Lara George, Living her dream

Living Her Dream

Like Onyeka Onwenu, Dora Ifudu and a few others, Lara George nee Bajomo is well educated, talented and beautiful.Meeting her at a close range, you are bound to be thrilled by her beauty, intelligence and vibrant nature. George, a former member of the once popular gospel group KUSH that included TY Bello, Emem and Dapo, took CLETUS NWACHUKWU through her modest sojourn in the unpredictable world of music, in a recent ecounter.

SAVE for Dapo and the multi-talented Emem, Lara George and Ty Bello seem to have taken over the airwaves with their well-accepted debut works and have continued to garner acclaims from everyone, including the harshest critics. Describing herself as enigmatic and fun-loving, George traced her journey into the world of music and you cannot but praise her unflinching passion and steadfastness, despite opposition from her overtly protective parent.

"My parents didn't like my involvement in music because they didn't understand it," she recalled. "My parents didn't see music as some thing any serious person should do. They always harp on it that I should remain focused on my school works."

Beginning from Queens College, Yaba, Lagos where she was a member of the choir and onto her days at the University of Lagos, where she graduated with a Masters degree in Architecture, Lara George has always had music in her.

"At the University of Lagos, I was part of a group called Rocksolid, which was my school's fellowship group," she further narrated. "The group released an album called Your Dream Come True. TY, Emem, myself and Dapo were part of the group and we came out to form KUSH, which also released an album. KUSH took a break and now, Lara George is here."

As a most prominent member of Kush, the issue of the group would not just go away and so, she had to talk about it. According to her, as Rocksolid members, they had a natural bond between them. "At Kush, our major goal was to give hope to our listeners and fans, that they could live a good life essentially," she explained. "Our music was inspirational and the feel-good type, but it didn't remove the background we had in God. We released an album, "Let's Stay Together, that everybody loved and that was Kush."

Music experts hold that the bane of most musicians today is lack of format training in music. That was not to be a problem for Lara, because she attended an elitist school, where she was taught how to read music notes and do classical music. Call that a format training in music. But for Lara, music was something innate.

Considering the reactions of her parents who were rightly concerned about the future of their beautiful and unassuming daughter, it definitely took more than human efforts for Lara to hold strongly to her love and passion for music. She recalled too, that while still at school, her mother would refuse to show up at her concerts, and if eventually, dad came, he would leave before the show ended.

"It was a very discouraging period for me. But somehow, I couldn't stop. When I was in Rocksolid and we're working on our album, I had to hide the information from my parents. At a point when I realised that one day, they might be driving and see a poster with me on it, I had to go home and tell them. Yet, they continued warning me to deal more with my academics and I could understand their fears. They didn't want me as a failure."

"With their support, I'm an architect today and I thank them for that,' she enthused. "Maybe if they weren't there for me, I would have dropped out of school. Today, I've good education in my pocket and nobody can take that away from me."

Despite the huge hype that trailed Kush's invasion of the local music scene, her Lara's were not excited. At a point, there was division between her father and mother on whether to support her or not. While her mother insisted on her not doing music, her father would rather she was given the benefit of the doubt, especially in the light of the Kush record deal.

"I thank God for my father because if it was just for my mother, I wouldn't be part of Kush. She was really concerned about my welfare and comfort and all that when we go on tours, said Lara. And eventually, she discovered her mother's bottled up love.

"Overtime, she saw we were not wayward. And one day, I caught her boasting to a friend that her daughter was a member of Kush. That was when I began to really get their support and at the album launch of Kush, they sat at the front row. I shed tears of joy that day; I felt everything had paid off. It was really an emotional moment for me."

She disclosed that the group Kush was actually without a lead singer. Songs were rendered by each member, according to its demand. At times, it was TY Bello or Lara George leading a song. While Emem was the constant rapper. "I had the soprano voice, TY Bello had Alto, Emem, second soprano and Dapo was bass singer."

Many music observers view the presence of Lara George and TY Bello in the music scene as a kind of musical revolution. Full of smiles, George attributed the phenomenon to the grace of God.

"To God be the glory," she remarked. "You are bound to make an impact when you put your hands on something good. That's what everybody prays for. It's our prayers to positively affect lives globally through our music."

But then, the question is, what eventually led to the disbandment of Kush?

"It got to a point when disillusionment set in," anwered George. "For some, music was it and for some, it wasn't. Somehow, we discovered ourselves and for me, I'd always wanted to do music 24/7. When others are not putting in the same efforts and energy as you do, you'd actually get frustrated...Then we sat down, discussed issues and eventually went our separate ways."

But they never stopped being friends, she added, stressing: "Emem, TY, Dapo and myself understood what was on the ground and because of our Christian background, we would overcome our differences. We've since continued to support one another and even TY did the photographs on my album sleeve; Emem did a rap song for me and she was also in TY's video as well."

George would not agree that developments in their their personal lives attributed to the break up of Kush, insisting that TY Bello's marriage and her own had nothing whatsoever to do with the group's break-up.

"I wish Kush hadn't broken up. Having said that, the Bible said that everything worketh for good to them that loves God. God has a way of doing things against the plans of the devil," she philosophised.






Now happily married, George has a one and half-year old boy to show for a relationship that began way back in 1995 before the Kush days. She described her husband as a staunch supporter and inspiration for her musical career.

"My husband was never a problem. He's my biggest fan and inspiration, who encourages me to keep going," she said. "I make bold to say he's the reason why I'm here today. He's always pushing me to the studios, to write more songs and do what I love most- music."

In recent days, the song "Ijoba Orun one of the several hits in George's debut album, has somewhat become the devotional and inspirational song in many homes and offices. The nine-track album entitled Forever In My Heart, music experts concur, is bound to make a most resounding statement in the industry.

She explained that the album project took so long because she had to tidy up several issues mostly based on the traumatic break-up of Kush. According to her, at a particular time, she would not touch music with a 10-foot pole.

"After the Kush break-up, I was sad; honestly, I was depressed for a very long time because it was something that meant a lot to me," she recalled. "Thank God, I was working then and I totally enmeshed myself in my work. That's why it took me so long to come out with this album."

Returning to her passion from the musical doldrums, she revived her groove and decided to give the album project her all.

She explained: "Life's too short and you know, I said, why not do what I love to do? Secondly, I write songs and end up keeping them in the drawers. I don't believe God gave you a gift to hide it. God gave you the gift to positively touch other people's lives. I'm on a mission to fulfil my destiny in life."

Could that be the reason she sings gospel? "I don't believe gospel is a genre of music. I think it's a way of life," she offered. "Even if you're a Muslim, when you sing, your belief would come out and it is so, in whatever you do. My music is soul. It is inspirational and when I'm singing on issues, I do it from the Christian perspective."

"I'd tell you what God has told me to do whenever I find myself in your situation," she added. "I love to call my music inspirational. It's important that people listen to it and are encouraged and empowered. I want to be the light, where there's darkness and give hope to the seemingly hopeless with my music."

Armed with a two-album deal with Westside Music Company, Mrs. George revealed that the recording deal includes a clause for her to leave or stay after one album.

Describing herself as a regular and fun-loving young lady, George said of herself: "I'm very interested in truth. I'm just about facing issues, discipline; loving God and fighting injustice at all times. Overall, I think I'm nice and fun-loving."


Source: Guardian Article