With no regrets at a ripe age of 84, Veteran highlife music exponent, Sir Victor Olaiya, is having a ball everyday of his life. Though he said he was sad recently when he lost his son, he is back on the stage because his business is to make people happy. Once again, his Stadium Nite Club has returned to its mecca status, for lovers of highlife music. ‘Baba Olaiya’, as he is also fondly called, mentored many great musicians, including Sir Victor Uwaifo and the Late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, ‘Baba Olaiya’ went back memory lane revealing quite a lot about the 60s, the
Let’s look back now how old are you?
I am going to be 85 at the end of this year.
Are you still playing music?
Yes, every Saturday, I am with the band performing all night at the ultra modern stadium hotel, Surulere.
How long do you play when you on stage?
Once I am on the stage, I play as long as I feel like playing. What happens is that, as long as the fans are still responding, I keep playing. We start at 11pm and play till 6am the next day.
For a man that is soon going to be 85, don’t you think that playing for that long is stressful?
Of course it is (laughs), but it is a good feeling and also it is business.
During the course of play in the early hours of the morning, do you get tired at some point?
Get tired? Of course, yes. But you know, as long as the fans are still responding, I keep on.
But do you take energised drinks, cigarette to enhance your performance?
I do not take such things; I do not need a performer-enhancer to perform.
So what keeps you going?
It is the appreciation that I get from my fans that keeps me going. I enjoy their responses and more importantly too, is that I enjoy the music I play. When I am on stage, it is a different world to me.
What type of music are you playing these days?
Highlife. That is the kind of music I play, it is the music that I will keep playing till I die. I do not play any other type of music. The highlife music that I play is of Nigerian origin.
The fans that you have these days, are they old fans or new breed fans?
It is a mixture of both. Some old fans still come for my shows and then also, the new fans too.
At 84 one can say you have lived long, what are your good health secrets?
I think I do what makes me happy. I relax and rehearse my music every Wednesday with the band. That makes me happy. And I go out for engagements with the band. That also keeps me fit. I also dance a lot. Some weekends when the band is performing, and I am not on stage with them, I take to the floor and dance.
Does the kind of food that you eat contribute to your living long? And do you stick to a particular diet?
I don’t stick to any particular diet but at the same time, I do not take much of carbohydrates. I take very little of it, I eat plenty of vegetables with no limit. I am not a vegetarian, so I still eat meat. But everything I eat is in little quantity, not too much.
How about family?
I am respectably married with children. One of my sons takes part in the band; he leads the band when I am resting, relaxing or when I am not around.
But he is in another profession?
Yes, he is musician as well as a banker. Bayode Olaiya, that’s his name. He is a banker with a new generation bank. Music runs naturally in the Olaiya family. Almost all my children play musical instruments, male and female.
So how many children do you have?
(Laughs) Our culture does not allow a revelation of the number of one’s children. But permit me to say that I have Victoria Yejide Olaiya, she plays the piano; Bayode Olaiya plays the trumpet and leads the band at the club and on outside social engagements when I am not around. We have Biodun Olaiya, an engineer with an oil company and she plays the trumpet as well as the piano; Elizabeth Oluwatoba Olaiya, she plays the guitar as well as sings. She works with an American oil company.
Your children are playing music and taking after you, does that make you feel fulfilled?
Of course, naturally it makes me feel very much fulfilled.
What other things make you feel fulfilled?
Seeing them (his children) makes me fulfilled and also the hotel also gives me a pride and joy of fulfillment. I’ve had the hotel for some time now.
So what makes you sad at this time?
I recently lost a son, he was Alfred Abidemi Olaiya. He played tenor saxophone. The autopsy disclosed that he had a large heart over the years, and usually those who have enlarged heart like that, do not fall sick, they just fall off like that. I can recall that he was never sick, but that is it, we lost him. As providence will have it, he slept and at midnight, he went off. He used to play basketball, swims, plays music and used to play with ‘The Chapel of The Healing Cross’ band, his church choir. That is the church that they attended with their mother, while I attend African Church Cathedral at Lagos Island. He was a staunch member of the church and used to lead the church choir.
So, how many wives do you have?
(Laughs) I can only say that I am responsibly married with wives and chidden.
How have you been able to manage your wives and children over the years?
My wives do not give me any problem. They do not. They are very understanding, they string along with me respectfully.
Are they musicians? Do they take part in the band or do they have their separate careers?
They have their separate careers. I met them at different occasions while performing and while I was not performing (laughs).
What excites you about women?
As long as a lady is presentable, it will help in identifying her other unique features.
You sing about your wives?
