Veteran Fuji musician, Alhaji Isiaka Iyanda Sawaba, popularly known as Easy Sawaba, died at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Wednesday morning.
The 71-year-old artist reportedly suffered a partial stroke some weeks ago and was admitted to the hospital.
Another Ibadan, Oyo State-based fuji act, Alhaji Rasheed Ayinde Adekunle, better known as Fuji Merenge, announced Sawaba’s death on Facebook. He posted “Alhaji Iyanda Sawaba died just now. Inalilai wainailei rojihun”
The musician from Ile-Aperin, Orita Aperin area of Ibadan, was born in Ghana on November 11, 1951, and was just a level below the late Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and General Kollington Ayinla in popularity.
He was also the toast of fuji lovers across Nigeria. He initially operated from Lagos but started suffering personal and professional misfortunes from around 1984, making him relocate back to Ibadan.
Some attributed his misfortunes before bouncing back in the early 90s to a long-running feud he had with Barrister, with whom he used to be close. Sawaba was alleged to have snatched Barrister’s master drummer, Kamoru Ayansola and that the latter cursed him because of that.
The feud, which began around 1985, ended in 2004, and he was at the recent colloquium in honour of the fuji originator.
However, the late musician who started with ‘were’, fuji music’s precursor, before crossing into the genre fully, clarified what happened in an in-depth interview with Premium Times in 2018.
The late Sawaba had more than 22 albums, including ‘Suru’, ‘Igbo Odaju’, ‘Pata Olokun’, ‘Ayetoto’, ‘Oroseniwo’, ‘Message’ and ‘Correction’.
