OLU JACOBS: ‘THERE’S NO RETIREMENT FOR ME’

Nollywood veteran, Olu Jacobs has said he has no intention to retire from acting anytime soon although he turned 71 this year.

He made this revelation when he talked to Nigeria Entertainment Today (NET) recently about his love life, career, Nigeria movie industry among others.

Here are excerpts of the interview:

Considering your age, do you plan to retire anytime soon?

I don’t know. Does one retire from life? My job is life so why should I retire from it. There is no retirement because everything I am passing through is life. Where do I retire from, from being granddad, uncle or dad?

Do you plan to take up other roles such as producing and directing?

Is there any other role for a character like me? I can still play the role of a father, grandfather, uncle and the likes. I would not go and play a school boy. It is as simple as that.

I am not taking any role from anybody so why should you be expecting me to write. I could write or direct but my main passion is acting.

Crying on set doesn’t seem to be a problem for you. How do you do it?

It is called ‘emotion recall‘. It is something you have to practice on your own in your own room with the mirror. You must have a mirror that is long- that is one friend that will never lie to you.

Aside acting, what do you derive happiness in doing?

It is still the same thing, I love anything to do with the business of acting, whether performing, producing, directing.

Singing is another area that I like. I used to sing when I was much younger but I haven’t done that for a while.

How fulfilling has your career been?

When we started, I remember that a lot of my friends didn’t respect what I was doing.

At the end of the day, I am what I am today and to the glory of God it has been a very fulfilling experience.

You and your wife are usually tagged Nollywood’s most celebrated couple. How did you meet?

I was having a meeting at the National Theatre when the door opened and a young lady came in. I looked at her. I had never met her before in my life and I said to the people in the room ‘ladies and gentlemen, this is the lady I am going to marry‘.

Everybody laughed. She looked at me up and down, hissed and left. Today, she is my wife and that was 27 years ago.

With the rate at which celebrity marriages are crashing, how have you been able to keep it together?

It is God. There are other forces outside that you need to take cognisance of but when you do, you have to make sure that they don’t take control over your life.

You are now thinking for two. No decision you take should be for yourself alone. It’s for two and it must remain for two. You have to always remember that.

So who cooks for you when she is not around?

I am very familiar with the kitchen. I was a bachelor for a long time and I made sure that no woman would come and do ‘iyanga’ for me.

I can cook anything; fish, chicken, different types of dishes, I can cook them. Since you got married, your wife has maintained her maiden name. Why has she not adopted your own name?

She is her own individual. When I met her, she was an actress known as Joke Silva so why should marrying me now deny her and her audience her name.

She is Miss Joke Silva who is Mrs. Joke Jacobs. When she is working, she is Joke Silva but she is Mrs. Joke Jacobs at home.

As Nollywood celebrates 20 years, what is your assessment of the entire industry?

In 20 years, a lot has happened. We have seen a lot of talented people, we have seen a lot of ‘cowboys’, and we have seen a lot of people coming and get thrown out by situations.

Some cannot cope while some can cope. Some are still fighting to survive but above all, the ‘baby‘ is very much alive and is 20 years old.

A 20 year old baby is a damn young man. Our baby is doing well.

What are some of those gray areas in Nollywood that need to be tackled?

You see, our problem is not so much the product, we have, it is the marketing and distribution- that is our problem. When you say, this film is coming out next Tuesday, it should be nationwide.

At the moment, we cannot do that. So the pirates have filled in the gap and then we are blaming them. But we cannot blame them until we are able to fashion out a proper distribution system.

All through your career, which moment has been the most memorable?

Any award is humbling. I feel humbled that in fact I have been able to touch people, which is why I came into the business. so every award does that, even more so when you least expect.

WHO IS TO RESCUE GHANAIAN EVENT ORGANIZERS WITH PROPER VENUES?

It’s a pity Ghana cannot boast of an adequate multi-purpose indoor facility such as the O2 Arena in London or the Staples Center and Nokia Theatre in Downtown LA or Madison Square Garden in New York City, for our numerous entertainment concerts and events.

