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Meet Ajegunle Star Drummer D'vine Clique Band founder who tells Amebo Newspaper about his active days and more with Esther Egbe recently.
My name is High Chief Emeka Tunde Amadi Legend Drummer. I am from Ohaji LGA in Imo State.My music band name is called D'vine Clique Band. I started playing music from church to church choir in 1982,but in 1983 I was still young then when i started going out to be playing Christian music .There was a lady then that owns a band then but I can't remember her name, then we were base in Ajegunle. I was living in N0.132, Mba Street close to the magistrate court, that where I started playing my music, then I was going from one event to another.
My first pay was five Naria from there to ten Naria, twenty Naria then that was big money at that time. Then I started growing little by little then I went for one program in the year 1986,then I meet a man Mr Elma Obialum he plays the keyboard, he took me to late Engineer Emmanuel and he saw me beating drums and ask me to come and join their band, they lived in Festac 3rd Avenue ,they call the name of the band "THE LIGHT BEARERS," so I later joined the band playing gospel music in 1987,
Later in 1988 I went to Canada with the bands for three months, playing Christian music when we came back ,the dollars I got there . That year a dollar was six naria to the dollar, 1988,then 1989 we now went to America (long Beach California, Richmond California ) Just touring the places in California, so when I got back I change the dollars to naria ,8 naria to a dollar 1989 that was during the time of Ibrahim Babaginda .
In 1990 I started to play circuler music, so have work with so many artists, I played drum for late Onyeka Onwenu, I played for Charlie Boy, late Tyna Onwudiwe in fact I started playing with Charlie boy in 1990 ,1991, then also I played for Mandators ,but not for that long, when he came back from his second trip, all his band groups all drop .He came back to form another band group, so I was the drummer with him then, later went to played for Christ Mba for so many years. I also played for blacky when blacky came out when he was reigning , I tour with blacky all over Nigeria as his drummer, so I will say that so many artists has pass through me.
Back in the days we had a band that was called KK Band, at that time Sammy Okposo late was the keyboardist with Alex Queency,then Big Teddy Danso was the basics,then Sesun was the drummer ,Bros Tunde was the guitarist and i also joined them, Sesun later became the Sound Engineer and i became the drummer of the KK band.
We back so many artists,I played with Esinne Ajesine where she performed at National Stadium at time I was playing drum with Sam UKwa, we back Adudeme long time ago in Jos,that was his first show he played because he was from Jos. I can remember we use to have so many artists, that was an event we use to back all upcoming Artists in Lagos.
Bar Beach then, we were the band that back every Upcoming Artists that is where blacky came out from, Daddy Showkey,Muma Gee ,all of them we were backing them to play shows at that time.
So I have work with so many artists then that are now popular today and my experience as drummer at that time is different from now. Music is so easy to record now,to go for show is very easy, to contact people is easy.
In my day of active drumming in Ajegunle ,for example if we have a show to play ,it was very difficult to contact the band members, then there was no phone you can imagine then and now. I have to go to their houses to inform them . It was quite stressful at that time. We are the foundation of music then,because we earned nothing to compare with now of what music is giving.
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