INTERVIEW BY CHUDI NWAFO.
HOUSTON, TEXAS. NOVEMBER 2024
“Tabansi Records has come to stay. We have bigger and better plans, and they’ll unfold in the course of time.”
Those were the words of Mr. Godwin Tabansi, fondly called Goddy Tabansi, who currently sits as Chairman of Tabansi Records, an all-round music company founded by his late father, Prince GAD Tabansi (Nwawelu-ugo), who passed away about fourteen years ago.
Goody Tabansi and Nwafo
Popularly known as “The Mecca of Budding Stars”, Tabansi Records was Africa’s premier Indigenous Record label, with diverse Repertoire of Evergreen and Rare hit Music releases since its establishment in 1970.
Tabansi Records developed and promoted many young Nigerian musicians, including Majek Fashek, Reggae superstar whose 1988 album ‘Send Down The Rain’ remains one of Africa’s best-selling LPs of all time, Felix Leberty, whose ‘Lover Boy’ and ‘Ifeoma’ albums became pan-African sensations, Andy Shurman, Veno Marioghae of ‘Nigeria Go Survive’ fame, Orits Wiliki, Victor Essiet & The Mandators, Bongos Ikwue, Mr. ‘Save The Children’ Chudi Nwafo, Ess Bee Family of the ‘Chics and Chicken’ fame, Eric Cole, Stella Monye, Renny Nwosa, Jake Solo, Manford Best, ‘Country Boy’ Harry Mosco, Harcourt Whyte, and a host of others who made great impact in Africa in the 70s and 80s.
Tabansi Records also licensed, promoted and distributed top international American, Caribbean, and other groups and solo artistes whose music dominated the dancehalls for over two decades.
Goddy and I were together at his grandson’s birthday event in Houston, Texas, USA, recently, and that offered a wonderful opportunity for this interaction which seeks to provide answers to the many questions by fans, old associates, and industry operators who’ve been curious about what has become of Tabansi Records in the dynamic global music and entertainment industry.
Q: Tabansi Records, still functional?
A: Hundred percent functional! The times are changing. There’s a shift in paradigm from the production and distribution of music on vinyl, CDs and cassettes, which used to be handled by record label owners, of which Tabansi Records stood tall in the industry, not only in Nigeria but also in Africa. Today, music business has gone digital and online, and most artistes now prefer to do their thing themselves. Nevertheless, Tabansi Records currently remains a giant in the industry. We have the most fully equipped digital and analogue recording studios located in Onitsha, Nigeria. We have upgraded to the current international standard. There’s no difference between Tabansi Studios in Nigeria and studios here in America. I do not see any individual or company in Nigeria that has invested so much more than we have in studio equipment in the entire country. The only difference between Nigerian and American studios right now is Engineering. In America, Studio Engineers work so hard to update themselves to remain in tune with the changing times, and that’s why they have an edge over their Nigerian counterparts. Tabansi Records has trained more than five Studio Engineers abroad, whose names I won’t like to mention here. After their training, they do little or nothing to sharpen their skills. Now, tell me what magic they can do to remain abreast with the dynamism of the music industry. And again, rather than make positive efforts to improve their skills, some of them try to steal your equipment to go and set up their own studio. Unfortunately, you keep training them, you keep getting the same result, and that’s not encouraging at all. So, in Nigeria, the key problem is with sound, engineering, and maintenance.
Q: So, how are you dealing with that?
A: Last year, I brought in one Jamaican Sound Engineer to train our Engineers at our Onitsha studio. Guess what he told me after his experience with them. In his own words, and in his Jamaican accent, “This people, man, they’re just after money”.
At some point, he tried to get me to keep him in Nigeria, but I objected because it would be very expensive to do so. Right now, I’m sending another Engineer from here in the United States to go to Nigeria and train four of our Engineers. I think it makes more business sense to do it that way, so that you get the Engineers trained on the very equipment they work with, and at an affordable cost. It’s part of the investment.
Q: In spite of what you have outlined as challenges, a good number of Nigerian artistes are still making it on the global stage, and they sound good enough. Don’t you think so?
A: The fact remains that what most artistes do is put a few equipment and keyboards together, and they’re able to churn out sound. That’s not what I call a studio. You can refer to that as a sound laboratory, not a studio. They do their sequencing in their sound lab, and then, sometimes, come to our sound studio or some others elsewhere to overdub and mix. Incidentally, rather than acknowledge and give due credit to the studio where the overdub and mixing are done, they claim it’s all done in their “studio”. A studio must be acoustically designed for the real thing. Most of these Lagos-based popular artistes do their basic sequencing in their sound laboratory, and then, they come to Tabansi studio in Onitsha to overdub and mix their songs, and that’s why they sound good as they do. I won’t want to mention them; they’re our customers. At least, we enjoy their patronage, and everybody is happy.
Q: Does Tabansi Records still sign artistes?
A: Based on the kind of experience my late father, Prince GAD Tabansi had, and my personal encounter with artistes, I do not want to quarrel with any artiste. I don’t want any form of name-calling from any artiste and for any reason. Tabansi Records would rather sign an artiste on outright contract. We’re into online music marketing right now, and we have a good number of artistes on our stable. Most notable among them is Nigeria’s current Gospel rave, Favour.
Q: Do you run the company in Nigeria from your United States base, or you have an operational team back home?
A: We operate from both US and Nigeria. The Headquarters is at Onitsha, Nigeria, but we have agents in Jamaica, United State, Australia, and in London. And much as I’m actively involved as Chairman and Director in charge of Repertoires, my younger brother, Joseph Tabansi, is the one piloting affairs at Onitsha as Managing Director. I’m more into Real Estate and other businesses that require most of my time and attention here in the US.
In addition to our music business, we have a state-of-the-art Movie Editing facility right there in Onitsha, which provides strategic support to Nigeria’s Nollywood movie industry. We offer very professional movie editing services at very competitive prices, and with that in place, Nigerians don’t need to go to South Africa or anywhere outside the shore of Nigeria to get their job done.
Tabansi Records has come to stay. We have bigger and better plans, and they’ll unfold in the course of time.
Chudi Nwafo
Houston, Texas, USA
November 2024
