By TUNDE BUSARI
Except his needless promotion of his dive into his new faith, an act which must have slapped the congregation of Alfas who turbaned him the Osupa Adini 34 years ago and expectedly opened him to acidic reactions from the obvious side, Adewale Ayuba remains a mainframe that holds the structure of fuji music.
It is pointless to deny that his performance at Oba Makama’s birthday on Sunday instantly floored my imagination like Mike Tyson did to Michael Spinks in 1988. I had honestly concluded that he was a spent force only in a fierce battle to retrieve the rhythm that lifted him up through his ‘Bubble’ vinyl marketed by the game-changing Sony Music in 1991.
Of course, I listened to his ‘KolobaKoloba’, an effort which sounds to me as a song he intentionally pushed out to share the floor with K1’s hit ‘E ma yonu si mi’ or so. But despite his diminishing presence in my subconscious mind, I still consider Ayuba a more gifted musician who is also brilliant to have dished his fuji in a flavour that makes it tasting distinctive from other sub-genre.
Be that as it may, the Ayuba’s youthful band on parade at Kuta is a pointer to his renewed energy to stay long on the stage and keep his cult of fans on dance floor.
What he displayed last Sunday at the function, which had a mass of traditional rulers in attendance, was masterly and attestation to his claim that he occupies a front row among fuji musicians. Is his claim a debate item? I dont think so. History upholds that his debut was dropped in 1986.
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I wished he would sing a track from his ‘Mr Johnson’ he released in 1992. Perhaps, that would have carried me off my seat. Alas! He didn’t remember that album, my best of all his releases, and, thus, lost my dance.
Be that as it may, the Ayuba’s youthful band on parade at Kuta is a pointer to his renewed energy to stay long on the stage and keep his cult of fans on dance floor. Unlike football that retires footballers, music doesn’t retire musicians. But fame does when it enters eclipse and transforms stars of yesterday to senior citizens who find consolation in telling tales of their days of honeymoon at beer parlour and viewing centres.
Ayuba wasn’t lousy at that event; he was almost anonymous until the compere unveiled him as the musician of the day. And when he kicked off, wow, it’s like an airplane departure on runway.
*Busari is the Editor-In-Chief/Publisher of TheTabloid.net
