Famous guitarist and highlife musician, Eco Chimezie, also known as Eco de Coque has disclosed how he is following the footsteps of late highlife maestro, Oliver de Coque.
Eco who spoke with DAILY POST after a recent performance in Awka, said though he uses quality guitars, he has not attained the level of using the quality of guitars Oliver de Coque used during his days.
“I can say I’m trying to follow the footsteps of Oliver de Coque, who was known to strut some of the costliest guitars in AfricAfrica
“Some of the guitars Oliver de Coque played those days if you were to get them now, I’m sure you won’t get them for anything less than N6 million. For now, I will say there is no musician in Nigeria today, who is playing the kind of guitar Oliver played those days.
“Then, in our genre of music (highlife), I can say that no one who is playing today uses the level of guitar I use. I don’t want to mention names of people who have tried getting something close to what I’m using today but failed.
“My guitars are customized. I get the pickups from Mexico, the frets from the US, then the body in China. So I get it from three different countries, they couple them together and then send it down to me.
“This particular guitar you’re seeing (beckoning on one he used for the show) is worth over N1.2 million.”
He stated that he keeps storing used guitars because he knows that a time will come when he will autograph and sell his guitars to fans who will use them to remember when he once played.
“I change my guitar according to the seasons. As I speak with you now, I have five different guitars that are my personal ones, that’s apart from the ones my boys play. Each season, I just come out with one and use it and drop, and in the next season, I might get one higher than this, and I will keep this one.
“I’m keeping them because a time will come when my guitar with my autograph will be a very big sale for people. I’m keeping them, in the next 10 to 20 years, 30 or 40 years you will say I told you, and people will want to have it and say this was the guitar Eco de Coque played with,” the musician said.