Yes, I sing about all of them because the attraction has been musical so I had to compose in favour of each one of my wives. For Tokunbo, I sang ‘Biola omo dudu Tokunbo.’ For Funmi, I sang Ife. For Victoria Abimbola Olaiya, another of my wife, who is the daughter of late Olowo of Owo, Adebunmi, I composed Jojoro and for another of my wives, I composed Omo pupa and so on.
At 84, would you say that you are still virile?
Of course yes, I am still virile and I still do it!
At what point did you start music?
Suffice to say that music naturally runs in the blood of my family, so from childhood, I have had music running in my blood.
Do you recall some of the people that played with you in the past or that you mentored?
Yes, I recall those early moments with Fela Anikulapo before he went to England; also Sir Victor Uwaifo, Juba, Rex Lawson and we still meet at engagements except for Fela and Rex Lawson who are late. For the others, we still relate and they give me my regards whenever we meet.
It is commendable that the younger generation of musicians give you regard too because recently you had a duet with Tuface Idibia.
Yeah, that was a good one. That production was by popular demand, we had to try to work out something together, which turned out to be a successful hit.
Was it Tuface’s idea for the duet?
Well, I believe that it was by public demand as people called wanting us to do something together. The musical public wanted it and we tried it and it worked out.
Are you expecting to do other duets like that?
I am hoping to but yet to discover the artiste. I do not think that I will just do a duet with anyone that comes along though.
So what criteria that would-be artiste will have to meet to get your acceptance?
I must make sure that such an artiste has music running in his or her blood. It could be either a man or a woman.
What gave you the idea of owning a hotel even at that time?
Over the years, I thought I should have an investment that will stand the test of time. I realised that I might not be able to be going an tour of the world. So I planned having something different from my musical. That was when I decided to invest in a hotel. So after travelling round West Africa, Europe and America and other parts of the world, the idea of settling down and having something to fall back on was real in my mind then. I knew there could come a time that I may not be able to go on stage or travel like I was doing then.
So did the hotel investment pay off?
Yes, it paid off eventually because like I thought then, there came a time that I couldn’t go on tour like I used to do. A hotel business is a good investment if well managed. I have a nite club in the hotel, it is a three-star hotel. At the inception of the hotel, I handed over the management to the Federal Palace Hotels and after some years, I retrieved it. And when I stopped touring with the band, I decide to stay and run it along side with the music business. I recruited qualified managers to assist me run the place.
Which will you refer to as your boom years?
I think during the independence celebration was the beginning of the boom years for me. That was 1960, I performed at the Independence State Ball. I handled the orchestra during the Independence celebration.
What other fun memories do you have?
I took my band to Congo, I went to entertain the fighting troops under the flagship of The Nigerian government. And during the Nigerian civil war, I went to entertain the Main Division troops in the war front in Makurdi. That was when I was given the temporary military rank of Lieutenant Colonel (laughs). The officer in charge there was Brig-General Emmanuel Folusho Shotomi and General Mohammed Shua, while the late Benjamin Adekunle aka Black Scorpion was in charge of 3rd Marine Commando.
Between the past military governments and the civilians governments we have had since independence, which of the two kinds of government will you say has favoured entertainment more?
(Laughs) That is a question of opinion, but I will say that the military regimes were more inclined towards support for the entertainment industry. They created more room for entertainment, especially for highlife music.
Can you compare the society scene then and now?
I will say that in those days, people were more social than what is obtainable these days. And that is because of the explosion in population and its attending problems. The cities are more crowded. People used to come out more to catch fun and stayed out late into the night. There were people who used to be here every Saturday night, especially my old fans. However, some because of age or health reasons have not been coming out like before. Nevertheless, my place that is Stadium Hotel, is still the rallying point for all old musicians who are still alive and based in Lagos. For those musicians who are outside Lagos, each time they come to town, they also commune around to enjoy the highlife flavour of music, good highlife music.
Where is the place of highlife music in today’s Nigerian Music, and do you see yourself handing it over to the newer generation?
I can see myself handing it over during my lifetime, though it is not easy, but I am trying to do that. I am pleased to tell you that today, highlife music still stands as the lingua franca of Nigerian music. Nevertheless, I shall continue to play highlife music till the end of my my life story.
Does that mean there is no retirement for you?
(Shakes his head negatively) No retirement! And that is why I hold my instrument wherever I am. Some top dignitaries who enjoy real highlife music come around when they have special visitors to Nigeria or when they want to relax with highlife flavour.
Do you miss other top musicians who have passed away?
