The African Music Industry Under Clarence Peters’ Camera?

Clarence Abiodun Peters, the man behind the famous Capital Dreams Pictures got his imprint on the Naija music industry. Clarence is not the new wave in the industry, he is the wave and every artistes wants to go for him – the music industry is under his influence. The 28 year old director’s video is the bedrock of visual interpretation of audio recordings by Nigerian musician. If one had not really known Clarence Peters and been seeing the name at the start or end of many music videos, one would go so far as to call Clarence Peters a conglomeration of 10 directors. I mean, the talented and restless Clarence must have been doing 10 men’s job considering the large amount of videos released under his film every month. Clarence must have directed 3 videos out of every 5 videos shown on TV, that’s a clue. Its so obvious that Clarence is restless, no doubt, he loves it. Clarence Peters is the outcome of the whirlwind romance between the afrojuju master, sir Shina Peters and the legendary nollywood actress, Clarion Chukwurah.

While he has clawed his way up, Clarence, a connoisseur of quality music videos has achieved more than some legends in the industry. While Clarence was 18 years old, he has directed 40 episodes of the TV series “Everyday People”. He later gained admission into City Versity film and Television Academy, Capetown in South Africa for his 3 years programme. He then returned to home to put his learning into practice when he directed his first music video, Fuji by Darey Art Alade. He later met with his secondary school mate and old friend, Tha Suspect who is music producter and both founded Capital Hill, a popular record label that has got artistes like Kel and Tha Suspect.

Clarence enjoyed working behind the scene. The fact that he’s not in his parents’ line who are widely seen on big screen has confounded critics. Clarence, the man behind the music has transformed his vast knowledge of hiphop into a world of stylistic images. Not only did his videos complement the songs, but also, he makes songs larger than life, improved many artists’ image because they trust his professional judgement about image making. This whizkid can create the craziest images that seem to come out of nowhere. The much-sought after and widely imitated director has given us visual interpretation of most Naija hiphop artists with his fancy camera work, charming and following rhythmic beat as well as painting with variety of catchy colours, cheap but of high quality. This means, one can’t define Naija hiphop without considering Clarence Peters’ products. His vision definitely gave more texture to the way Nigerian music is felt. The hardworking and easy going young lad who makes the daunting task look easy will surely capture your attention for 4 minutes. He has got these special effects, bold and dramatic lighting. No one understands the light better than Clarence. With his strong contrast, he has this futuristic effect. Using his easy-to-use camera, he has wide range of styles which he experiments using techniques like abstract art and many more, he adds interesting storyline to music videos and compute wonderful graphics.

In Nigeria, its now a catch-22 situation, you get a clarence, then you get the best video and vice versa. In spite of his heavy workload which makes him a workaholic, never underrate the ability of Clarence. Calling the best video director might be an understatement, let’s call him the best revelation so far. If he keeps going like this, wont be surprised to see a Clarence award in his honour in the future, just as TONY awards was named after Antoinette Perry.

Article written by: Sonde Jimmy

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