Taiwo Omotunde was on the road to banking success when he quit the industry to pursue his life-long dream of a music career in the early 1990s. It is a decision the Ibadan-based juju musician told journalists in Lagos on Wednesday that he is glad he made and has never looked back ever since.
“I want my music to be a reference point,” he said, among many other things.
It was at a gathering which doubled as the presentation of his latest album titled Dancing Arena (Agbo Ijo) and his introduction to the Lagos press.
The new album, which is the 13th from Omotunde with hundreds of live performances under his belt, is 60 minutes long consisting of three tracks composed and arranged by the artiste.
Born Olubanwo Taiwo Omotunde on April 19, 1966, he is not just a recording artiste, he is also a remarkable performing musician. His instrument of choice is the keyboard with which he has successfully led the Eternal Beats band he established. Before he started that tradition, it was unheard of for the leader of a juju band to also play the keyboard during performance.
Omotunde, who ventured into music as a school and church organist in 1979, said that what stands people out all over the world is their art, which in our country’s case is traditional music that he said is “our essence and unique to everyone”.
“All over the world, artistes and communities have their culture. A very strong content of that culture is music. In Africa here, we have different kinds of music. In our own case here in Nigeria and in West Africa, juju music has become our traditional music; so it is going to be very sad if juju becomes extinct,” he said.
He explained that this is because the other types of music that we have will come and go. But if a Yoruba man wants to express himself, percussion and drums are the best language to adopt.
“The talking drummer will speak and a Yoruba man will understand what he is saying via the sound of the talking drum. Other tribes are envious of us because of this attribute. We are the only group of musicians that compose right there on the stage; we don’t do command performance. This skill that we have should not be allowed to go to waste. In my own case, I will continue with juju music,” he stated.
He is open to innovation as that is inevitable. “Of course, innovation will come. We will do some adjustments here and there, but it remains basically juju music. I call my own Eternal Beats. It is a branch of juju music. Now I am trying to work more on it, entrench it to contend in the market. Fuji, hip hop and other genres are doing well; juju should also continue to do well.”
He revealed that in the last 25 years he had been playing music professionally, time has come for people to listen to his music. “I have proven in my career that it is possible to make a commercial success of a career without even being in the limelight. In the last 25 years, juju has sustained me. But now, it has to be taken up from here to national and international recognition. That is why I am here,” he declared.
“I want to propagate my brand, my style, so that people can copy it to help sustain it. I am also aware that Nigerians in the Diaspora are many; almost as many we who reside here. Those people and their children cannot be lost to a foreign culture. We have to take our music to them. And our people there are eager to listen to our music. So I am prepared to be part of that revolution using whatever means. We cannot ignore our own talking drums, percussion, lyrics, harmony, skill, our own notes; these are components of our music which we have to put forward to the world, so that they can notice what we do here.”
Also at the event was the United States-based CEO/President of Glory International Inc., Prince Adeniyi Shobaloju, a music promoter of international repute.
“I met Taiwo Omotunde a few days ago, though my friend Akin Adeoya had been talking about him. Apart from meeting him, I saw him perform at a party. One thing about me; I was able to introduce the idea of artiste management among fuji and juju musicians and I also hunt for talent. When I discover the talent, I listen to the talent the person has and see how unique they are,” he said.
He explained that not only has he found that uniqueness in Omotunde’s music, he also finds him to be very organised and humble.
“If he says he will be somewhere at a certain time, then he will be there, if you ask him to bring something, then he will. He is a very humble person,” he said.
CEO of 1960 Hotel Group, Akin Adeoya, who is investing in the relaunch and rebranding of Omotunde’s career, was also present. He said he was sure many of the people present did not know the artiste quite well.
“But can you believe that he has 13 albums under his belt in a career spanning two decades? For me, this is an indication that Nigeria is great country because this is someone who is successful artistically and even commercially, but somehow the act has not taken a national dimension. And that is where we are taking him to locally and internationally,” he said.
Also at the event was the juju musician, Tunde Thompson.