Of course I miss them. When most of those that I mentored were in my band, the sound of my music then was different. Their disappearance left a big vacuum over the years in the arrangement of sound and presentation. Naturally if you lose a player like it is in football, when you lose a player and play 10 against 11, you will definitely feel it. A band is like that too.
Then of course I remember Fatai Rolling Dollars, we were very close. He was a regular artiste here before he passed on. He always appeared with my band as a special guest artiste before he died. We were that close. Most of the older musicians come here from time to time to play as special guest artistes. Fela was in my band, it was in my band that he learnt and got his earlier knowledge of band music.
It was when he finished his school certificate that he came to my band. He learnt and started playing the trumpet in my band. However, music was also running in his family’s blood. That is because in Abeokuta before he left school, he was already playing the piano, because they had a piano at home. He came to my band where he was learning to play the trumpet and singing highlife tunes before he went to England.
When he came back, he found his feet. I knew when he was in my band, that he would be great. That is because he was a special character even when he was in my band.
Did you notice much of the character that he exhibited in later life while he was in your band?
Yes, I did because then he wouldn’t stay quiet. And then each night that he finished playing, he had a car which his mother gave him, he would go out at midnight loading girls in his car and he was often times involved in ghastly motor accidents at night. The truth is that, it was obvious then that he was going to go places in life. So I was not surprised that he got a loud ovation in his music career.
How about Sir Victor Uwaifo?
That one is still alive; he was very creative when he was in my band; he was always standing out as a promising star. So also Rex Lawson stood out because he was as good as in songs as he was good with the trumpet. He was very respectful.
What would you say that you used to motivate them to stay in your band?
Fortunately and unfortunately, they were not the alcoholic type. They weren’t. But they enjoyed playing good high life music. What I used to motivate them was good cash. Then of course, if any one of them had an alcoholic issue, they didn’t let me see that side of them.
Are the ladies still running after you?
Laughs, you know I’m ageing now and you do not find most of these girls running after people who are ageing like me. But they still follow my music because of the attraction that I have when I’m on stage.
Which particular person left your band that you missed most?
(Laughs) That was Tex Oluwa, he was my assistant and in those days he used to play double base. Also when Juba was in the band, he brought a different sound into the band. The sound and lyrics became very popular. Our band stood out.
Apart from music, what else do you do?
I have a music shop, I distribute musical instruments and accessories. I dance when the band plays to relax, and also try to watch movies. I love watching romantic movies.
You went on tour abroad severally in those days, how come you did not marry a white lady?
(Laughs) I prefer my black women to ‘Oyinbo’ because I am sort of biased when it comes to women. I have a special flair for the black woman. And I believe that black is beautiful.
Didn’t you have temptation for white ladies throughout those period you were on tour abroad?
No, there were no temptations (laughs) because I have always admired black women.
Has your style changed?
Stylishly, I wear different costumes, I cannot even see myself changing my style, it is now even late to start changing my style because that will change me totally from what I have been.
Any nasty experience that you recall?
Yes, I have a nasty experience that I will never forget. I had a ghastly motor accident between Ikorodu and Sagamu. My driver drove me under a trailer! The car instead of caving in, caved out. The first person to get to the scene was late T.O.S Benson. It was he who asked people to drag us out from under the trailer. He took me in his car and straight to the general hospital where his ex- classmate was the HMO. The guy sitting by me had mental challenge. The car was a right off. It was published on the front page of Daily Times. People saw the publication in England and came down to see.
Did you sustain injuries?
I would say that the injuries I sustained were more of internal than physical. I experienced a serious shock but no physical injury whatsoever. When I was pulled from under the trailer, I stood and looked around me, but I could see nobody, though people were all around me.
How long did you last in hospital?
By the time I got to the hospital, I was not admitted. They could see no injury on me. My driver developed mental challenge; after some hours I regained consciousness and I could see people. I was talking all that while but didn’t see anything.
How would you like to be remembered?
By my highlife music.
Do you have advice for the younger musicians?
It is for them to continue to be careful, rehearse seriously and make sure that they create their own style of play. They must practise. There is no end to music, they must continue to be at work and play till the end of life story. Learn to play instruments, it helps, be dedicated to your music and play, play, play till the end of life story.
They should remember that women play a very big part in the publicity for any musician to succeed, so we must carry them along. They are very important for a musician to have them around. But we shouldn’t over do it, because if I overdid it, I wouldn’t be here right now. On drugs, it is completely out of the show because I do not drink, smoke or indulge in drugs and every musician should try and avoid drugs because they cause more harm than good not only to the system but to everything about the individual.
Any regret?
None yet (he laughed, picked up his trumpet and started to entertain his wives and the little crowd that had gathered during the course of the interview).
