In pursuit of their vision of redefining
and restoring Nigerian Music to its glorious position and promoting authentic,
indigenous and identifiable Nigerian music for global relevance in a classic
and contemporary style, NAIJAZZ music led by ace Jazz promoter Ayoola Sadare is
honoring the legendary Highlife Genius Dr. Victor Olaiya whose career has spanned
over 60 active years.
In a statement Sadare said “We at NAIJAZZ
are honoured to be given opportunity to celebrate a living legend. Victor
Olaiya has been a recurring decimal on the music scene for so long and he is no
doubt a reference point for authentic Nigerian music whenever and wherever it
is mentioned alongside other music legends like Fela Kuti, Ebenezer Obey, Rex
Lawson, King Sunny Ade, Osita Osadebe, Dr. Victor Uwaifo to mention a
few. His music is evergreen, fresh and relevant now as it was when initially
produced. His music can be regarded as our own Jazz standard which when properly
archived is a reference points for generations to come. Dr. Olaiya is a Classic
Legacy musician. His current collaboration ‘Baby Mi Da’ remix with another
current music icon Tuface Idibia is a case in point. We need to celebrate and
honour this man while he is alive. This opportunity was facilitated by his son
Bayode and is the beginning of a series of events NAIJAZZ has planned for other
musical legends among us.”
Dr. Victor Olaiya (born 31 December 1930) who plays in the
highlife style was extremely famous in Nigeria during the 1950s and early
1960s. Alhaji Alade Odunewu (Allah De) of Blessed memory described him as
"The Evil Genius of Highlife." The 20th child of a family of
24. His parents, Alfred Omolona Olaiya and Bathsheba Owolabi Motajo, came from
Ijesha-Ishu in Ekiti State. Olaiya came from a very rich family. His father's
house called Olaiya is still standing today at Tinubu square in Lagos and still
owned by the Olaiya family. At an early age he learned to play the Bombardon
and the French Horn. After leaving school he moved to Lagos, where he passed
the school certificate examination in 1951 and was accepted by Howard
University, USA, to study civil engineering. Olaiya instead pursued a career as
a musician. He played with the Sammy Akpabot Band, was leader and trumpeter for
the Old Lagos City Orchestra and joined the Bobby Benson Jam Session Orchestra.
In 1954 Olaiya formed his own band, the Cool Cats, playing popular
highlife music. His band was chosen to play at the state ball when Queen Elizabeth
II of the United Kingdom visited Nigeria in 1956, and later to play at the
state balls when Nigeria became independent in 1960 and when Nigeria became a
republic in 1963. On the latter occasion, Olaiya shared the stage with the
American jazz musician Louis Armstrong. During the Nigerian Civil War of
1967-70, Olaiya was given the rank of a lieutenant colonel (honorary) in the
Nigerian army and his band played for the troops at various locations. The Cool
Cats later travelled to the Congo to perform for United Nations troops. Olaiya
renamed his band to the All Stars Band when they played the 1963 International
Jazz Festival in Czechoslovakia. Olaiya also ran a business that imported and
distributed musical instruments and accessories throughout West Africa, and
established the Stadium Hotel in Surulere. In 1990, Olaiya received a
fellowship of the Institute of Administrative Management of Nigeria. For a
period, he was also president of the Nigerian Union of Musicians. Olaiya's
music bridges between Ghanaian highlife and what would become Afrobeat.
His musical style was influenced by James Brown, with horn parts
harmonized in Brown's style, as opposed to the mostly unison lines of Afrobeat.
Olaiya released an album with Ghanaian highlife musician E. T. Mensah. Both the
drummer Tony Allen and vocalist Fela Kuti played with Olaiya and went on to
achieve individual success. In July 2013, Victor Olaiya released a music video
remix of Baby Jowo (Baby Mi Da) with Tuface idibia and that has received much
acclaim.
The NAIJAZZ music celebration is slated for 5pm on Sunday, August
18 at Stadium Hotel, 27 Iyun Street, off Western Avenue, Surulere.
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