Leadership (Abuja)
24 January 2009
interview
'Bonsue' creator, Adewale Ayuba, is one Fuji artiste with class and panache. This distinguished Fuji musician spoke with Morakinyo Sunday Olugbiji about the state of the Nigerian music industry and the odds he has had to overcome as a artiste. Excerpts:
People usually call you by your royal title, 'Prince.' Please, I want to know where exactly you hail from and which royal family you belong to?
I'm from the royal family in Ilesha, the Ajimoko family to be précise.
But you've always claimed to be from Ikenne Remo in Ogun State.
Yes, that's because my paternal granddad is from Ikenne Remo and my maternal granddad is a princess from Ilesha who came to Ikenne to marry .So I'm truly from Ikenne Remo since my dad is from there. But the royal title I bear is due to the fact that my maternal grandmum is from the royal family.
So what does Ayuba have for his fans at the moment?
My album - Ariya, which means festivity, came out about six months ago and it's doing very well in the market. I unveil once in a year. That's my principle. I believe that music is there to make you popular as an artiste, so you don't release albums for the fun of it. Your album should at every point in time sell you and educate your fans, the audience. When working on my albums, I don't just think about the entertainment side of it alone. I ensure that there is something for everyone to learn from listening to my music. That is also why it has always taken me a lot of time writing the songs, rehearsing, and going into the studio. I'm always looking forward to finishing a good job which demands a lot of time.
Can we talk about your educational background?
I have done a lot to ensure that I acquire formal education. When I came back from the States some years back, I enrolled at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) where I obtained a diploma in Law. I was also honoured with a doctorate degree in Music from a Chicago-based university, Bradley University.
What's your comment on the alleged attack on Saheed Osupa, (Saridon P), recently? It was reported that his vehicle was smashed.
I don't really know what caused it. But I know that all these guys (young Fuji artistes) are very quiet when you see them. Although, they could be unpredictable, because they might go to the extent of telling some hoodlums to: 'smash my car when I get to that place, or attack me' so that people might have something to say, and journalists would have stories to write. Then the marketers would say: 'Now opportunity has come' for us to sell.' Do you understand what I'm trying to say. And you can't blame them. Because when you go to all the radio stations in Nigeria, about 99 per cent of the music being played are foreign: with foreign influences. Fuji artistes are not getting adequate promotions from the media. Big corporations organising concerts will bring into the country foreign artistes and join them to perform with copycats like the hip-hop artistes in Nigeria. Doing so is creating the impression to the foreigners that we don't have a culture and music of our own. That's why we need you journalists to help us promote the Fuji genre of music. Nigeria has turned to a hip-hop and RnB nation. See what happened few years back, Makossa took over the entire country. People didn't understand what these guys were saying, yet they kept dancing to the music of Awilo and his friends. Nigerians are too fond of foreign stuffs, while we have things that can rival, if not beat the foreign things that we are crazy about. Do you know that 9ice is a Fuji artiste?
Really?
Oh yes! The guy was a Fuji artiste. If you cannot beat them, you join them. The young man had been performing Fuji for many years and nobody seemed to recognise him, so he cleverly changed it to hip-hop and R&B, then Gonga Aso emerged. I'm serious. So the problem is that we appreciate anything of foreign.
What do you think can be done to ensure that Nigerians appreciate their indigenous music?
I will tell you this: This is leadership (holding a copy of leadership WEEKEND). Why not after the ThisDay Music Festival, or what do they call their other concerts, do a piece telling people that were not at the concert, that the show was fantastic? All those artistes were well paid. But what happened to our indigenous music? Can't they use such platforms to promote local music, and all sorts? I tell you, if all the journalists in Nigeria co-operate and decide to use their various mediums to discourage such things, believe me, that will in no small way change the opinion of concert organisers. Are you telling me that a musician of repute like King Sunny Ade is not big enough to perform on that stage, or Adewale Ayuba doesn't deserve to be on that stage? What's wrong with us in Nigeria? Look, I'm not saying you should write negative things about their concerts, but I'm only saying that you should try to create change with your opinions via your medium.
The essence of bringing different artistes together in concert is so that the artistes could be introduced to the different forms of music they play. And as ambassadors, they could take the message back to their respective countries that: 'look there is a particular kind of music in Nigeria.' That's how we could make our own indigenous music popular abroad. But when we bring these foreign acts to perform in Nigeria, it only goes to show that we don't have a culture, and we are just not inovative.
So what's the future of Fuji music in Nigeria?
