Thursday, 10 March 2011 00:00 By Benson Idonije ![]()
All things being equal Victor Uwaifo"s 70th birthday should attract a grand celebration with dimensions that involve the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, Philips West Africa Records (Now Premier) Edo State Ministry of Culture, The University of Benin among many others because of his specific relevance to these institutions. But PMAN which should in fact initiate the move to set the celebration in motion is completely docile, lethargic in activity and unable to live up to expectations. Instead of facing the reality of today’s situation, the association is chasing shadows, divided against itself.I know that Victor Uwaifo, one of Nigeria’s foremost musicians, has always given support to PMAN. The guitar legend and ‘akwete’ King has always honoured their appointments and identified with all their programmes.A living legend, Victor Uwaifo deserves to be celebrated by the country for elevating the musical culture of the country. It is not enough to be bestowed with a national honour, which today has become an all-comers investiture that has no meaning, the most important thing is to recognise him as an icon, one of Nigeria’s cultural heroes who has placed the country on the map.The electronic media for its own part, should be playing a crucial role in the celebration of an innovator who single-handedly created a highlife variant called Akwete, but unfortunately the system has allowed the creation of a generational gap to distort and relegate our cultural values.Almost all the broadcasters on radio and television today were not around in the ’60s when Victor Uwaifo was making waves with his Melody Maestro. And this is not a tenable excuse. His legacy is there to speak for him. Besides, there should be a mechanism in place, a cultural policy which makes it possible for our heroes in all areas of the arts to be known and remembered for all time, from generation to generation. I watched the 2011 Black Entertainment Television (BET) awards where 71 year-old Herbie Hancook was honoured recently for his role in promoting black music. The greatest number of his admirers were the youth, the hip hop and rap artists, the budding rhythm and blues stars who are drawing inspiration from the legend. There is a cultural policy and awareness which enables the electronic media to simultaneously promote the old and the new because their system appreciates the fact that without the past there can be no present.Victor Uwaifo should be enjoying tremendous airplay on all the radio stations now. Televisions should be falling over themselves with cameras to conduct interviews and create mini-documentries on the legendary ‘guitar boy.’As a matter of fact, all his songs which number over 100 have been reissued by Premier Music for deejays who care to know. A prolific composer, singer, guitarist and band leader, he changed the face of the guitar in Nigeria.Up until he came into the limelight, highlife music was known for the imitation of Ghanaian palm wine styles which guitarists from such aggregations as E.T. Mensah’s Tempos Band, The Rhythm Aces, the Stargazers, The Black Beats and the guitar bands of E.K. Yame and K. Gyasi created. Uwaifo broke this monotony by deriving his phrases from the cultural flavouring of Edo Music – to sound relevant and authentic.An innovator of no mean feat, he appeared on the scene in 1965, the same year that Fela Ransome-Kuti did with his Koola Lobitos – to give highlife music a new lease of life. As an innovator, he accomplished two goals: Apart from giving the guitar status as a Nigerian voice, by the configuration of his Melody Maestros which featured horns of trumpets and saxophones, he elevated the music of Edo people hitherto executed in guitar-dominated combo fashion to an orchestral level. Secondly, at the time that he appeared on the scene in 1965, highlife was almost becoming a drab. The music had remained in the same monotonous format from 1952 when Nigerians began to respond to the vibes generated by E.T. Mensah’s Tempos Band. He broke this monotony with Akwete, a variant steeped in Edo musical culture. He redefined highlife by removing it completely from the common meter, church hymnal progression which tended to make it foreign, and situated it in the typical call-and-response pattern of African music. Joromi was his first big hit.A highly fulfilled artiste, he has served as commissioner for culture in Edo State and as an academician, a graduate and teacher of Visual Arts from the University of Benin. Ageless and physically fit, Uwaifo loves live performance. Only the other day in Lagos at the Golden Crown Hotel, he attracted much attention as he enacted the stage feat which found him jumping and dancing as he played the guitar.His interest in music began from his days at St. Gregory’s College, Lagos when he often took time out to play the guitar with Victor Olaiya’s All Stars.According to the testimony of the legendary Victor Olaiya who paid glowing tributes to Victor Uwaifo and the late great Rex Jim Lawson who were members of his band at different times, “Victor Uwaifo was a talented young guitarist. Lawson played the trumpet with a good sense of rhythm.”Uwaifo later teamed up with E.C. Arinze and His Music, and this was where he perfected his apprenticeship. At Kakadu Hotel, Yaba, Lagos as venue, Arinze entertained a mixed audience because he mixed dance music of the ball room type with highlife. Uwaifo who specialised in highlife benefitted immensely from the liberal disposition of his band leader. He was often allowed to play his own highlife compositions, endearing himself to enthusiastic crowds of dancers who saw him as the star of the band.When he struck out on his own in 1965 to form his own outfit, he had already imbibed the spirit of band leadership. And because he was a talented guitarist and prolific composer, he immediately reeled out hit after hit, among them Joromi, Guitar Boy, Duduke, Aribade, Dolelezi, Akhuan Khuan, Do Amen Do, Siwo Siwo among many others. The impact he made as a highlife star of the moment and the artiste with the direct identification with Nigerian musical culture was noticeable. This achievement obviously recommended him as Nigeria’s representative at a cultural Festival in Algiers. Uwaifo has cause to celebrate his 70th birthday.His highlife effort has inspired a whole generation of young musicians in Edo State. His musicianship as composer, singer and guitarist has also become a source of inspiration to budding artistes in the state, having influenced a whole new range of musicians including Osayomore Joseph, Idemudia Cole, Patrick Idahosa and others from Benin. There is also a vibrant highlife scene in Etsako area of the state headlined by Alhaji Waziri Oshioma – which owes its inspiration to Uwaifo.The younger generation is looking up to Uwaifo for influence. A couple of years ago, I was amazed by the performances of one of Actor Alile’s daughters on guitar and vocals as well as Osayomore Joseph’s son when the Committee for Relevant Art organised a Highlife Party in Benin City. They both exhibited the influence of Uwaifo.And on the national level, several musicians, including Ebenezer Obey, Orlando Owoh and others have picked up guitar licks and rhythms from the Akwete highlife tradition of Victor Uwaifo who has become a major influence. •CULLED FROM THE NIGERIAN GUARDIAN BY NICHOLAS IDEMUDIA
