Juju music maestro, King Sunny Ade, shares his life experiences in this interview with PUNCH
A lot of people might find it very difficult to believe that you are 67 with your looks; what is the magic?
There is no magic; I just find myself
like this. It’s true people tell me that I don’t look my age and
whenever they say so, I get back home and look at myself in the mirror.
But within myself, I know I am old. Truth is, I don’t have any magic
than to give God the glory for a good health.
Maybe you do sports to keep you in shape.
Well, I wouldn’t call myself a sports
man in that sense but I love sports. Within my compound, I have a scotch
court, tennis court, small basketball court and other outdoor sports
but that doesn’t mean I do sports often. The stage alone is enough sport
where I dance and jump all over the place. I think that I am just lucky
because I don’t wake up in the morning and do any exercise like a
workout.
Before some artistes go on stage,
they either drink some stuff or smoke to be able to perform very well.
What do you depend on that makes you do what you do on stage?
Let me just put it this way that I am
just lucky. I don’t drink and I don’t smoke. I don’t do drugs and I
don’t like people who do drugs. Even within my band, ordinary cigarette
smoking irritates me; I don’t like it. I believe that music on its own
is enough to make me high because I love doing it with passion. I don’t
need any drug to make me high on stage. I am addicted to music without
necessarily taking anything to make me high.
Do you have a particular eating habit or diet to keep you in this athletic shape?
No, I tell people now that I have put on
weight but they don’t believe me especially when I watch my past
videos. I just don’t know why I have this shape because I don’t have a
specific time of eating. As I am talking to you now, I have not eaten
anything since yesterday. Occasionally, I eat late and anytime I wake up
is when I have my breakfast no matter the time of the day. I don’t have
any eating pattern and whenever I want to eat, I don’t eat much because
I would be thinking that I would not be able to sleep.
What was your dream as a young boy?
When I was young, I wanted to be an
engineer and at the same time, I wanted to be a lawyer. At another time,
I wanted to be a doctor. In fact, there was no time I wanted to be a
musician because being born into royalty, it was unthinkable to think
that way. But I loved music; I loved dancing and people who danced. I
loved to dance to any kind of music. Then as a young boy of seven or
eight, I used to pray for branded vans promoting new products like
Michelin, to come to my community where I could listen to music and
watch people dance. At times, I would just join to dance and people
would be clapping for me. I would forget myself so much until one
relative came along to pull my ears or beat me for dancing around. So,
when I realised that nobody in the family wanted me to dance or watch
those who danced or played music, it did not occur to me to wish to
become a musician. I thought I would be a good lawyer because nobody won
me over in any argument. At the same time too, I thought I would be an
engineer because then, you would find me at any refuse dump where I
would be looking for used wire and batteries which I coupled together to
produce light. Then I would like to know what was doing the talking in
the radio and people thought I would end up as an engineer. I learnt
carpentry and painting.
How? What of school?
I was going to school but anytime I
closed, I went to the carpentry workshop to learn. During holidays too, I
was always at the workshop working. Again, I had a brother who repaired
motorcycles and his shop was beside where I was learning carpentry. I
more or less was learning so many things at the same time.
But why did your parents take you to the carpentry workshop to learn even when you were schooling?
No, it was on my own. I was very bright
at school because the little I could read was enough for me to pass.
Once I did my homework, I would dash across to the workshop and learn.
Despite this, I never failed in school except once when my teacher
intentionally failed me. I reported him to the headmaster and the
teacher was sacked. We were 39 in class and the teacher said I came 14th
instead of being in the first three. Even at that, how could I be said
to have failed in the 14th position out of 39? It looked very strange to
me and I walked into the headmaster’s office and reported the teacher.
After reporting the man, the headmaster told me not to tell anybody and
that he knew what to do. I just discovered that I didn’t see the teacher
again; it was later that I learnt that the teacher had been sacked.
But as a bright boy, why didn’t you proceed to the university?
