King Sunny Ade’s
transformation from his Oshogbo/Ondo humble beginnings into global stardom is
marked by two recurring attributes: single-mindedness and perseverance. It is a
story about someone who knew he had a calling to become a professional
musician, and worked resolutely toward achieving his goal.
Drawing on the
values of self-dignity that his mother had taught him, and relying on his
knowledge of indigenous performance, King Sunny Ade (KSA) proceeded to Lagos
and began a new phase of his life as a young man. In Lagos he identified those
who would help him achieve his desire. One of them was Moses Olaiya, who
offered him an opportunity to apprentice as a musician. The other was Chief
Tunde Amuwo, who provided him with a set of musical instruments as well as a
space to perform. KSA, building on the support of these two men and many
others, has formed one of Africa’s most successful bands, released over one
hundred albums, helped to create PMAN (Performing Musicians Association of
Nigeria), resisted the urge by global musical networks to change his style of music,
and created a musical genre that, although eclectically sourced, is unique in
its projection of African-grounded performance aesthetics.
KSA’s story also reveals an ability to effectively navigate
complex contours of human relationships. He encountered problematic recording
companies, dealt with protesting band members who decided to walk out on him
just when a studio recording was about to begin, and struggled against record
pirates bent on undermining his right of financial benefits. Most remarkable
however is his ability to create a distinctive juju style that has become a
pan-Yoruba musical language and a model for upcoming musicians within and
outside Nigeria. KSA’s unique juju style, his àríyá socio-aesthetics, as I want to
characterize it, exemplifies a multidimensional performance spectacle in which
topical social issues are conveyed through a performance mode that is marked
with brilliant musicianship and engaging in its thematic fluidity.
KSA’s
recent tour of the United States, forming part of his 70th birthday
anniversary, provides an opportunity to reflect on, and celebrate, his career
as an outstanding figure in global popular music. As I pondered how to frame my
essay, it became clear that making a case for a full integration of popular music
studies into the Nigerian music curriculum, especially in the universities,
should form an important element of my homage to KSA. My plan in this essay is
therefore to celebrate KSA by discussing his music, highlighting the
significance of his work as a musician and drawing attention to the pedagogical
value of popular music. My methods here are simple: provide a brief
ethnographic account of one of his US tour concerts to reveal salient features
of his music, review some arguments about the significance of popular music,
and make a strong case for the teaching of popular music in African
universities. All these are framed within the context of a celebrative essay
targeting one of Africa’s greatest musicians.
KSA’s 2016 Performance in Lowell, USA
The
notice was quite short. Although I had informed my contact of my intention to
conduct an interview with KSA during his US tour, and although I did get an
initial nod, the final confirmation did not come until just a few hours before
his concert in Lowell on July 30th, 2016. I packed my ethnographic tech
equipment, and started the journey to Lowell, just about 80 miles away from my
home. Located in Middlesex County, Lowell is the fourth largest city in the
state of Massachusetts.
KSA’s
concert was part of the annual Lowell Folk Festival, an event that attracts
many other musicians, and features culinary and craft displays. Lowell city
was, as expected, in a festive mood. Traffic was diverted away from the city
center because many of its open spaces had been converted into demarcated
concert arenas. Ethnic foods from various parts of the world were served for a
fee in many different kiosks. A country music band was performing at one of the
main arenas. But I was more interested in locating the specific venue of KSA’s
show, which, as I later found out, was a short distance away from the country
music stand. Local residents that I interviewed then informed me that KSA’s
show was a special headline performance and therefore reserved for much later
in the evening. I seized the opportunity to sample a Vietnamese dish, after
which my wife and I made our way to the venue of his concert. It was inside a
covered arena with a modest stage, and an audience of about 300 people, mostly
white fans, but with a significant number of blacks dominated, as expected, by
Nigerians. The age profile of the audience was between the bracket of 30 and 50
years. The audience included new initiates as well as diehard fans that had
followed KSA for years and always on the lookout for him.
