Fuji singer, Saheed Okunola, who is popularly known as Saheed Osupa has said that all musicians that performed before late Sikiru Ayinde Barrister only sang ‘were’ and not fuji.
Osupa was reacting to a widely publicised comment by K1 that it was not the late fuji maestro, Barrister, who created fuji.
The Ibadan-born musician said he contacted K1 immediately he got wind of the statement “but when it got to a level where the conversation was degenerating to an argument, I backed off because he is an elderly person that I respect. I had to be mature about it but I was able to express my mind,” he noted.
Hear him: ”When I heard about the statement credited to Wasiu Ayinde, I contacted him and told him that after watching the interview, I was not happy with his utterances about Barrister. I told him that he (Ultimate) once told me that he was a servant of the fuji creator. I asked him why he would be profaning the personality of his master. I also told him that what he had done amounted to sacrilege.
”If you are debasing your oracle, that is sacrilege. Barrister is still too important to be disrespected in fuji music. I made attempt to tell him the real history of fuji music as told by my father. I also told him how important Barrister was in the creation of fuji music. The people he was quoting as the creators of fuji only sang were.
”If Wasiu Ayinde is saying that Barrister did not start fuji, he is probably saying so because fuji is an adaptation of several kinds of music genres that began a long time ago. But the name fuji and the combination of series of music adapted from several types of music were the initiative of Barrister. If anyone says he did not create fuji, that person is wrong,” he remarked.
According to him, since the late musician created fuji out of some music genres and others did the same from other music, starting from kiriboto. Why has no one created a new music from fuji instead of singing same old fuji?
He went further: ”That is what has been causing the controversy in the fuji music industry. Kuti started awurebe while Epo Akara modernised it. People have forgotten that Kuti was the creator but they gave Epo Akara the credit.
“The late Ayinde Barrister was an Ibadan man who lived in Ibadan and Lagos at the time of all the creations. In Lagos, part of were music was adapted to sakara music. Because he was familiar with awurebe in Ibadan and sakara in Lagos, Barrister then thought of a way to modernise awurebe and sakara. It was from there that he created fuji music.
“Barrister is the progenitor of fuji music. After he started fuji music, Lagos and Yoruba people accepted it and it became the most popular music.
“Wasiu Ayinde (Ultimate) tried to do the same by introducing classical system into it but people still prefer to call his music fuji. He even tried to call it Talazo but people called it Talazo fuji, meaning that whatever name you give it, it remains fuji music.
“My music is Saridon P fuji, Alabi Pasuma calls his own Pasuma fuji, Shina Akanni calls his own Skopido fuji while Adewale Ayuba’s own is called Bubble fuji. Abass Akande Obesere says his own music is Omorapala fuji but we are all singing fuji music.
“Wasiu Ayinde (Ultimate) did a lot of alteration to fuji but the name has not changed. He modernised it in such a way that anyone can wake up and sing his own kind of fuji music but I brought back the original flavour of fuji music.
“Despite the fact that I am not using the old voice, I brought back the old content which includes moral messages. Fuji must preach moral and good messages. This is what is causing problems among fuji musicians,” he submitted.
