On this day in year 2010, the fuji exponent Alhaji Sikiru Ololade Ayinde Balogun a.k.a. Ayinde Barrister died in a London hospital at the age of 62. The late musician is one of the founders of the popular Yoruba music Fuji and had a large followership during his days.
Doctor Sikiru Ayinde Barrister was one of Nigeria’s best known singer/songwriters that played an essential role in the evolution of the music of his homeland. The leader of a 25-piece band, the Supreme Fuji Commanders, and a smaller group, the Africa Musical International Ambassadors, Barrister one of the leading purveyors of fuji, an exciting, amplified dance music combining juju, apala, and traditional Yoruban blues that he introduced in the late '70s.
Barrister sang most of his life. By the age of ten, he had mastered a complex, Yoruba vocal style that was traditionally performed during the holy month of Ramadan. Although he briefly attended a Muslim school in 1961, financial difficulties prevented him from continuing. Leaving school, he found employment as a stenographer.
During the Civil War that swept through Nigeria between 1967 and 1970, he served in the Army. Signed by the Nigeria-based Africa Songs, Ltd. label, Barrister recorded many groundbreaking singles during the 1970s and '80s.
With his heartfelt vocals set to a rhythmic mix of talking drums, claves, bells, shekere, drum set, and Hawaiian-style guitar, he laid the foundation for fuji, which he named after Mr. Fuji.
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