By Gani kayode Balogun
This is an intellectual exercise, based solely on the Fuji musical universe.
It’s past, present and immediate future.
It is based solely on words on marble.
Songs that were sung, either in studios, during live performances or acapella in interviews.
There will not be any conjecture, no revision, no padding.
Just facts.
Is the parameters very clear?
Good, let’s go.
Fuji, the one everyone is playing, dancing to and listening to, is without a doubt, the creation, or innovation, or intervention, or modernization, whichever coinage fits your narrative, of one man.
His name is Sikiru Ololade Adeyimika Ayinde Balogun.
Are we in agreement so far?
It doesn’t matter if you believe he did it in February 1966, as some of us knew, or when he turned professional after leaving the Army in 1975, as some others are certain of, there is no doubt that at a point in time, he made the transition.
Now, what really is the problem?
Some say that a musical format existed before Barry on the island called Fuji, right?
Let us accept without conceding that this is true. Can anybody show me one single, one LP where someone recorded an album and claim to be playing Fuji?
No? It cannot be because recordings are scarce during that period, was it?
My friend, Lanre Anjola, has recordings of Abibu Oluwa in the 40s, so how come no one had any of that previously “popular” Pre-Barrister Fuji?
Again, let us assume it to be true, who were the practitioners of this elusive genre.?
It cannot be Sikiru omo Abiba or Ajani Ganiyu at Oluwole , because they were well known and well regarded Ajisari crooners.
Some will say they played a form of Fuji music, but which form?
Barrister defines his own Fuji as “ Combination of Music, consisting of Sakara, Apala, Juju, Gudugudu, Aro, possibly highlife.
Did their own Fuji meet this definition?
That will be a no.
If Monsuru Akande was the first Ajisari to record a single. What then were these aforementioned people playing if they were the pioneers who moved from were to Fuji, what then was Monsuru’s achievement?
If Barry did not mention Fuji music before volume 5, which artiste mentioned it before then?
Maybe they were not fortunate to have recorded singles, but is there a song, a line in a song, a drum beat, that anybody can attribute to these people where Fuji was mentioned before Barry as a genre?
No one? Not even a line, really?
Maybe they were too ancient. Alhaj Kawu Aminu and Saka Olayigbade only died recently, can anybody bring out any song they did where Fuji was mentioned as a genre they played, anyone?
That will be a no.
Some will say that even Barry accepted this in an interview.
Was that Fuji commercial? Were those playing it professionals or part time? Did it die out because it was never a viable genre, but simply served as a stop gap Faaji get together between post Were and Pre Sakara?
When Kollinton started recording albums in 1975;was he forced to call his music Fuji? If Barry only called his music Fuji in volume six in 1974, is there an edict that stated that others must follow suit?
Many Ajisari alums moved to Sakara, Why did they do that if Fuji was in existence as a genre?
When Obey told Barrister to leave the Army and turned professional, did he also go to others who were alums of Ajisari to also do the same?
When Wasiu called Barry Fuji creator in his first album, did they put a gun to his head?
When Kollinton eulogized Barry as a freshly minted Alhaji on the flip side of his maiden album, using Barry’s tone from volume 4, was this done in a vacuum?
So, how will you feel when someone you convinced to leave the Army to pursue music, a career path that brought him fame and fortune,and another one you practically raised and who got fame and fortune riding on your sweat, decided to make it a career goal to fabricate ancenstors for a lineage that started with you?
That was the Barry Conundrum.
So, Barry made a declaration that still reverberates beyond the grave.
After my demise continue to berate me. Turn the abuse to money and spend. Turn it to kids and send on errands. Turn it to clothes and wear it to parties. As long as I don’t berate you, all those who berate me, God will do the needful.
That is why Kola is fighting tooth and nail and nail to be treated and respected as number one, when he never accepted that he was number two when Barry was alive, despite knowing there can only be one king at any given time?
And Wasiu is twisting and turning trying to explain the nuances of chronicling a non existing hierarchy of Fuji music, even when every right thinking person knew it was done out of spite?
Karma, as they say, is best served cold.
Except the younger ones are too impatient for it to cool down. They serve the karma steaming hot.
Kollinton once tried to assert his non existent moral authority by giving a fatwa on abusive songs. He was politely reminded that he built his entire career on abusive songs.
Wasiu did everything, including bending over backwards to ensure Fuji unity with him as the arrowhead, but was always reminded by some younger artistes that he is a well known fabricator of a non existent chronology.
The lesson here is, whatever you do today, will always have repercussions tomorrow. You want to be respected, but refuse to respect those God placed above you. You want to be number one when you spent evey waking moment desecrating the foundation of that industry.
So, instead of creating fantastic music, the very ingredients that propelled Fuji to its present heights. The heights built solely on Barrister’s genius, Fuji musicians worry only about their place on the ladder, instead of their legacy.
I hope with the brief meeting of Kollinton with Barrister in heaven, where Barry told him to go back to earth and do the right thing, and Wasiu’s conciliatory message about unity, will finally put an end to fourteen years of consistent positioning about leadership of the genre.
Barry was right, when he was alive they copied him, and in death, they miss his leadership.
Just like the Prophet.