That was my dream and intention. You
know, I lost my father when I was young and I loved my mum so much that I
thought it would be a burden for her to continue to fund my education
alone with that of my siblings. So, out of pity for her, I decided to be
doing something to help rather than depending on her to cater for me.
When I was still very young in school, my mother who used to weave aso oke always
gave me new cloth for my school uniform every term with different
designs.
I joined the Boys Brigade and during the holidays, we used to
go to the white people’s home like the DO (District Officer) for any job
and sometimes, they would dash us some money. I used to go to the farm
to look for bamboo to make cages for the birds that I caught. I would
then give out the birds together with the cage and asked to be given
anything in exchange. I wanted to go to the university; in fact when I
ran to Lagos from Abeokuta, my people back home thought I was in the
University of Lagos. When I was leaving Abeokuta for Lagos, I actually
told some colleagues that I was going to Lagos to try my luck but that
if my family asked of me, they should tell them that I gained admission
to University of Lagos. For almost three years, my family thought I was
in the university in Lagos. It was not until I formed my own group that
an uncle came and asked me whether I was actually Sunny Ade. I said yes
and he said how come; what happened to your university education? I said
well, I had to take to music when I could no longer pay myself through
school. He almost slapped me, accusing me of lying to the family that I
was in school. Then I now made him to sit down and explained to him and
he understood and promised to tell the family what I was actually doing.
My family didn’t approve of what I was doing for almost 15 years until I
really made the name. They found it difficult to know that I was
actually Sunny Ade instead of Sunday Adeniyi. Again in those days, they
could only hear you on the radio; the television then, WNTV was very
competitive for everyone to be featured. My mother insisted that I must
go to school instead of playing music. She asked me how I wanted my
father to feel in the grave that his son was only good enough to sing
instead of being a lawyer or an engineer as the case may be.
So how did you convince them to agree?
They finally agreed because I did not
smoke nor drink. In those days, musicians were considered to be dropouts
and drunkards and never-do-wells. But I promised them that I would not
mess up and I thank God today that families actually want their children
to sing and become big musicians. They would not only assist in showing
physical support and encouragement, they would hire pastors to pray for
their success especially in the various reality shows going on.
Why did you run to Lagos?
I went to Abeokuta from Osogbo together
with my former boss by name Idowu Owoeye during the coronation of the
then Oba Gbadebo. Unfortunately, we got stranded; there was no money to
go back to Osogbo or anything to eat. I had maybe just one shilling with
me and I decided to come to Lagos to try my luck. I knew a member of
Moses Olaiya’s band back then who left for Lagos a year earlier. So,
when I got to Lagos, I was looking for Moses Olaiya but instead of being
taken to him, I was taken to Dr. Victor Olaiya. When I got to him, he
asked what he could do for me and I explained to him that I was from
Osogbo looking for Moses Olaiya. Until I became Sunny Ade years later,
that was when I told Dr. Olaiya how I knew him when he was coming to
play in Osogbo. Each time he came to Osogbo to play, I was the one
holding his trumpet for him. He normally called me Big Boy which was a
way of sounding nice because as the youngest member of Moses Olaiya’s
band, I was very tiny. I would hold the trumpet and follow him to his
hotel, asking for nothing.
I just loved the way he played and handled
the instrument. He didn’t want it dirty at all and he still does so. I
went in search of the band member of Moses Olaiya who I traced to Lagos
originally. His name was Ayodele; when I got to his house, I was
informed that he went out and I decided to wait for him. When he came
back, he introduced me to Moses Olaiya and that was the time they were
going for a show. They allowed me to follow them and luckily for me, the
guy that was playing the konga was a blind man and my arrival was like
coming to help him. Apart from playing the konga, he also sang, so when I
came, I would play the konga while he sang. Anytime I played the konga,
my boss was very happy and that was how I started.
When would you say you had a breakthrough in music?
I would say it was when I did Challenge
Cup around 1968/70. My music was quite different from any other and
people started asking: who is this? When I did the first record, Alaanu Loluwa;
it was a single. I did another one and when I did the next one for
Challenge Cup where Flaming Flamingos of Chief Adebajo participated,
that was the first time I had a gold disc because we sold more than
500,000 copies. I would call that the breakthrough; I did another one
and that was when the media called me Master Guitarist. From then, there
hasn’t been any stop.
