By Editor
Romania’s newest star of Afro-Gospel music, a genre previously unknown to music fans in the East European country, is a fast-rising Nigerian born medical doctor known as Tobiloba (real name is Oluwatobiloba Omole).
Tobiloba’s name is fast evolving into a household item in Bucharest, the capital city. He is so popular and influential, especially on the entertainment scene, that the entire city had to look forward to the unveiling of his latest single, titled, Who Else, with great expectations in July.
A native of Osun State, Tobiloba has lived in Romania for eight years. He had arrived in the country in search of the proverbial Golden Fleece around 2012 and ended up studying Medicine in one of the universities.
The artiste, in an online interview with our correspondent, said that a career in music was not part of his personal plans by the time he left Nigeria for Romania.
“It wasn’t even in my plan to delve into music professionally. It was never really my dream to become an artist. I loved music as a little boy, but as I grew up I didn’t even think I wanted the typical ‘artist’s life style’. I wanted something else,” he said.
So music, for him, was somewhat accidental. It was not planned. For a reason, which he refused to divulge, he suddenly found himself at a point contemplating a career in music.
“I had to respond to this urge to embrace music fully. At some point I knew it was what I was supposed to do and I just couldn’t ignore it. For everyone that makes an intentional choice, we all have that deciding moment.
“These deciding moments can be seen as encounters, especially if that wasn’t their initial direction or mental vision from the start. I would say mine was born out of a sudden attention to a need and the willingness to serve in that area of need, even if my attention hadn’t been in that direction before then. When it was time, I knew,” he told our correspondent.
The moment Tobiloba made up his mind, he never looked back. Music is to him a calling, not just a chosen vocation. Although it is not easy working as a medical doctor and playing music full-time, he has every reason to be grateful for his achievements so far.
The performing artiste, who claims that he sings in English, Romanian and other languages, depending on the song and usually prefers a rhythmic fusion of beats from all the component cultures for maximum effect, has two full music albums and quite a string of singles to his credit, so far.
“I have an album titled, Tehila Uncovered and a live album titled, The Mandate, as well as a couple of singles. My most recent single is Who Else?,” he said.
Asked about the response of Romanian fans to his music, he replied, “I would say that we are breaking grounds. The culture difference is real, especially bearing in mind that it is mainly an orthodox country, in terms of religion. Attention is growing and we are moving every day. The response is increasing. So I’d say everything is good. But we are getting better every day.”
Unlike many of his contemporaries back home in Nigeria, Tobiloba does not think that a career in music should always be seen as an opportunity to get rich.
“To be honest, I am not even in it for the money as much as I hope that my messages get into the ears and lives of people. But for vision, growth and structure wise, one must think finance, too,” he says.
However, given a choice, the musician would kick against the idea of classifying his kid of music as ‘Gospel’. “Gospel is not a genre of music. And I honestly don’t like to be classified, not because I don’t know what I stand for, but because the labeling gives room for the audience to demand from my creativity only what they think my “genre” stands for,” he says.
Source: Punch NG
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