I don’t like to brag about my music industry achievements –Muyiwa Majekodunmi

Muyiwa Majekodunmi became a celebrity by virtue of being the proprietor of Jazzville, a club where every notable Nigerian musician, including the legendary Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, had to perform. Popularly known as Majek, he made more news when he closed down Jazzville. He further made news with Jazzville’s conversion to Praiseville. OSEYIZA OOGBODO BLOG met him and he explained why. Jazzville was a very popular joint. Do you regret closing it? No. Never. Absolutely not. In fact, I wish I had done it earlier. Actually, it closed when it should, that’s all. In the aftermath, the wilderness period, you’ll grumble, that is natural, and ask, ‘Did You ask me to close down Jazzville?’ And the reply was ‘Yeah.’ I have no regrets. You’re saying God told you to close it? Yes. I don’t think all that was really me per se. I just think that at some point in time, you’ll ask yourself where are you coming from, where are you now and where do you want to go? Is this what you want to do for the rest of your life? It came with dissatisfaction about the late nights and that it was all vanity. I lost interest in the late nights, the booze, the boobs. I just grew older and became more spiritually aware. And even in all that chronic madness and negative lifestyle, God was calling me. There was a call upon my life to get out of the mess. How did you get the call? It was delivered to me by God. How? There are some things you cannot explain. There’s no way you can explain spiritual matters carnally. It’s like there’s something telling you that if you’re going down this road, it’s a one-way road to perdition and destruction, come back. I heard a voice telling me it was time to give it up and I did. What impact did Jazzville have on your life? I believe you should ask what impact it made on people’s lives. For a lot of people, it was the place to be themselves. For many, it was the place to hang out and meet guys of like creative minds. It was a place that was totally unpretentious. It was me, it was my alter ego. I hated unnecessary formalities. You know Nigeria is a place that if something is easy, they make it hard. If it’s hard, make it harder. If it’s harder, make it difficult. If it’s difficult, make it impossible. That’s Nigeria for you. And my own way is if something is hard, make it easy. Life is already hard enough, why contribute to it? If you can make a difference in somebody’s life, make somebody happy, why not do it? The Bible says, ‘Do not withhold doing good from anybody.’ If you can do your good today, do it, don’t tell the person come back tomorrow. At times, Nigerians are so hypocritical and I just hated the whole setup and for me, it was … look, at Jazzville, I was clearing tables, serving drinks, emptying ashtrays. It wasn’t about me but making people happy. How did people take the closure? Most of them were not happy. They couldn’t believe it. How did your wife take it? She was happy, very happy. Did you use to smoke and womanise when you were operating Jazzville? Let me say this very carefully. There is an unholy trinity in this business called entertainment. It’s booze, boobs and blues. Or wine, women and weed. It comes with the territory. You can’t avoid it. If you’re in the music business, you’ll fornicate, you’ll smokate and you’ll drinkate. I don’t know why. But it’s just that way. So you partook of those things too? Whether I like it or not, I did. It was good while it lasted, you know, but there comes a point in your life when you just say what’s all these, what are you getting from all these, nothing, and you give it all up. Some people say you are an SS by genotype, yet you were partying hard? No. I’m not SS. I’m AS. I’m AS. If I were SS and I was smoking and drinking, that would mean I actually wanted to commit suicide. After Jazzville, it took you some time to start Praiseville. Why? Were you thinking of what to do? Was I thinking? I was in a wilderness, I’m still in it, I’m not completely out of it. The most important thing is to obey that voice first. I obeyed that voice and went into a period of depression and withdrawal. I withdrew from everybody and everything. For years, I wasn’t involved in music, parties, events and didn’t want to do anything with music. Then Praiseville started by divine order in July 2005. It started not because I desired it. It was just divine order. And just like Jazzville, it’s the same ambience, same atmosphere, same informality, but this time, it’s dedicated to a higher purpose. And we encourage it to be a platform for creative expression in terms of what God has put inside one, in spirit and in truth. And like Jazzville, it’s unplanned, unprogrammed, unstructured, very informal and anybody who’s anybody that comes in can sing and lead in praise and worship and share a word. The Bible says in Joel and it’s also repeated in the Acts of Apostles that ‘In the last days, I’ll pour My spirit on all flesh.’ And the purpose of God pouring His spirit unto all flesh is so that they could minister unto one another. And at Praiseville, there’s no difference between the pulpit and the pew. The pulpit is the pew and vice versa. Do you feel that both Jazzville and Praiseville have contributed to the music industry’s growth? You should answer that question, not me, I don’t know. I don’t like to brag, but virtually everybody and anybody who is anybody in the music industry today, the old brigade started off … not just music, but in terms of comedians and MCs, they had their baptism of fire here. Jazzville gave them an opportunity to hone in their talent, develop their repertoire, fan base and clientele. I believe we contributed a lot, although most people will not admit it, because once they go, they never come back. I’ve never gotten a thank you from anybody and I don’t mind. Maybe they believe we haven’t contributed to their lives, but I leave it to God, I leave it to posterity to determine what impact Jazzville has made on people’s lives. It’s left to them, not me. I’m just doing what God has asked me to do. God has given me a particular challenge, a particular anointing. I don’t have anointing to sing or to play music instruments but the anointing I have is to bring a crop of people together and anoint them and make a team out of them. So what have Praiseville and Jazzville actually done for you, considering that they have contributed greatly to the careers of many musicians and other entertainers? Well, I’ve gotten a sense of fulfillment. Fulfillment not in terms of finance, believe me. Money? No. The fulfillment comes from the satisfaction of people being here, seeing the joy in their faces, seeing them express what God has put inside them. Can you imagine having so much and having nowhere to express it? God has given you a talent to sing or share the Word and you cannot do it in church because it’s a one-man thing we have there, I’m the founder, I’m the head. No, it’s not about you. What is fellowship? Fellowship is when we all come together and we can help each other edify ourselves. So many people on the pulpit should be in the pews and those in the pews should be in the pulpit. And here at Praiseville, we make the pulpit and pew one. Yeah, I say it and I act it. Believe you me, sometimes it gets so whoa! If you’re a typical church person, you’ll hate Praiseville, I’m telling you.