Shakar EL : I’m Focused on Preaching Happiness

Chukwudi Ezeagwa popularly known as Shakar EL is an Afrobeat artiste who kicked off his music career while living in UK back in 2008. He was one of the first artistes to push and promote the Afrobeat culture in the UK with his singles titled “Orishirishi Swagga” in 2008 and “Anyhow” in 2009 which became an instant hit in the Afrobeat scene in the UK and diaspora at large. Shakar EL moved back to Nigeria in 2011 to pursue his dream in motherland. Shakar EL is known for his diversity in style and sounds. He talks to Tosin Clegg about his career, building his brand and much more

Growing up was fun

The greatest gift then was the chance to go out and play with other kids indulging in activities like football, making kites, playing table soccer and more. My childhood dream was to become an entertainer. I wanted to be on stage performing or dancing or whatever, I just wanted to be on stage. My father was one of the reasons why I fell in love with music because he only bought musical videos when we were kids. I had no choice than to love music even though back then I would have preferred action movies.

Dreams and aspirations as a kid

I just wanted to be an entertainer. Back then, I didn’t know how possible it would be but I was determined to be an entertainer even though it wasn’t a popular trade then. Now, it is very lucrative and everyone wants to be part of it. I am living my childhood dreams, today I am a recording and performing artiste and that is all I wanted to be as a child. I once lied that I wanted to be a doctor as a kid because I wanted to make my dad proud. He wanted all his kids to be medical doctors but God knows it is in not my calling.

My musical journey

It all started when I was in primary school. We had this Neigbour called Mrs Ricky Eze that had a children variety show on a television in Enugu called ESBS back then. She convinced my mum to let me join them in the show along with other kids. I basically started learning how to perform songs by trending artistes of that time people like Shabba Ranks, LL Cool J and a host of others. As a shy kid, I was never camera shy, I was always camera ready.

The variety show gave me the opportunity to be an entertainer. When I got to secondary school, I continued performing other people’s song in school events and I was going from school to school to perform. I actually organized my own shows too in senior secondary school and it continued like that till I got to university and I started composing my own hooks and performing it on stage with popular instrumentals. Everyone that knew me back then knew I exhale entertainment, I finally kicked off my musical career professionally in London, UK when I recorded my first single titled “Orishirishi Swagga” in 2008.

Orishirishi Music

My music is called Orishirishi music. As it’s a cocktail of different sounds and influences from other genres like highlife, dancehall, Afrobeats, hip hop and more. When you listen to my songs you will notice that it is not monotonous, it is rich and diverse and the delivery is unique. My contents are majorly about enjoyment and happiness but I also have conscious songs. I am very versatile when it comes to the content of my music but I am more focused on preaching happiness because the country is hard and people need hope. I’m the King of Orishirishi because of all the gifts I have and the things I do.

Orishirishi means varieties and apart from my music which I call Orishirishi music I recently started recording and publishing my online cooking show which is also called the King of Orishirishi show. Many people didn’t know that I can cook but during the recent lockdown I started recording and posting myself cooking some stuffs and the responses have been amazing. Now some are already calling me a celebrity chef but I prefer to be referred to as The King of Orishirishi. It also entails other stuffs I do apart from music ranging from acting, fashion, music promotions and more.

I have a brand new single out titled “Sah Sah.” It is a very danceable song which I am promoting at the moment and hopefully I will release my album this year. I am also shooting contents for my King of Orishirishi cooking show plus a book in view, so this year I have a lot planned out which I am still working on at the moment.

My inspiration can come from anything

It can be from me listening to another song, it can be from the news or from what I see online, it can be from a personal experience or people’s experience and can come from anywhere in general. It all depends once I hear an amazing beat from my producer but most times I come with the inspiration before we make the beat. My influence comes from different people and I can’t even count but my role models are King Sunny Ade, Sir Shina Peters to mention a few. I love them because of their energy on stage and for the fact that they are still doing amazing on stage even at old age and that inspires me because I want to be able to be performing when I am as old as them.