long as I can remember. Then, I have always enjoyed discovering things in my childhood days and after watching a lot of Indiana Jones movies, I decided on being an archeologist, which is ideal for me, in discovering fossils and artifacts. I guess maybe that’s why I am always open to discovering new things and new experiences.

Have you actually achieved that dream?

Well, I am not an archeologist today. But I am still happy with the many skills I picked up in my life. I believed we all have a purpose in this life, and sometimes, it doesn’t always work the way you plan. But if you discover your place in this world early enough, whatever you become will always give you inner peace.

What are the factors that influenced your decision to change gear?

I can’t pinpoint it. But for some funny reasons, growing up musically was never attractive to me as a career. However, somehow, I found peace listening to music. To me, it was like an escape route from reality. So may be my peace of mind in this case could be considered the biggest factor.

We reliably scooped that you are a music producer. Did this spring from your natural link with your late mum who was a showbiz icon?

I could agree with you on that. Like my mum would always say, “a Tiger will always birth a tiger.” The apple doesn’t fall from the tree, I wasn’t gifted with superb vocal abilities, but my mother’s ear for music was amplified in me; so many people don’t know that she could produce all her tracks. She always told me that I will excel in music, but not as a singer, rather as a producer. This may have been some of the reasons; hence I have always enjoyed producing music.

What were the strings of the productions you have been involved in before handling your daughter’s remake of your late mother’s monumental hit “Seun Rere”?

Wow! Be informed that most of my major production works were before my mum passed away. I have worked with Weird MC, DJ Jimmy Jat, Durella, Chuddy K, Teeto Ceemos, Shank and few others stars that I can’t remember for now. When my mum passed away, I was kind of withdrawn from music because I was working on her new album when death snatched her away. Before then, we could only do two tracks. After her demise, music wasn’t attractive to me; rather it was a sad reminder that I lost a big part of me. I wasn’t motivated again to do music. However, I still produced a few people after her death, but it didn’t excite me anymore. I was in the dark for close to seven years. A shout out to my beautiful wife and daughter for leading me back to my happy place. The remake of Seun Rere was preached to me by my wife, for six years, in the guise of unveiling my daughter as a singer. When my wife was trying to convince me to listen to my daughter that she can sing, I wasn’t interested in that idea. Hence I have to shut it down for years, even when she made a video of my daughter when she was four years in 2016, singing Seun Rere. She even posted it on the internet to remind me of the day my mother passed on, just to cheer me up, I saw that the video went viral but I still wasn’t convinced that Christiana can sing, let alone purse singing as a career. I think it was during the pandemic that my daughter came and would tell me that she want to sing. Her request was seriously backed up with my wife’s preaching over the need for me to do something. This exercise continued endlessly until I gave in, just to prove them wrong. I had to purchase some equipment and a laptop and delivered them to the house, asking my daughter to record her song. To my biggest surprise, she proved me wrong. The case was simply like a fish in the water as she exhibited that she knew her notes, timing and was natural on vocals. It then dawned on me that a seven-year-old was still rough around the edges, but she had the basic ingredients of confidence and vocal presence. I later called a couple of my friends in the industry and played the demo she recorded and they gave me pieces of advice on how to get her ready quickly. My wife enrolled her in a music school where she could learn to play the piano ad control her vocals. Then, my wife started teaching her the song, Seun Rere. So when Disney came knocking to use the song for their movie, Rise, my wife told me we are ready to produce the song: just do your job. She promised to handle the rest. It was like I was a spectator because Christiana kept surprising me as she turned me from a doubter to a believer. This actually forced me to find my way back to my safe place, which is music. When we actually recorded the song, we had to send the song across the borders for reviews and a lot of ideas were shared to making the song better, just like the original song that had so many instrumentalists. We ended up recreating the same vibes. The entire beat was made with five instruments from the horns to the talking drums and the shekere. I think the only thing that wasn’t played live was the sample we used. We even infused the original backups and my mother’s voice for the chorus. The process took us six months to perfect and in the end, it came out just right. So, the team came through with what they had laboured for.

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