Who taught you how to play the guitar?
God. Nobody taught me how to play
guitar; even drumming, dancing, singing, nobody. I just found myself
doing all those things because of the passion I had for music. I was
steadfast in teaching myself all of these because I realised that I had
to get it right more so when the family did not support it. I also
realised that there was no way I could go to the university without
playing music; so I vowed to excel and thought that if I eventually went
to the university, I would still be doing music part time.
But guitar is not something you buy in the market and start playing immediately; how did you make it?
I was the youngest member in the band of
Moses Olaiya; I went to Dr. Victor Olaiya’s shop to buy my first guitar
with about three pounds or so. It was a brand new acoustic guitar and I
put it on continuous practice. I loved I K Dairo music and the type of
music we were playing in Moses Olaiya’s band was I K Dairo music, so I
started picking the string one by one and anytime someone was playing
guitar, I would watch their fingers and how they were doing it. I also
loved the music of now Pastor Dele Ojo, I would pick something from him
on my guitar. Then my boss could play highlife guitar and I watched him
too. My boss chose some of us to be in the theatre by the time we formed
theatre group and I was the one leading the music aspect; then I would
play guitar, sing and dance. I always liked to hide my guitar from my
boss because I didn’t want him to have funny ideas about me. Sometimes, I
would play my guitar in the midnight even though some people said the
spirit would slap anyone doing so at that particular time. But I
reasoned that if it was true, the spirit should have been slapping every
musician playing late into the night. I taught myself for about three
years and it was a hard work.
Anyone listening to your music
would appreciate a lot of folklore and traditional elements in the
songs; how did you achieve this?
A lot of people helped. You know in
Osogbo where I also lived and also in Ondo here, there are a lot of
traditional festivals, folk songs and different kinds of traditional
things going on. Again, as someone that wanted to have a unique type of
style, I loved to go very deep in search of the elements and the origin
of the songs. Sometimes, I would go to bookshops and buy Yoruba books
especially books written by people like D.O. Fagunwa; the Alawiye
series. I loved to sing songs that would convey pure and deep Yoruba
language, not slangs. In fact, I loved writing the songs on blackboard
during rehearsals with my band. When I was fully in music, I prayed to
be like Frank Sinatra as a musician because people loved and respected
him. I studied what he did to command such respect.
Why are you so close to almost all Yoruba obas? Is it because of being from a royal family?
I believe God gave me that and till now, I still don’t know why they all love me. I am the son of all the obas and I respect them because obas
are born. As a Yoruba boy and being a royal blood, one must know how to
behave in their presence. Whenever I go to the Oba of Benin, he is
always the one that beckons to me to come closer to him. He would say
but I knew him as a permanent secretary, so why keeping a distance and I
would say that was when he was just a prince.
I am sure all the obas would want to give you chieftaincy titles…
You know as a royal blood, I cannot be a
chief again but somehow some still offer me and what I do is that I
would help some people to help me explain why I could not take titles.
But I don’t reject outright because that is a sign of disrespect.
Recently, you and Ebenezer Obey
performed together in Ole ku concert; that is what would not happen when
two of you were seen as rivals in the juju music industry.
We have always been good friends but you
the media and our fans created whatever you thought was rivalry between
us based on our records and songs. It is people that read meanings to
everything we did. When he became pastor, I held the fort for him and
when he decided to come back to the house, he met the house intact and
we played together. We showed to the whole world that we are friends and
we have performed together at other places.
Are you not afraid for the future of juju music which is not multiplying like fuji?
With respect to fuji music and the practitioners, it was taken from juju music. Juju music is very expensive unlike fuji in terms of instruments. For fuji, you can assemble the instruments so easily unlike juju where you would need at least four or five guitars to start. Today, you cannot find a good guitar for N40,000. Again, juju
is played in some environment such as hotels and club houses like in
the days of old. And if you want to rent instruments, you cannot spend
less than N250,000 per show on instruments alone. A lot of people still
play juju but the problem is that most of us have gone to church.
