Road travelled by Highlife legend, Victor Olaiya

Growing up

On December 31, 1931, Victor Abimbola Olaiya was born in Calabar. His father, Pa Alfred Olaiya, was a dandy, but illiterate military officer, while his mother, Olaiya’s seventh wife, Mrs Bathsheba Owolabi Olaiya, was the leader of a cultural group also in Calabar. The couple hailed from Ijesa Isu in Ekiti and Abeokuta respectively. Victor was the twentieth out of his father’s 24 children.

The Olaiyas were not that poor, but they were not rich either. They were just there, struggling to get out of the pig sty. That was why Bathsheba would do anything to guard her son in life. Because of his mother’s role as leader of a cultural group, and his father’s love to sing and play the organ for his church, the little Olaiyas heard music most times at home while growing up in Calabar, so Victor was raised on music.

Olaiya attended the Big Una Town School, Calabar, and later proceeded to African School, Onitsha, to complete his primary education. For his secondary education, he attended College of Immaculate Conception in Onitsha. After that, he got half scholarship to study Civil Engineering at the Howard University in United States of America. All Olaiya needed to do was raise his flight ticket to the United States and the rest would have been taken care of by the University. Because he had to raise money to travel abroad, and because he could not get it from his parents, Victor had to leave Onitsha for Lagos.

Victor, cramped under the tarpaulin, and buffeted by the cold December wind that left his eyes watery, arrived in Lagos after the 10 hour drive. With no one to help, Olaiya totally committed himself to music. He took his practice on musical instrument seriously, even at his early age, but his path to music greatness began when he joined a group known as Kokoma. They played at weddings and engagements. That band later changed its name to Gbokos, and then to The Brigade Band.

 

Football

Olaiya had another career that he was very passionate about, but which, by divine fate, music overcame. That was soccer. Olaiya loved soccer, if not more than music, at least equally. While he was a student at the African School in Onitsha in 1946, Victor was the centre left back for the school’s football team. Victor soon had to face the dreaded late Teslim Balogun, (a.k.a Thunder Balogun)’s team, the Union Rail in a competition in 1951. During the second half, Thunder deliberately stepped on Olaiya’s toe as he attempted a jump; and his toe immediately became swollen. He struggled to play out the match, which his team lost 1-2, but that would be the last time he would ever play football.

When his mother, saw the injury, she told Victor her that he had had it with football. She insisted that he should choose music instead of soccer. But it wasn’t his mother’s persuasions that made Victor drop football for music. If he had to do it again, he would choose music over football.

 

Influencers

Olaiya met, and worked with many people in his life. Among such was Late Baba Miller. Bala was the son of Late Reverend Miller in Zaria. He played trumpet on part-time for Samuel Akpabot’s Sextet Band. Dr Victor Olaiya was already playing in the band when Bala arrived. With time, the two became close friends. Their friendship was so cordial that they did almost everything together. Remarkable was the supporting role Bala played in gearing Olaiya up in wooing Rebecca after the latter became smitten by the female neighbour of theirs. When Olaiya and Rebecca eventually got married in the early 50s, Bala, who got that information on the phone, already had a job at the Nigerian Breweries, Jos office, as a staff of the Star Brand, so he could not attend the wedding.

His relationship with another prominent Nigerian was that with Late Fela Anikulapo Kuti. After his secondary education at Abeokuta Grammar School, Ogun State, young Fela came to West End Coliseum at Apongbon one evening in the 50s. He played for Olaiya’s Cool Cats band for two years before he finally left for UK.

Louis Satchmo Armstrong, that great trumpeter from the United States of America, was an influence on Olaiya. Apart from the late James Brown, who was another great influence on the highlife Maestro, Armstrong was the musician that Olaiya truly looked up to for direction in the music industry. He was really fascinated by the will-power and talent in the man that ended up to be one of the most beloved American musicians of all time. What made an eternal impression on Olaiya was when he read that Armstrong, in an effort to push his music career, had auditioned for a music school but was rejected because he couldn’t sing scales. “He could only sing two notes properly, so they wrote him off”, he once told a reporter.

The white handkerchief that has become synonymous with Dr. Victor Olaiya on stage was something that he copied from Louis Armstrong, with a bit of difference though. “Though Louis used the handkerchief only to wipe the sweat off his face when performing, I chose to use two handkerchiefs-one to wipe my trumpet so that it could be shinny at all times, the second to wipe my face intermittently so that I won’t sweat.”

