Category: Entertainment – Music
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Victor Uwaifo; Nigerian musician. With his first album which was released in 1960 and titled Akugbe/Okhorhornu mu me” (meaning “unity is strength) Victor enjoyed an early success. In 1966, he became the first African to win a record Gold Disc. After what he called an esoteric encounter with mamy water or mermaid in 1967 at…
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Onyia Zeal; famous trumpeter with records of spectacular performances. Zeal fine-tuned his budding skills under the tutelage of Bobby Benson of Nigeria and Emmanuel Tetteh Mensah of Ghana. After starting his music under Benson, he travelled to Ghana to further what became a flourishing career. For him, Ghana was a fertile ground. It took little…
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Sikiru Ayinde; Icon and one of the originators of Fuji music, which was originally a local subgenre called Were, used in waking up the Muslim faithfuls for the dawn-food in the month of fasting (ramadan). Beginning from 1958, Sikiru Ayinde was in the forefront of the popularisation of Fuji in its Nigeria place of birth…
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Obey Fabiyi; Nigerian musician famed for many hit songs which remain evergreen and still being purchased five decades after release, due to its philosophical lyrics and style. Also known as Ebenezer Obey, he came into limelight as the creator of Miliki, a genre of juju music. His hits which were either in the Golden Disc…
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Olufela Anikulapo-Kuti; Iconoclast musician who was the creator of the Afrobeat subgenre of highlife music. Fela returned to Nigeria after training at the Trinity College in London to join the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, NBC. In 1962 he formed Fela and the Highlife jazz Band and played contemporary highlife music. Several years later, he made an…
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Sunny Okosun; Popular Nigerian musician who came into the local music scene in the mid 1960s with an eclectic style which blended highlife, pop and calypso with organised reggae. His African reggae sound rendered in native Ishan language, vernacular and English is often steeped in sensitive national and global issues. Okosun’s 1977 release, Fire in…
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Adegeye Sunday; or King Sunny Ade is one of the most recognizable brand in Nigerian music, who with his unique Juju brand carved a long career that is successful. His music was famous for its multi-layered percussion, electric guitars and synthesizers, as well as the close harmony of his all-male vocalists. KSA achieved fame internationally…
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Fuji is the popular Yoruba music genre which emerged in the 1960s from Were that was played by Muslims during the Ramadan festival. The set up before the transformation usually comprised of a lead singer who sings while others chorused with such instruments like Sekere, Gangan, Iyalu, Sakara, Agidigbo, Igba, and atimes, Agogo. Closely related…
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Classical music is a cultivated or art music descended from western tradition. Usually depicting seriousness, this type of music, as opposed to most everyday music are often written in form of staff notation. Classical music had impacted on the scene many centuries ago, long before the advent of Jazz and popular music. It marked the…
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Highlife is the folkloric popular music originally derived from the traditional Ghanaian Akan music. With the infusion of jazz and the use of horns such as saxophones and brass wind instruments, plus many guitars, the music became popular in Nigeria from the mid-20th century. In Ghana, it was called high-life because it was enjoyed mostly…