But with the way things are going now, you too may join them.
I am in the church already; I have never left the church but I play juju. Those that got special anointing left juju
and went to church which is good. I had been a church person as a
member of Cherubim and Seraphim but now I am a member of the Redeemed
Christian Church of God. While I was looking for fame, I sang all sorts
of songs like the ogun and other songs that I thought people would accept. But in the record, E kilo fomode, I sang about oro and egungun which
I did not even know about. I sang all those just to gain acceptance,
nothing more. There is no record I did without singing the praise of
God.
When you did Ekilo fomode, people said you were referring to Emperor Peter.
The omode record was already out
before Emperor Peter came; people just read meanings into it. Peter
himself said in one interview that I must have been referring to him as Omo ode
when Dele Abiodun sang the song somewhere. In fact, I did not know him
for many years until I saw him in Ondo here. I never knew him before I
sang the song. The song Omode is just a warning to all children to know what to do and not to do to avoid regret.
All along, you always have gospel
track in your album; are you afraid of abandoning secular music to go
into full gospel like your colleague, Chief Ebenezer Obey?
I have always been a gospel singer all
my life. At the same time, I believe my music wins souls for God. I
don’t believe I have to become a pastor, an evangelist or church owner
before I can win souls. It’s true a lot of people want me to become an
evangelist but I am yet to get the call. What I pray for is to hear a
genuine call because some wicked people can try mischief and concoct a
call. What I need is to get a call and be prepared for it. When I hear
the call, it is then that it will be extremely easy for me to go into
full gospel.
In other climes, those that have
not done a quarter of what you have done for more than 50 years fly
private jets. Is it that musicians here cannot achieve such no matter
how they try?
Well, we have problem with royalties,
piracy and other issues in the industry. They don’t have all these
problems in other places. Over there, once you have a hit record, other
companies will come and bombard you with every of your needs. They will
manage you; even lawyers will come, so also are the record companies.
You don’t even have to say you want a jet, they will ask you what type
of jet you want and they will bring it to you. They believe that what
you have is a serious business for all the players in the industry. But
in Nigeria, we are all self-made artistes; we promote ourselves, do
everything. It is quite worrisome because if you use about N3m to make a
record, even before you finish working on it, it is in the market
already with pirates feasting on it. And some of us musicians too, we
can be desperate when we need money by going to record companies to sign
unreasonable terms.
Was there anytime in your career that you felt like quitting because of frustration?
Of course, everyday is not Christmas; it
is normal to have lows and highs but I don’t carry such around. Even
when playing, something unpleasant may happen but I always believe
tomorrow will be better.
How has fame shaped your life?
I respect people and I also respect
myself. Because of fame, I am always careful of what I do anywhere
because of the consciousness that a popular person is always under
watch. It’s like one has to live a special life. If you say you don’t
smoke, you better don’t come close to where they are smoking. If you are
drinking Coca-Cola, be careful so that when you pour it in a glass,
people will not think it is beer.
When you and Onyeka Onwenu did a song, Wait for me, there was a rumour that you two had an affair…
That was the gimmick we used for that
particular record to be widely accepted. Because the collaboration was
very unusual, people were thinking we were dating but we were not.
People were thinking we were getting married until the record came out.
Onyeka is a very good friend and an energetic musician. The song was
sponsored by Hopkins University in Maryland, USA and we even went there
to collect the award together.
I read it somewhere where you warned young men to be wary of women; did you give the advice out of a personal experience?
Not really but if you look around, it is
the reality. I reckon that it is better to have the number of children
one can care for. In those days of our forefathers, the more children
they had, the more wealth they would get. But nowadays, paying school
fees alone is no joke and the children too want to use all manner of
sophisticated phones.
At 67, are you looking at retirement soon?
No musician can retire until they are old or something happens. Music is in the blood and it is in the reservoir.
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