‘My father’s love for highlife rubbed off on me’

Queen of Hikosso music, Yeye Asa, has said that her father’s love for high life rubbed off on her.
Popular among friends as Floxy Bee, she made this statement in an interview with TheNiche’s Renn Offor.
Hikosso, she said, is a mixture of highlife and makosso.
“I grew up listening to my father playing Nigerian highlife music in my house. Like I said, I grew up listening to Rex Lawson, Osita
Osadebe, Victor Uwaifo, Oliver de Coque and the like. My father is an ardent lover of (such) highlife music. And that’s why I’m in love with highlife music. The best music that I deliver today is highlife.
“The Bible said ‘train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it’. For me, growing up actually moulded me to be what I am today,” said the musician who has been in music for over 30 years.
So who is Yeye Asa? She has been promoting African music in the Diaspora, but she is back home to continue doing the same thing.
“I am also using the same forum to promote other artistes who align with the promotion of African culture. Also, like Breeze, Starfaz, China Wonder, Judy King and a bunch of other wonderful artistes doing African music, and not deviating doing hip-hop, and jazz, and all that,” she stated.
In 2012, she was made the Yeye Asa (Mother of the Source) ll-lfe lyanfoworogi, in recognition of her musical achievements and efforts over the years to further the musical and cultural traditions of Nigeria in the Diaspora.
“Since the age of 16, I’ve been performing and recording. I’ve received numerous awards for my Hikosso music – a mixture of highlife, makossa, soukous, juju and Afrobeat. I’ve also received citations from the cities of Boston and Newark for my efforts to bridge cultures through music,” she explained.
The father from which she got her inspiration was a Captain in the Nigerian Army, and she said that growing up on several army bases allowed her develop a deep understanding of the many music traditions cultures of Nigeria, as the army is the melting pot of all Nigeria’s tribes.
“Even going to church gave me an understanding of the rich African Christian tradition. The tradition and culture were inscribed in me as an infant and again as a young girl,” she reminisced.
She, like many women who stand out in Africa, holds the view that achieving success in Africa is difficult. “It is even harder as a singer,” she stated.
Having been away for a while, her assessment of the Nigerian music industry is that it is at its best right now.
“Nigerian artistes are so versatile and talented. And now they use their language to sing. They sing in Yoruba language, and the language is accepted in Cuba, in Brazil and all over the world. A lot of people are learning Yoruba language, and they want to practise the culture. A lot of people want to hear Nigerian music, watch Nigerian movies because they know they’re coming from a place of originality,” she said.
“The Yoruba believe that a person is born with a purpose. Anyone hearing me sing would know that my purpose was to make music. And, truly, God on my side, I’ve done so famously in Africa and in America.”