King Sunny Ade, Juju music legend,
recently clocked 68 and had a small
reception for close family and friends in
his palatial country home in Ondo,
western Nigeria. In a recent interview,
he talks about his life, music and state of
the Nigerian music industry.
Q: How do you feel turning 68?
I feel great and I thank God for making
me see another year. It gives me an
awesome feeling that between my last
birthday and now, I had no cause to visit
hospital to complain of any ailment. Also
the music has not stopped for a bit. I
thank and appreciate Almighty God.
In spite of your busy schedule, you still look
very fit
I have no choice than to be very fit.
Performing on stage for hours back-to-
back almost every day is an exercise on
its own. Besides, in my home here, I
have a swimming pool, squash court,
basketball court and tennis court. I also
play golf. We now have a golf course
very close to us, in Idanre. The golf
course in Akure has been taken over by
the Army. All these keep me fit and trim.
Do you go on holiday at all?
I do ask for it but you people would not
allow me to have one. But I am planning
to have one soon.
What about medical check-up?
I normally go for medical check-up
abroad twice in a year. But in the last
one year I have not done that. But any
time I feel funny, I always put a call to
my doctor over there.
You will be 70 in two years. [We] learnt
you are planning something grand to
celebrate that landmark.
First and foremost, we need to commit
our lives into God’s hands to spare us
beyond that time. I am used to planning
my things very well and always ensuring
that everything is put in a right
perspective. Definitely, I will celebrate
when the time comes, but to tell you the
plans now will not be appropriate.
How has it been since you moved to Ondo?
Let me correct that; I spend more time in
Lagos than Ondo. My businesses and
immediate family are in Lagos. What I
told you last year was that I would be
moving back home gradually. I plan to
be spending more time in Ondo and this
will be gradual.
Lately, you are being seen more with many
of these new generation artistes. Are we
expecting any major collaboration between
you and some of them?
I cannot tell you about [collaborations]
for now. But I must confess that I find
their company very stimulating. Just
recently, I was with some of these boys,
including Olamide and Wizkid, at Mo
Abudu’s 50th birthday. We were like a
family. If any of them I willing to have
collaboration with me, they are
welcome. I love all of them and that’s
why they all call me their father.
Many were stunned with your perfect
combination with D’Banj at the last Glo
Evergreen Series in Lagos. Did you rehearse
that gig or was it happenstance?
To tell you the truth, we never rehearsed
that D’Banj’s song, Mobomowonlowo. In
fact, I knew little about the song prior to
that night. But when he came to meet me
behind the stage, we both listened to the
song and I told him where I would come
in during the performance. We thank
God that everything went well that day.
But what actually happened that we
could not meet to rehearse was that days
leading to that event, I was busy with
some projects in Abuja, while D’Banj, I
learnt, was in South Africa and also
came in a few days to the event.
Last year you were part of the first season
of Coke Studio Africa but looking at the roll
call of artistes involved in the second
season this year, your name is missing.
What happened?
There is no problem. Last year I was
invited to Kenya to be part of the first
season of that wonderful project and we
all had a wonderful experience. But this
new season, maybe the organisers
wanted to give other artistes opportunity
to share in the experience. You know
there are many talented artistes in
Africa and they may want to spread the
opportunity round. Maybe next time
they can still bring me back; you can
never tell.
What is your general view of the present
state of Nigerian music industry?
Firstly, I thank God that we have been
able to make our own brand of music
acceptable to our people. Gone are those
days when our people showed
preference to foreign music; things are
changing fast. Also the young musicians
themselves have evolved their own styles
and no longer copy their foreign
counterparts. Most of our musicians are
now picking from either Juju or Fuji
music to create their individual music
style. This means Nigerian musicians are
working very hard. Secondly, many
parents now allow and support their
children to play music, unlike when we
started. This shows there is a positive
progression in the industry.
What are the challenges running a big band
like the Golden Mercury of Africa?
Well, let me explain what a big band is.
A big band starts from five. But I have a
50-member band. At every point in time
on stage, we have about 23 members
plus two engineers, making it 25.