The only original music we have in Nigeria is Fuji and Juju. I have been trying on my part to put Fuji on the world map and promote it locally. I have promoted Fuji music on the campuses. I have earned Kora awards for Fuji. But a tree can never make a forest. Forget the fact that Ayuba and other Fuji artistes are doing well. We still have a lot of budding Fuji artistes who are very talented. We are losing most of them to hip-hop; rhythms and blues. They are afraid to do Fuji because they will not play their songs on radio. The reason is that most of the guys that work on radio, both presenters and DJs, are very young. The oldest is probably around the age of 26, and they are more exposed to foreign music.
But I know a lot of young people who listen to Fuji music.
(Cuts in) Thank you. By the time I came out, 99 per cent of radio stations played Nigerian indigenous music; that was how I got to be popular. There are presently a lot of Fuji artistes emerging everyday, but no radio station is playing their songs. So we don't get to hear them. That's the problem currently. What we hear all of the time is Hip-Hop; Rhythm and Blues.
You were shot in the leg by the police sometime in 2001 while returning from a show. That is an old story now, but I want to know, what is that thing which gives you the motivation to still be committed to coming to the country to play for your fans, despite your huge fan base abroad? Moreover, we have a lot of great Nigerian artistes abroad who complain about the security situation in the country.
The problem with this country as we all know is with the leadership. I love this country so much because this is my land of birth. It will be absurd for me to say Nigeria is a poor country when I know that we are financially loaded. This is a country where we don't care about one another. We have to sit down and really think deep. Some police officers shot me and can you imagine, I took care of the medical bills, including that of my aide who was shot as well. In an ideal situation, the government would have been responsible for the treatment. However, this is my root and of course, the music I perform is Fuji. For me to live abroad, I'm not doing myself any good. I have to come and be part of everything going on here. All I can do is to keep on praying for the betterment of the country. If America is the best country, Banky W would not have come to Nigeria to establish himself. If the UK is the best country, D'banj would not have ran away from there. They know that the kind of music they do would not see the light of day since their audience are here in Nigeria, so they had to come to where their services are highly needed. They know that their music will be better appreciated here in Nigeria, and that's why they have become so popular within a short period.
Some years back, you did a remix of your old track Bubble, via a collaboration with Jazzman Olofin. Should we except more of that soon?
I did that to just to let people know that Ayuba is a versatile musician. I'm an all-rounder and I also did that to tell those Hip-Hop copycats that Fuji music is the king of all music. If you notice, before we did that, most Nigerian Hip-Hop artistes didn't use to infuse Yoruba or any indigenous language to their music. But the success of that collaboration brought about Weird MC singing lyrics Lori gangan-Ijoya (lyrics on the talking drum) and others, and I quite appreciate that. But what I'm presently working on is how to collaborate with D'banj and others in his category.
How many albums do you have to your credit and which is your favourite out of the pack?
I have released twenty-two locally, and four internationally. My favourite out of all the albums I have released is the one that was resounding promoted; that is Bubble. The album brought me to the limelight, but I jo Fuji is selling more, it has sold over Six million copies.
Were your parents supportive of your music career?
That was the challenge I faced earlier on in my career. My parents insisted that I must have all the education possible, being the last child. That was a thug of war but at the end of the day, I won. I wouldn't blame them due to the fact that music was nothing to be proud of then, and they wanted the best for me. They only wanted me to have formal education; thereafter I can practise music if I so desired. So it wasn't their fault.
Who is Ayuba off stage?
Well, it's the same Ayuba you are looking at. I'm a family man; I am always with my family. At the end of everything I do, I always return to my family. If I were not a musician, I would have loved to become a lecturer. I love people gaining from me.
From your videos, it is obvious you are such a great dancer. How did you come about the skill?
It is poverty that makes me dance that much. It is not as if I really love to dance the way I do. I had released five albums before Bubble and I wanted to be popular by all means. I wanted my music to be popular on university campuses. I wanted the learned ones to embrace my music, so I decided to come up with a project .That Bubble album is a project. I sang Bonsue and thought that I had to teach people how to dance it. I also decided to change my music from 100 per cent Yoruba to 50 per cent English. That's why I started the song like this: "Listen attentively, I'm going to Bonsue Fuji Centre, for your maximum enjoyment..." and so on. I did that so that the youth and the educated ones could enjoy my song.I just wanted to be popular. So after we had finished recording in the studio, I said I have to teach these people how to dance to my songs. I then went to the market, brought home a long mirror and I started to sing and dance to myself all alone, in front of the mirror. It is through constant practise that I learnt to be a good dancer. It's not that I'm a choreographer or that I have a dance instructor as most people have speculated. It was my poverty situation then that pushed me to that level.
Think of the fact that I started my band with only N100. We just bought sakara (hand drum) and Agogo (gong), then our voice was the next thing.
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