YOUNG and slimly built as well as charming, she comes across as a young and sapling model waiting for a break on the rump. But you are wrong! Ibukun Bisola Ayoola is the youngest and latest artiste from the stable of popular entertainment group, Atunda Entertainment, making waves in the entertainment scene with her sights trained on the height.
Her tuft is not just drumming but Bata drum and she does it with so much flair and dexterity that you think she has done this all her life, whereas it is something that she has recently taken to. She has been on it now for about six months, but her stage presence and command of the intricate small drum pieces dangling on her neck is compelling.
She started out a couple of months ago as one of the singers and back-up artistes for Anu, another of Atunda Entertainment emerging act on the block. ”I never thought of drumming bata in my life. I came here as a back – up singer for Anu but in one of our rehearsals, Baba (referring to the founder of Atunda Entertainment) just gave me the bata drum and said ‘Ibukun you are going to be playing the drum,’ and that was how I started drumming,” she reveals.
Since then, Ibukun who bears the stage name of Olo Omidan Bata, a coinage by the founder of the group to reflect her symmetric facial look and the bata drum that has become part of her life – she wears a miniature of the drum on her neck – has never looked back. Rather she has continued to dazzle her growing clan of fans whenever she steps on stage either with Anu or other artistes national and international.
Historically, Olo is from Oyo, where the people are renowned for their prowess and magic feat with the bata drum, which traditionally is their ancestral and cultural symbolism when it comes to entertainment. Somehow, fate has put her on the path of destiny, a destiny which she seems to have fully embraced and looking forward to carving a niche for herself as Nigeria’s first female bata performer.
Still in her youthful age, Olo certainly dreams big for her age and she is quick to tell you that her talent will take her places with Atunda Entertainment where she seems to be a perfect fit with the right instructors and mentors who have since taken her as their protégé and are more than ready to conquer the world of entertainment with her.
Watching her drum and sing at the same time you are amazed by her passion, the flow and magic that she exudes on stage. Her sonorous renditions, especially when she goes folkloric and poetic, are somewhat contagious and elicit spontaneous reactions from the audience.
The fact is, Olo simply glows on the stage and she attributes her electric performance to the happiness and joy she derives from drumming and entertaining the audience. ”I am happy playing it (bata) because from childhood I loved singing and I am dreaming of becoming a star. I was surprised back then when the bata drum was trust to mine hands but now I am really happy playing it.
At her age, just a little over 21, you expect her to display some elements of stage freight but not for Olo who has grown accustomed to the stage and her craft. ”I don’t have any fears,” she says, adding that ”I can play it anywhere and I am happy playing the bata, it is in me.” Her rigorous mentoring and rehearsals are parts of what had toughened her and instilled confidence in her as well as honed her otherwise raw and hidden talent.
Olo reminiscences on one of her earliest performances, which was when she played at the birthday party of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Easter&More Concert with Jay King and Club Noveau. ”My first performance was at OBJ birthday party at Abeokuta and I was not shy playing alongside other artistes because I was already used to big occasions. I was very happy and I told my mum and everybody about it.”
The emerging female bata drummer, who was born in Kaduna and attended Blessed Academy, Kaduna for her nursery and primary education before proceeding to Topgrade High School in Ogun State for her secondary education, says she dreams of a university education as well and that her youthful years are not on hold because of music as she still finds time to relive her youth just like any youth of her age.
”I am not missing on my youthful years because I feel happy doing what I am doing now and it is what I want to do and not what anyone is imposing on me,” she says, insisting that ”I feel blessed doing it because I have always loved music and music is my life and I am happy about what I am doing today and hoping to become a big star in the music industry tomorrow.
Anu, a singing sensation from Atunda Entertainment, the artiste she performs with some of the time, describes her as a very powerful and impactful singer with a mix of cosmopolitan and Africentric songs in her repertoire. ”She has a nice voice and sings appealingly to Nigerians, Africans and Europeans, she says, adding that ”she is living for today and believes for a bigger break tomorrow.”
Furthermore, Anu says of her protégé as ”a very confident entertainer, drumming and singing her two powerful interplay with her… Music comes naturally to her and she comes across with her contemporary and traditional performances. She is on the right track and with the right set of people and if she persists and keeps her head, she certainly will go places.”
One thing that Olo has going for her is that she enjoys the support of her parents all the way, as her mum and father take time off to watch her at rehearsals and also go to performance venues with her. A development everyone around her say has helped in no small measure to stabilise her act and boost her confidence level.
Poised to study music in the university, Olo reveals that she is inspired by her environment and that she likes to sing about life. She also reveals that she derives inspiration from her passion and likeness for the bata drum as well as her desire to make people happy.
