Tee Mac Omotshola Iseli (MFR), renowned flutist, composer and entertainer, is a man of many parts in the entertainment industry. He gives an insight into his life and work in this interview with snr correspondent, Nkasiobi Oluikpe.
You released your first LP, United, in 1973; what has changed since then in music for you?
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Tee Mac Omotshola Iseli
n 1973, we worked for one year, from 5pm till 11pm every day, on our songs in Zurich, Switzerland. After work, the band met in the cellar of a school where we were given a free rehearsal place. We all had day jobs to survive. I worked at the UBS Bank in Zurich. Every song was filed out to perfection; every arrangement changed till we all agreed that there was no better version. Then into the studio, and we laid down all the tracks in three days, mixed with the help of our producer, and had a product that could stand the test of time.
Nowadays, musicians go into a digital studio with just some lyrics and somebody will produce some beats, and a song sounding like many in the market emerges.
Commercialism to make quick money is controlling the music industry.
You are rated as one of the five highest paid flutists in the world, what is your secret?
I started to play the flute at the early age of eight and took my music education seriously. I loved playing the flute, since childhood. When you love what you are doing, five or six hours of rehearsal a day does not bother you. There is no short cut in mastering an instrument. It is simple mathematics; if you put in a 1,000 hours of hard work you will become good, if you put in 10,000 hours you will become a master. People coming to concerts do not pay good money to listen to a mediocre performer; they want to listen to a master because there is a divine power behind a perfect sound. Everybody will immediately hear that there is a master on stage. The better you perform, the more famous you become and the more people will pay to hear you.
In 1974, your album, Silver Convention 1, was number one on the American charts. What was special about the album and why have you not been able to repeat that feat ever since?
When we recorded United in Hamburg, Germany, with Polydor, we were so well rehearsed that we finished before our recording time elapsed; our producer, Kunze, wanted to use the available studio time so he suggested an additional product in the KISS style (keep it simple stupid). The album was to make money in the disco or then continental funk scene: simple lyrics and catchy music to dance too.
We named the product after my silver flute. Since I was signed as Tee Mac United to Polydor, we had to use another name. To our surprise, three songs out of that album climbed to the number one position. Since I am not actually a musician dwelling in commercial music, this was an experiment that made us all big money, but I went back to my more classical music and my more sophisticated way of composing.
My album, Night Illusion, also reached the number two position with the song, The Sound of the Universe, in 1984.
At age eight, when you held your first flute, you said, Tee Mac, one day, you will be the greatest flute player on earth. Do you still nurse that dream or have you attained it?
Every child dreams, but it takes a lot of willpower to fulfill one’s dream. My last CD was called Just Like a Dream. When I look back at my life, I must say it was like a dream. I have seen the world all over, have played for kings and presidents, sold out stadium concerts, sold millions of records and lived a privileged life.
I still play the flute every day, even though my mining and oil business takes a lot out of my time, music is still the main thing in my life. I spend a lot of time working on my classical concertos, symphonies and film tracks (Nigerians have not heard this side of my music). I will still play the flute for another 20 or 30 years, so the sky is my limit.
You are also a composer; so, what in particular inspires you?
Everything inspires me: a beautiful face, a flower, sitting at the beach and taking in the fresh air, my dogs, and my children. I hear music constantly in my head and that is why I hardly listen to music on the radio. I memorise what I hear and go home and write it down on my computer with Sibelius, a very sophisticated composer’s software. I spend weeks writing the arrangements for 120 to 140 instruments and then I store it on hard discs. I have countless hours of un-published classical music in my house.
Your father was murdered in his office at Martins Street, Lagos. Didn’t that make you disillusioned about Nigeria?
My father was a Swiss ambassador to Nigeria and when he married my mother, an Itsekiri princess, he retired from the Swiss Civil Service and started the Swiss Watch shops in Nigeria, had a rubber factory and was exporting kola nuts and other agricultural produce. A foreigner owed him 120,000 pound sterling and on the due date armed bandits stormed his office, asked for the promissory note and killed him. I missed him very much but I knew that he would be with my two sisters and I till we were older. The last time he appeared to my younger sister, Rita, and me I was six years old.
Did your growing up with your uncle, without the presence of a mother, influence who you are today?
I had a wonderful uncle. His name was J.J. Derendinger. He was a very wealthy industrialist and he played the piano. He and his wife were great parents to my two sisters and I. My mother married again and she and my stepfather, Sir Mobolaji Bank-Anthony, visited us on a regular bases in Switzerland. I never lost contact with my mother. Also, my uncle, Hope Harriman, came to see us whenever he was in Switzerland and many years later I had a company with him called Tuoyo Holdings Limited in Nigeria.
My uncle paid for the best school money can buy; he paid for my music education, which was very expensive, and I am indebted to him forever for a wonderful childhood. He let me work in his factories during holidays to see how car spare parts were manufactured and for me to earn some additional pocket money. He gave me my first dog at 13 and that is why I love dogs and have had them my whole life long. I now have seven Alsatians.
Many young Nigerians are fleeing the country for greener pastures elsewhere, but on your part, despite having a Swiss father, and privileged upbringing and education in Switzerland, you are proud to be called a Nigerian. Why is this so?
I was born in Nigeria, which means I choose to be a Nigerian. I had the opportunity to get the best education in the world in Switzerland, to prepare me for life. I came back home in 1970 and knew this is the place where I have to live out my chosen life. Nigeria is the giant of Africa and Africa is where it is happening. Seven out of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa. Here is where you can contribute and make an impact. Everything is already existing in Switzerland, which has been a democracy for over 700 years. I could not be part of forming the first musicians’ union (in this case, the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria) in Switzerland. Their union is over 100 years old!
I was part of the founders of the Classical Music Society of Nigeria. (Switzerland has had classical music for over 500 years). I am part of the founder of the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Centre, and so on. Here in Nigeria, the youth can be part of an incredible development. To go abroad to see things and to learn is not bad, but to “flee abroad” is a waste of time because one day they will come back and meet their colleagues as permanent secretaries, managing directors or governors.
It is a popular cliché that behind every successful man, there is a woman, why is the reverse the case with you?
I have had three wonderful wives in my life and every one of them gave me a wonderful child. When you are a successful performer you do not have the time to be always at home and this can affect your marriage. I do not believe in the saying that behind every successful man there is a woman. Success is a personal effort and peace of mind is a very important factor to achieve one’s goal. Some do it as a pair, and some do it alone.
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