Umbrella Records’ Founder Usman Balogun with
Dan Martino of Brooklynradio.net

This week for our Tune In column, we spoke to Usman Balogun, the founder of recently launched Umbrella Records, on starting a label in the downloadable era, where he finds passion in music, and his Nigerian roots. His father, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, a.k.a. Barry Black, is one of Nigeria’s most revered musicians, having a career that has spanned for over forty years. He introduced Usman to the business side and many leading performers, including the influential Fela and Femi Kuti.

BK Radio: Hey Usman…Thanks for taking some time out for us…
Usman: No problem.

It sounds loud over there. What’s going on?
Driving around.

Should we call back?
No, man. It’s cool. I drive around a lot.

Cool. OK. So, Umbrella Records. What made you decide to start a label?
Well, I wanted to create a home for all kinds of different music.

What kind of music are you going to be putting out?
A little bit of everything: hip-hop, rock, r & b, pop. It’s why I called it Umbrella, because I wanted a lot of styles to fall under it.

What kind of artists are you going after?
For me, I’m always looking for people with passion in their music. That always comes through. I really don’t care what genre it is. I listen to everything. As long as it has passion.

Well, who does that for you?
I like Craig David, Tupac, even Evanescence.

Interesting, being you grew up with Nigerian music…
Yeah, but I’ve been in the U.S. since 1997. It’s all a bit mixed up now. (Laughs)

Your father was quite influential as a musician in Nigeria. He became one of the leading members of the Fuji movement, which relied heavily on large rhythm sections. The Afro sound has had a resurgence in the U.S. of late. Did you get to meet Fela Kuti?
Yes. They were around a lot, actually. Growing up, I got to see many aspects of the industry, from recording to live performances. My father has recorded almost 40 albums.

Whoa!
But more than anything, he was a performer. And the people who performed with him were like a second family. I knew that if I started a label, I wanted to create not only a business, but a family of artists and musicians.

You seem on your way. You must be relying more on your artists to perform live and be a family now that revenues for recorded music have dropped so much.

Oh, definitely. But we’ll still be putting out CDs.

What’s your first release?
An r & b artist Rena Rose. Her single is “My Life.” Rena has a lot of passion. And it comes through in her music. Real autobiographical stuff.

We look forward to hearing it and more from Umbrella Records…Thanks!