Osita Ugeh also known as Duke is the CEO of Duke Concept, a 360 degrees touring company which started in 2013- with a specific focus on promoting African music around the world.
The Nigerian moved to New York City with his family a decade ago and shortly after; launched the company. In the early days tried to do an Afro-Caribbean showcase with headliners Timaya and Mavado in 2014, he told Pulse it was a “flop”. He references that show as growing pains but one lesson he learned was that; Caribbean events are marketed differently from African events- mainly Afro-music require digital promotions while at the time reggae- dancehall events required linear advertising, along with street “posters”and guerrilla marketing.
Duke spoke exclusively with WMV while he was on a three day site visit to Jamaica’s National Stadium, the last stop for Nigerian superstar Burna Boy’s Love, Damini tri-island Caribbean tour.
With less than a month to prepare, the venue that has not had an African headliner since Nelson Mandela’s 24 hour visit in July 1991, still Ugeh is not worried.
The National Stadium is Jamaica’s premiere sporting venue which holds just over 27,000 persons seated for football matches and Athletic championships. With an already overwhelming demand for tickets to see Burna Boy Live, it is expected that well over 40,000 people will fill the field area.
He doesn’t remember how many shows he has produced for Burna Boy, whose “Last Last” hit parachuted him onto US, Canadian and U.K. Charts over the last several months.
Duke says he has been working with Burna from as far back as 2014 and although his company is not the exclusive promoter and booking agent for Burna Boy, he does get calls from other promoters in various markets who prefer his expertise when it comes to promoting the Location singer’s live shows.
A day after WMV first announced that tier 1 tickets for the December 18 event was already sold out, Ugeh speaks to us from his Kingston hotel room.
“I worked as an engineer for a few years and while working as an engineer I decided to start a company called Duke Concept. And that’s how the name stick on me,” he says as he recalls his early beginnings in the industry.
He has a partnership with the publicly listed entertainment company Live Nation, emphasizing that they were who came to him with a proposal.
“That was an interesting one, everyone wanting to get into the ‘Afro space’, they reached out. They actually reach out to me, we went over the terms and what was working for both parties. What was important for me is to make sure the music is represented the proper way,” he says.
“Duke Concept was born out of the drive to help to export most importantly African music,” he added, making it clear that his company remains independently operated.
The Jamaica and Trinidad Burna Boy shows are in partnership with “Tipsy Entertainment” , he also added “Solid Agency” is involved.
With 10 years in the business as he masters the art of touring Afrobeats artists, he confidently expresses that he has headlined more than 20 African artists at his events.
“I work with Rema, Davido, every Afrobeats artists you really can think of. We have over 20 artists on the roster that we have worked with so far, he said.
Other artists that he has toured include: Omah Lay, Adekunle Gold, Davido, Stonebwoy, Fally Ipupa Flavour and Wiz Kid’s Made In Lagos tour,
Duke Concept was the organizer of Burna’s record breaking Madison Square Garden “One Night In Space” tour in April where based on ticket sales calculations the shows grossed more than US$7m per night.
Burna is the first African solo headliner to sell out the Garden, let alone two shows. He follows the footsteps of Afropop singer Miriam Makeba who performed at Madison Square Garden for JFK’s birthday celebration in 1967.
Last year Duke’s company took the Kilomenter performer to the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles for a historic performance with over 17,000 people.
“This year alone we have done about 7 (major) shows with Burna Boy,” he says. A massive undertaking considering Burna Boy travels with an extensive team, band members and technical support.
He says come December, there will be other stars on show with Burna in Jamaica and the other Caribbean stops but stayed clear of stating names.
With his ongoing success with Duke Concept in the 31 Billion dollar live music industry, artists from outside the afrobeats genre have reached out to his company to promote their concert tours.
“We were part of Koffee’s North America tour, we are working closely to see what we can do with Kes, I think he’s a fantastic guy, he’s a wonderful performer,” he expresses.
Blending Reggae & Afrobeats
Not daunted by his early career miscalculations, Duke remains resolute on bridging the gap between the Caribbean and African artists, even as differences in music market share among the genres prevail.
“The goal is to blend the cultures, we are trying to see how we can help both the African and the Caribbean music to be able to be one fusion; to be able to consolidate themselves. So when an opportunity presents itself, we are more than open and willing to work with them,” Osita says.
“Afrobeat does not directly affects reggae because afrobeats is growing on it’s own lane and there is enough for everyone to move around,” he added.
“Rather than competing with reggae, afrobeats compliments reggae, they are somehow intertwined because remember reggae is African music, we are all Africans, whether we come from the Caribbean or in the African diaspora we are all Africans, if not for the slave trade,” he laments.
Duke also echoed the sentiments first pundited by Stone Boy who said recently that “Reggae is African music.”
“So the music is still music of the motherland, so they don’t compete with themselves, they compliment themselves. So what we need to do is; the afrobeats artist need to learn from the history of reggae artists and reggae need to learn from the progress of the afrobeat artist, where they compliment each other, rather than compete with each other.”
“Jamaicans are Africans, Bob Marley told you that,” he says. “Saying reggae is an African sound does not discredit the fact that reggae is Jamaican music,” Ugeh elaborates.
The consummate professional, he doesn’t say exactly how much money Burna Boy earns per show although we asked, but he says there are a combination of factors that make the Afro-fusion star special.
“I think he is a super duper artist, his stage performance is ridiculous and he doesn’t play with his craft. He also has a team spearheaded by his mom who actually know what they are doing. They have done very well in exporting and marketing this artist to the world. It’s a combination of talent and marketing.”
Watch full interview here.
© 2022 World Music Views® All Rights Reserved.
“World Music Views®” and “WMV®” are trademarks of Think Ed Ltd.
WMV® and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the World Music Views® Editorial Code Of Practice.