 

Congo/Brazzaville war

Because Olaiya cultivated a relationship with the boys in Green, and with his career on the rise, his band performed for Nigerian soldiers at the war front during the Civil War and also during the Congo/Brazzaville War. Although he was drafted to both wars in the 50s and 60s, he didn’t go to both wars to fight. The wide acceptance that his songs enjoyed back then was the only reason a band was ever selected, in Nigeria for the first time, to boost the morale of soldiers at war. The first time something like that was done in Africa, Olaiya said, was when the Nigerian soldiers deployed to Zaire/Congo were entertained also by his band. The idea of using musicians at wars had earlier been muted by Harry Belafonte. The American musician believed in the therapeutic powers of music.

In Brazzaville (Congo) and Leopoldville (Zaire), life was good, even during the war. “The whole of Congo was not more than Apapa and Lagos Island combined. Leopoldville was their Apapa, while Brazzaville was their Lagos Island. Only the River Congo separated both cities,” he recalled.

 

First love

Dark and pretty, that was how Victor described Bolajoko Rebecca Ladipo, the woman who ended up being the first wife of the highlife musician. She was 23 when they got married after having dated for two years. The six feet two inches tall lady caught peeping Victor’s attention when she would walk past their Tinubu house every day to her office. Victor did not believe much in writing letters, he believed more in letting his mouth and his songs do the talking. He won Rebecca over with love songs that never stopped coming. Not long after, both were married at the St. Anna Court, Tinubu in Lagos. That wedding was solemn with the couple and just two other witnesses present. The entire procedure took less than an hour. Sadly, the relationship that was supposed to last a lifetime started developing cracks in less than a decade.

From Rebecca, Victor would end up marrying seven wives, one short of his father’s eight.

 

Hip hop meets Highlife

The height of international and national award winning Nigerian musician, 2face Idibia’s career, was in the late 1990s and early 2000. All thanks to the internet that helped greatly in making him famous. In the days that Olaiya reigned, however, there was no tweeter, face book, or any social media to help him promote his songs on a global scale. Even at that, the fame Tuface had in the last millennium cannot be compared to Victor’s from the 50s through the 70s. However, tremendous pressure from music lovers for Tuface to have a song that will feature Victor, one of the remaining music legends in Africa, and a young generation of musician that fitted Victor’s track-record so that the end product would not be lopsided in favour of a particular musician.

From the onset, Mike Odiong, who had been entrusted by Victor with the powers to negotiate a deal with Tuface for the remake of the song, “Baby Jowo”, and even that of its video, said “it was a tough project, but Tuface proved to be a gentleman to the core.”

The immediate result was the over 100,000 downloads “Baby Jowo” got once the song was released. Over 600,000 views were recorded on YouTube same day and the rest is history. The participation of Tuface endeared Baba Victor Olaiya to the hearts of the millions of youths so much so that anywhere Victor went, chants of “Baba and TuBaba forever” followed. The collaboration rebranded Victor Olaiya.

Five years later, Olaiya became ill. Although the family would not confirm it, many said he had a stroke. Whatever it was, Olaiya lived a good life and made a very remarkable achievement in the Highlife genre of music. “If Kunle Afolayan could, he should complete the video of Baba and Tuface with a biopic because Baba was a legend and should not be allowed to fade in the memories of his fans,” said Richard Olalekan, a writer.

Mark Redguard, who played a role in making the duet happen, expressed shock at Olaiya’s death. “He was old, but he still had enough to give the industry. He was an icon. His catalogue of sounds speaks for him. We will surely miss him,” he said.

Another entertainment stakeholder, who spoke under anonymity, said he would  like   the family to do something to immortalise the Highlife music maestro

“He  was a legend. As Nigerians celebrate some musicians in this country,  Olaiya should be celebrated. The brief stint Fela had with him in the late 50s helped the Afrobeat creator a lot. I hope his story will be told one day,” he told Nigerian Tribune.

Abimbola Esho, MD of Evergreen Music Company, who wished the family and the music industry the fortitude to bear the loss, said she would “miss” her namesake, Abimbola Olaiya’s contribution to Highlife music.

Dr Victor Olaiya died on February 12, 2020, at 89 years.