20 years after the evergreen single, ‘One day e go better’, a member of the defunct musical group, ‘Safari’, Mike Nliam, has returned to the music stage, with the release of his debut solo single titled ‘Just Like Fela’.
This new song is a classic afro-pop with Afrobeat tunes laced with blazing trumpet horns, heavy bass guitar strings, and drum kicks.
‘Just Like Fela’ is the first song off Mike Nliam’s new 7-track EP due out in the coming weeks. The song which is dropping with a music video, will be available for streaming on all music platforms from February 9.
Mike who gave a five star performance in the new job gave an insight on how the song came about. Hear him,
“A couple of years ago, I watched a video by ‘Maroon 5’ titled ‘Move Like Jagger’, and immediately, I was motivated to write a song in honor of the legendary Fela. I am a diehard fan of Fela.”
Speaking further on the track produced by Kris Okoro, Nliam said, “During writing, the catchy chorus was the first I penned before the verses”.
“In the late 90s, I came into the entertainment industry a bustling and ambitious young man who wanted to rule the music world. I met Zeb Ejiro who has an eye for discovering talents. He noticed my songwriting gift and offered a young boy an opportunity to write a song for a TV series he was producing in partnership with Ralph Nwadike and NTA titled ‘Fortunes’. That was my adventure into being a sound-track artiste and my romance with the movie industry began. As at today, I have done over 500 songs for movies and TV series”, Mike stated.
As “Safari” in 2001, Mike Nliam and his colleague Abay Esho, released the hit single ‘One day e go better’ which made them an instant hit. They also had a sophomore track titled ‘Yapaa’, before the two-man ensemble went silent.
Interestingly, the second half of the group, Abay Esho, directed the “Just like Fela” video.
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