One hot afternoon in the middle of 1985, Iyanda Sawaba Ewenla and Wasiu Ayinde Marshal had a joint performance inside Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, Oyo State and they both mocked the late fuji music icon, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister. “Iwo omo Agbaje Salami l’ayeye; emi e se omo agbaje Salami l’ayeye o…” they both sang, in apparent mockery of the man who was celebrated as the creator of the modern day Fuji music, Ayinde Barrister, who was in Osogbo performing for Tunde Badmus.
But, curiously, just before dusk, Wasiu Ayinde sneaked into Osogbo to prostrate before the same Ayinde Barrister, with alibi that he was pressurized to mock the icon by the Liberty stadium fans.
Pronto, Wasiu was forgiven and an unaware Iyanda Sawaba Ewenla, who had naively moved to Ogbomoso for another show that same evening, became Barry’s ‘enemy Number 1’.
Then the Barry-Sawaba war became more intense.
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Around the same period in the 1980s, Sawaba faced some of the most harrowing moments in the history of Fuji music: he lost some of his most beloved ones, lost some valuable property and, sadly, his career nosedived, all within over two or three years.
The street had it that Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, with whom he had had a mild disagreement, was the hand behind the tragedies.
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Some time ago, somewhere around Ogbere-ti-oya/Babanla axis of Oremeji-Agugu area of Ibadan, I had a lengthy conversation with the man, Alhaji Isiaka Iyanda Sawaba aka ‘Easy Sawaba’. We spoke about the late Barrister (whom Sawaba revered till his death), about KWAM 1 and how the acclaimed Fuji King allegedly betrayed him after the Liberty Stadium performance of 1985, the real issue behind the famous ‘Kamoru Ayansola (Barry’s drummer) kerfuffle, his smash hit ‘Pata Olokun’, the age-long supremacy battles among Fuji artistes, his ‘Were’ days at Ona’la, Ebute-metta, Mushin and environs in the 1970s, his relationship with Remi Aluko’s father– Sunday – whom he described as the ‘first Nigerian Christian’ to perform ‘Were’ etc.
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I always (jokingly) tell a friend that by the year 2190, if the internet still exists, all you would need to know about Davido and Wizkid’s favourite boxer shorts in 2018 would be a simple google search.
Thanks to the heavy media attention directed at these artistes (and other afrobeats stars) by numerous platforms today.
This isn’t the same for Fuji, Awurebe, Juju, Apala and other (Yoruba) indigenous arts. Most of the things we know are by-products of hear says, even as most of the active players who are still alive rot away in obscurity.
And this, I hope to change in my own little ways.
Iyanda Sawaba passed on on Wednesday morning in Ibadan and has since been buried according to Islamic rites.
** Olawoyin, a journalist, first published this on his Facebook page