The
size of KSA’s band that evening corresponded with the modest size of stage and
audience. Just about 10 performers, made up of four gángan hourglass drummers,
a bembe drummer, a bass guitarist, a keyboardist, another guitarist who
complemented KSA’s guitar lead, a conga drummer, and another member playing the
Western drum set. As usual with KSA’s band, instrumentalists doubled as singers
and dancers, with the exception of two members who only sang and danced,
forming a close trio with KSA. A loud ovation erupted as KSA came on stage to
join the rest of his band. After a short exchange of greetings with the
audience, KSA wasted no time in starting the concert, rending many favorite
oldies, including “Ori Mi Yeo Ja Fun Mi,” “Ma Lanu Ma Korin Mafi Gbe Oluwa Ga,”
and “Kiti kiti Kira Kita,” all treated to skillful dance movements, the types
of which have endeared KSA’s juju music to local and global audiences for over
fifty years. He paced around the stage, moved his body up and down to his own
music, shaking his legs, waist, and shoulders in ways that astonished and
captivated the audience.
At
one point, a bemused lady standing next to me asked whether this was indeed
Sunny Ade. She found it hard to believe that a 70-year old man could dance with
such flair and energy. The graceful physicality of KSA’s dance movements
simultaneously enchanted and surprised her. The performance arena became
increasingly energized as the band continued to generate dense webs of vocal
and instrumental phrases intricately woven together. KSA conversed with the
audience, made different sections of the audience sing--and then humorously
awarded grades based on how each section performed. He indicated clearly that a
major objective of his music was to build bridges among peoples, and promote
social harmony.
KSA’s Àríyá Socio-aesthetics
The
multicultural sources of KSA’s music demonstrate how his music connects peoples
and cultures. Yoruba hourglass drums, Afro-Cuban conga drums, European guitars,
keyboard and drums all represent vital elements of his soundscape. The varied
instrumental, vocal and movement resources of his music resonate with manifold
stylistic qualities too: European tonality, Nigerian pentatonic singing, Yoruba
dance-drumming language (especially the alujo mode), and Afro-Cuban rumba.
Western guitars are organized to simulate the layering technique of Yoruba drum
language, while the keyboard generates occasional punctuations and folksy
interludes, rather than merely providing harmonic direction. KSA’s use of
Yoruba gángan drums often precludes the distinctive role of the master drummer
as obtained with the hierarchic structure of Yoruba drumming. In KSA’s music,
gángan drums, save for their occasional improvised melo-rhythmic punctuations,
are used mainly to sustain and reinforce the electrifying groove of the music.
The vocal component of the performance, led by KSA, is outlined in a series of
story-telling, praise-singing phrases, and packaged within a call-responsorial
format typical of African performance style. The significance of KSA’s work as
a musician lies in his ability to weave such a diverse array of elements into a
distinct form that is immediately recognizable. It unfolds as sequences of
improvised vocal and instrumental narratives carefully put together, exploring
diverse and free-flowing themes, gracefully embodied, and rendered
conversationally with the audience in ways that break social and cultural
boundaries.
Popular Music and Music Education
Articulating
the significance of KSA’s àríyá style, in terms of both its
social topicality and captivating performance, provides the context for
reflecting on Nigeria’s system of music education, which presently tends to
favor Western classical music and, to a lesser extent, “traditional” African music
with precolonial roots. The marginalization of popular music (the category to
which belong the works of musicians like Sunny Ade, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Osita
Osadebey, and P-Square, to mention just a few examples) is a reminder of how
educational policies of the British colonial era and the aesthetic preferences
of the West have continued to influence what is taught in many African
institutions. Eminent Africanist musicologist, Kofi Agawu, emphasizes this
point in his book, Representing African Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries,
Positions (Routledge 2003) by reflecting on the situation in Ghana, and
observing that “while popular music such as highlife served an important social
function as dance music, its incorporation into the curriculum was slow to emerge”
(p. 120).