Sometimes we could have like five
dancers, making 30. We have about 10
roadies, and if we are going to use the
stage, the lights and those with the two
trucks that we normally use, we would
be going to 50. It depends on the venue
of our shows. If it is a hall, we have a
smaller band. But if you put us outside,
like a stadium, we use our complete
band. So, I will say it is not easy to move
a big band. The economy is not so
friendly and this affects us also. I have
been so used to a big band and it is very
difficult to adjust to something smaller
so that it won’t affect the qualities of
music that we give to our people.
What about when you travel to play at
foreign gigs, do you still travel with such
large numbers of band members?
In the 1980s and 1990s, I used to travel
abroad with about 27 to 28 members.
But now, we have had to cut down the
numbers of our band members travelling
abroad for shows to below 20.
During some of your musical tours abroad,
have you had the experience of some of
your band members absconding?
Yes, I have. But I usually tell my band
members that if you are travelling with a
band to go and perform abroad, and you
are planning to escape, if care is not
taken you will be a loser. The moment
you are there and your visa expires, the
police will be after you. And once they
catch you, you are deported home. And
once you are back home, you can never
join the band again. Most of the people
who absconded in the past are now
home.
Doing what?
I don’t know. I never bother to find out.
I have warned most of them before. I
told them that it is better to be at home
and live with what we get here. There is
no place like home. A lot of things that
we take for granted here, you can’t try it
overseas. We can do a lot of things with
the little that we have here. In fact, it
pays them more because for a musician
like me, once I travel, I play nearly every
day except on Monday. It is by God’s
grace. The moment promoters abroad
are aware that we are coming abroad on
tour, they engage us for more shows and
that is extra something for them.
What is your take on the sliding relevance
of Juju music in Nigeria?
Let me say that it is not only Juju music
that is confronted with that challenge but
other traditional genres too. I believe
generally, Nigerian music industry needs
surgery. Nevertheless, there are some
challenges facing our genre. Running a
band is a very expensive venture. Look
at it this way: given the Nigerian
economy, how many musicians can
afford to buy musical instruments for
their bands? It is just few, because to
buy a very good guitar will cost you
nothing less than N60,000, except you
just need an anyhow guitar. Most of the
instruments do not come cheap. In fact,
most of us rent some of the instruments;
and they also don’t come cheap as well.
They come in different categories and
rental prices range from N500,000 to N1
million.
You are a Juju music maestro but in the
global music scene, your brand of music is
categorised as ‘World Beats’. Why did you
agree to that categorisation?
When I was given that title as the King of
World Beats, I did explain this question.
When African music started gaining
recognition at the international level, it
was very difficult for them to categorise
our kind of music. And essentially,
because of my own music they now
created World Beats. They noticed that if
there is a Jazz festival, I would be there
and perform very well. Rhythm and
Blues or Soul concerts, I will be there. At
Reggae festival, I will be there. In fact, I
was the first Nigerian musician to play
at the Reggae Sunsplash. So this sort of
confounded them. They initially
categorised me into the Cross Over but it
didn’t sit well until they came up with
World Beats; and World Beats fits well.
As a master guitarist, have you ever been
inspired to fashion out your own guitar as
many other prominent guitarist the world
over do?
Yes, it’s true that I have my own style of
playing the guitar. I have my special
line. If I place my guitar here and if you
are a guitarist, you can’t play it because
of the way I tuned it. You have to study
it to be able to play it. I have my own
special line of guitar. I have my own
creation of guitar. That was why some
years ago I was recognised as number 68
master guitarist in the whole world.
There was a time you and famous Carlos
Santana were described in the same line.
Yes, that is true.
Have you both met?
Yes. We are friends.
Can both of you play each other’s guitar?
If Carlos drops his guitar, I will try my
best. If I drop mine, when he picks it he
will see how I tuned it. He plays zone on
regular and mine is open chord.
Are you planning to work together?
Yes, but he has just been inducted into
the Music Hall of Fame and we are still
celebrating that achievement. Maybe
later we will still get down to think of
future collaboration.
Culled from The News
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