Fuji Music Has No Crowned King Adewale Ayuba

Adewale Ayuba, the Bonsue Fuji crooner, bagged an honorary Doctorate degree from an American university recently. He spoke with P.M.Entertainment about the degree, crisis in fuji music, his new album and other issues Q: You’ve just bagged an honorary Doctorate degree from USA-based Brailley University and an affiliate of Higher Institute Incorporated. How do you feel about the honour? A: It is a special recognition award. For giving me a Doctorate degree means the institution appreciates what I have been doing. Q: What is happening to your new album for now? A: My new album, a double, will be released soon. As I did before by taking fuji music to the universities in 1990 and 2005, fuji must get a KORA, which is African Grammy and in 1996, I performed during the United Nations 50th anniversary. I am set to do same with this new album. If you look at the situation in Nigeria today, hip hop has taken over and I will let people to know that hip hop music borrowed from fuji music and right now, I am taking fuji to the club house. Q: Are you collaborating with any artiste? A: Yes, we have people like 2Phat, Banky West and others. Q: What informs the decision of singing hip hop and fuji? A; If you see the likes of Dekunle Fuji, 80 per cent of hip hop artistes are singing fuji, but they refuse to join us because of the bad image given to us by some artistes. Some of us have worked so hard to take the industry to where it is today and now that we are supposed to be enjoying the fruit of our labour, some people are fighting one another. It’s war today, war tomorrow. The younger ones are fighting the elders. Q: What do you think is responsible for this? A: I think it is orientation. Education is the key to everything in this country. If you call yourself the king of journalists today, I will just congratulate you. I should not fight you because it is from your mouth. Nobody wants to call himself a labourer or a servant. If Pasuma today calls himself king of fuji, or Osupa Saheed, let them call themselves anything they like. There is no particular crown that is generally given to anybody. Let anybody call himself whatever he likes. Q: Is that why you do not involve yourself in any supremacy tussle? A:Let me tell you, I want fuji musicians to emulate me. Maybe they don’t believe the KORA award and others that I have won is more important to them. Maybe they don’t believe all these things I’m getting are important. Performing for Koffi Anan and United Nations is important. Come to think of it, Ayuba never calls himself a king or whatever and he is growing. Q: Is that why you decided to be called simply Ayuba? A: Yes, I have 22 chieftaincy titles. I am Osupa-Adinni of Itire, Seriki-Adinni of Ikene, Oba Osere of Iperu. These are titles being given to me for encouragement. Q: What is your view about the abusive songs and things like that? A: It is the making of the marketers. Even when they are doing naming ceremony, they will want to sell it. This attitude is affecting us and the music industry. Q: Who is to blame, the marketers or artistes? A: That is what I am saying, it is education, it is orientation. When I did the KORA awards celebration, I had five governors at the Coliseum, the venue. It was recorded but I will never put it on VCD. It goes into my archives, not to the streets. Why should I be celebrating my child’s naming ceremony and be selling the VCD? It is not right. Sunny Ade has never done that. Obey did not do that. Who are we emulating in Nigeria? The elders are going the wrong way and that is why you see Dekunle Fuji singing fuji but refusing to join fuji music caucus. Lorile, by X-Project is fuji, but they don’t want to be associated with ‘ruffians,’ that is why they turned themselves to hip hop. Hip hop is part of fuji. Q: Can we have an insight into the two albums? A: The first one is a fusion of hip hop and because I don’t want to open my eyes and see the fruit of my labour being taken away by hip hop artistes, I did something on fuji. Both albums will be released next month. Q: Do you have a marketer for the albums? A:Each of the albums will be given to different marketers. Q: Will they be released simultaneously? A: No, but by different marketers at a time. Q: Are you releasing it the same time with the video? A: No, the audio will come first and the video later. Q: You won KORA in 2005 and another one is coming up in Nigeria this year, what are your expectations? A: It is only God that knows what will happen. The last time, it happened to me like a miracle and this time around, I’m happy it is coming to Nigeria and I will love to be part of it.