As
Peter Manuel has observed in his book, Popular Musics of the Non-Western World:
An Introductory Survey (Oxford University Press, 1988), the initial denigration
of popular music in Europe rested on two main ideological planks. Conservative
elitism saw in popular music a cultural expression that threatened the
canonical status of Western classical music as well as the social values that
the music designates. In addition, neo-Marxist scholars, like Theodore Adorno
of the Frankfurt School, tended to characterize popular music as banal,
standardized, and a cultural opium imposed by the elite on the masses as a ploy
to divert their (the masses’) attention away from social inequalities and
economic exploitations of which they are victims. I must note that these two
broad views do not account for the various nuanced ways in which popular music
has been discussed by scholars. It is also important to state that these
negative stereotypes about popular music have now faded significantly. Popular
music studies have become a more visible academic subject in European and
American universities over the past thirty years or so. But this is yet to be
the case in Nigeria, in spite of the efforts by some music departments in the
country’s universities to promote the teaching of popular music.
It
is essential to draw attention to the many positive qualities of popular music,
notably, its capability to facilitate interaction amongst a socially and
culturally broad group of people as demonstrated in my discussion of KSA’s
Lowell concert earlier. The democratic qualities of popular music are
highlighted in its proclivity toward social topicality and the cultivation of
musical styles that are accessible, yet profound. It is furthermore noteworthy
that, KSA, like many Nigerian and African musicians, has effectively configured
a platform for showcasing African musical heritage across the globe and
sustaining important African social values and cultural practices. This is
remarkable, given the competitive global world in which we live and where
Africans have to struggle to maintain their identities. It is because of these
qualities that African popular music represents an important socio-musical
context for imparting crucial musical and extra-musical knowledge. In addition,
musical genres like highlife, afro-beat, juju, afro-rap , and afro-beats all
provide an invaluable frame for students and scholars seeking to understand
African principles of musical form and composition, instrumentation,
improvisation, and stage presentation, to mention but a few.
I
should clarify that I am not in any way discouraging the teaching of Western
classical music in African universities. Not at all. It is a great tradition
that has a lot to offer to students. My argument is that we should complement
our emphasis on classical music and traditional music with an organic approach
to the teaching of popular music. Reflecting on my own undergraduate studies in
the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, I recall how we focused mainly on European
classical music, along with a tokenistic attention given to indigenous African
music. Popular music was completely absent in the curriculum. That experience
would later condition my research to focus on the works of African composers of
art music and, later, indigenous music traditions. I have however recently
realized the need for an academic shift that accords recognition to the works
of musicians like KSA, a decision that has resulted in a modest list of
publications, including my Popular Music in Western Nigeria (IFRA 2014), which
explores the relationship between social themes, musical style and social
patronage in western Nigeria. Many other scholars, including Christopher
Waterman, Michael Veal, Tejumola Olaniyan, Olusoji Stephens, Ijeoma Forchu,
Albert Oikelome, to mention just a few, also have been active in the study of
Nigerian popular music. Waterman’s groundbreaking book (Juju: a Social History
and Ethnography of an African Popular Music. University of Chicago press, 1990)
is particularly significant in pioneering a serious study of Nigerian popular
music. Also commendable is Professor Onye Nwankpa’s current effort at promoting
and studying the music of Rex Lawson at the University of Port Harcourt.
Appreciating KSA’s Àríyá Socio-Aesthetics
Sunny
Ade’s music provides the context for understanding the social, aesthetic and
pedagogical value of popular music. It draws attention to how popular music
provides a space for social participation and reflection, promotes cultural
identity, and connects communities. Like those of his colleagues in the popular
music profession, KSA’s skills in music composition and performance, his
management skills as a bandleader, his marketing strategies in the music
business— should all form an invaluable part of the music curriculum.
Finally,
it is significant to note that the success of KSA as a musician of global
status emanates from certain core elements of his personality: amiable, and
strong-willed; hardworking, yet playful; successful, yet humble. He is a no-nonsense
executive with a strong passion for excellence.
As
we celebrate KSA’s seventieth birthday, I pray for God to grant him many more
years of active and productive musicianship and service to humanity, great
health, and abundant blessings. AMEN!
Bode Omojola is Five College Professor of Music, teaching at
Mount Holyoke College and the other institutions of the Five College
Consortium, namely, Amherst, Smith, and Hampshire Colleges, and the University
of Massachusetts in Amherst, USA. A former Radcliffe Institute Fellow in
Musicology at Harvard University, Professor Omojola was the founding
secretary of the Musicological Society of Nigeria, now Association of Nigerian
Musicologists (ANIM).
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