We’ll not forget our roots – Izon

They are like Peter and Paul of PSquare fame, but James and Michael Useghan, are not twins, they are brothers that have music in common. Read more 

Last week, they released their musical video entitled: Iworiwo, which has received massive airplay on broadcast stations and has had so many views on Youtube .

They are popularly called Izon by their fans. The duo hails from Ondo State.

Their music is a fusion of traditional and contemporary music (trado-contemporary music.) They sing in English, Yoruba and Ijaw languages.

“We want to revive the Nigerian music and that was why we did a remix of the late Rex Lawson’s song, Iworiwo. We don’t want to forget our roots because our culture projects our rich culture and heritage to the international community.

When we were growing up as kids, our dad would wake us up by playing the music everyday. So, we decided to do the remix so as to bring back the fond memories of when men were boys and boys were in their mothers’ wombs.

“ Our first album, Edise (most cherished), was produced in 1999. It is about women, who are most cherished because they have contributed positively to the growth of the country and that was why we dedicated that song to them.

We grew up in Ajegunle but we were not influenced negatively and we came together to sing. We came in touch with Christian Dior and we performed at Lekki show, but we didn’t do well because we were not properly managed by our record label then. We later and came up with another album, called For Real. We left our former label to restructure things to maximise our gains.

It was a tedious thing, growing up in the ghetto but we decided that we would not join but flee from the negative influence. We were inspired to do our own thing. The ghetto experience was a pleasurable one. Christian Dior discovered us in the ghetto and made us to feature in a movie, entitled Silver Spoon, where stars like Daddy Fresh, Daddy Showkey and others also featured. It took the divine grace of God for us not to be influenced negatively from the lifestyle in the ghetto.

Our music focuses on the ills in the society and proffers solutions to these problems.

Some people go into music for money but we want to carve a niche for ourselves by singing evergreen songs that will make people appreciate good music. We have plans of going into collaboration with other musicians, such as Tuface Idibia because it will be a combination of both Ijaw and Idoma music, which will have tremendous impact on the Nigerian culture.