Music
Kollington Ayinla: the fuji star whose rivalry with Barrister defined a genre
General Kollington Ayinla, one of the pioneers of fuji music, became famous in the 1970s and 1980s for…
Yoruba music
Music
Haruna Ishola: the father of apala who kept Western instruments out of his music
Haruna Ishola, widely regarded as the father of apala, began recording around 1955 and became one of Nigeria's…
Music
I.K. Dairo: the juju star who brought the accordion to Yoruba music and got an MBE
I.K. Dairo, born around 1930, is often called the father of juju. He introduced the accordion and harmonica…
Music
Orlando Owoh: the carpenter who became Nigeria’s “King of Toye”
Orlando Owoh, born Stephen Oladipupo Olaore Owomoyela in Osogbo, started out as a carpenter, joined Kola Ogunmola's theatre…
Arts + Culture
Her first album sold over a million copies: Salawa Abeni, the Queen of Waka music
Salawa Abeni, from Ijebu Waterside in Ogun State, released her debut album, Late General Murtala Ramat Mohammed, in…
Arts + Culture
Lagbaja means “somebody” in Yoruba. Why Bisade Ologunde hid his face to make Afrobeat
Lagbaja, the masked Nigerian musician born Bisade Ologunde in Lagos in 1960, performs with his face covered to…
Arts + Culture
The Miliki sound: Ebenezer Obey, King Sunny Adé’s great juju rival, who later turned to evangelism
Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey led the Inter-Reformers band and created the "Miliki" sound, one of the two great…
Arts + Culture
He named his music after a mountain in Japan. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and the birth of fuji
Sikiru Ayinde Barrister built fuji music from the were songs sung to wake Muslims for the Ramadan meal,…