The above mentioned venues form part of many places Ghanaian artistes dream of having at least a performance, but no one has ever talked of contributing to building an almost similar edifice to save us the discomfort.

The 20,000 seat Staples Centre which opened in 1999 after a year of construction cost $375 million to build and financed privately by the owners, the L.A. Arena Company and Anschutz Entertainment Group. It hosts over 250 events including basketball, hockey, boxing and concerts with nearly 4,000,000 guests a year.

It is not different from the O2 Arena in London which seats 20,000 people being the second largest in UK after the Manchester Arena.

The Madison Square Garden in Manhattan is the third-busiest music arena in the world in terms of ticket sales hosting approximately 320 events a year. At a total construction cost of approximately $1.1 billion, Madison Square Garden has been ranked as one of the ten most expensive stadium venues ever built.

Now to Ghana where we have used and abused the National Theatre and the Accra International Conference Centre which only seats 1500 and 1600 people respectively.

The capacity can’t hold the growing population of entertainment lovers judging by the high attendance at these venues with many hanging around due to lack of seats.

The Dome by the Conference Centre which was built in 2008 specifically for the UNCTAD conference became a necessary choice for event organizers due to its extra seating capacity but currently it’s still “under renovation”.

The Accra Stadium has grown in popularity among event organizers playing hosts to international artistes like Chris Brown and Akon. The 40,000 seating capacity stadium was filled up during the recent Big Eruption and Sonnie Badu Concerts.

But of course it’s not the most suitable venue considering its outdoor characteristics leaving attendants at the mercy of the weather and creates a lot of hitches for organizers.

The only solution is to build at least one multi-purpose indoor arena that could host at least 50,000 people. But the question is: Who should build that event saver?

The religious events have been blessed with the Perez Dome of the Perez Chapel International at Dzorwulu which has a seating capacity of 14000, bigger than the National Theatre and Conference Centre combined.

The dome being an indoor venue has already hosted many renowned international preachers and gospel music celebrities like Morris Cellulo, Don Moen and Kirk Franklin, with organizers under pressure as more seats were required for the already filled venue.

Event organizers make money that’s why they keep organizing shows, artistes make money that’s why they keep bragging about it and sponsors have money that’s why they keep sponsoring.

It is about time there is a created partnership to pool funds in order to build a multi –purpose arena, like the Staples Centre, to host local and international concerts, boxing matches and other events rather than wait for another 50 years for government to make the move.

Shouldn’t we “put our money where our mouth is”?

SARKODIE TO LAUNCH ‘SARKOLOGY’ ALBUM @ ACCRA SPORTS STADIUM

Ghana’s most exciting rap brand, Sarkodie, will on December 21 launch his most anticipated third studio album, Sarkology, with a mega concert at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Sarkology, an expansive LP with a mix that boasts an individual’s artistic delivery carefully honed over the years, is his third effort after Makye and Rapperholic.

The launch date, manger of his label Duncwills Entertainment Sammy Forson says, will be launched together with what is expected to be the biggest outdoor event of the year.

The Accra Sports Stadium will come alive, as the BET award winner, Ghana Music Awards artiste of the Year on two occasions, and 4Syte TV’s Most Influential Artiste of the Year 2013, takes to the stage in an unforgettable one-night-only date with his fans.

“This is a fitting end to everything that went into Sarkology. I am excited that we are finally getting to give the album to the fans. This is an album made with the fans in mind,” Sarkodie says.

“December 21 is time for us to make history again.”

Sarkology is a 30-track album, featuring some amazing talents such as Efya, Stonebwoy, Joey B, Raquel, Lil Shaker and Obrafour, as well as Nigeria’s Davido, Banky W, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Vector, South African Rapper AKA, and Senegalese songstress Vivian Chidid.

A tightly done double disc album put together by 13 producers, it shows the artiste’s depth and appreciation for compositions that stand the test of time.

The December 21 event is made possible by Tigo, Guinness and Kasapreko Alomo Bitters.

It is powered by Duncwills Entertainment, Infinity Marketing, 365 Entertainment.