It wasn’t a chance meeting but rather a diligent search for the man interviewed over a decade ago. Pa Adio Abayomi Isiaka (Pa Easy) now is in his 80s but still agile with sharp memories of the past. In three different chats within a week with TAYO ADELAJA, Pa Easy spoke about the origin of the popular music genre, Afrobeats.
Seated in his Command Area of Ipaja, Lagos home, Pa Adio Abayomi Isiaka (Pa Easy) may cut the figure of an octogenarian which he truly is but his ability to recall the past effortlessly is remarkable. To this reporter`s delight, and reclining on a wide sofa, he regaled the writer of past events, particularly in the 1950s through late 1960s.
Intermittently during the chats, he played musical instruments or past records with his mouth. His advanced age notwithstanding, Pa Easy still plays Conga during church services at the Celestial Church of Christ, Irawo Iyanu (Amazing Star) Parish, Meiran, Lagos where the reporter witnessed his dexterity laced with much energy and vigour on the drums during the church`s adult festival.
About the originality of Afrobeats, Isiaka Adio said: “I learnt that Tony Allen claimed that he created Afrobeat with Fela. He told the children of Fela the same story but I told the children to let the media come so that we can narrate the formation of Afrobeats.
“I can tell you authoritatiely that OJ (Orlando Julius Ekemode) is the creator and pioneer of Afrobeats while Fela popularised it. It is simple, let anyone that knows the history come out with the facts. It is a lie that Fela created Afrobeats!
“Even OJ in his days did not remember that history then, I reminded him.”
Easy, as he is also known, is a nickname given to him by the weird one himself, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. When asked about the origin of the music genre that has taken the world by a storm, he took a long pause, gazed steadily at the writer and began: “Let me explain the story behind Afrobeats. When I joined Fela and Koola Lobitos, what we played was Jazz Highlife. It was not Afrobeats. When the band which I was playing for then was formed, it was headed by Orlando Julius (OJ). It was the second band of IK Dairo. OJ was IK Dairo’s brother, both of them were Ekemode.
“Due to so many engagements, I K Dairo formed a second band which included me, Eddie Fayehun, Ojo Ikeji and some others. We later joined Fela to form Fela and the Koola Lobitos. Whenever IK Dairo had more than one engagement, he would start with our band for some time, then stop and move to the other one while we would take over and continue with the show.
“OJ could play talking drums, trumpet, sax, accordion and could also sing very well. He would also sing exactly like his brother, IK Dairo, so you won’t even miss IK Dairo at all.”
Then, the OJ band played every sort of music, he said of the band. Pa Easy continued: “At that time, there was no special or unique brand. It was a mixture of all African beats: highlife, Congo music, Zairians’ music, Salza and so many others to the delight of our fans. That was the genesis of Afrobeats. I moved it then that we should brand our music as Afrobeats, that is African Beats. Yes, it was African Beats that we tweaked to Afrobeats. Our band was popular in Ibadan and known as IK Dairo Globetrotters. We played all African music with great dexterity and that was early 60s. Some of the band members were Jimi Solanke, Eddie Fayehun, Robertson and Crosdale Juba who was a good trumpeter. His pitch was far better than Eddie Fayehun`s, even as good as Eddie Okonta was on the trumpet. Let me say that we reproduced many of the highlife musicians in our days. Most times, we played better than them as we were more creative with what they recorded. Then, there was no money in music and no incentive but passion. We rented a room where we all resided then in Ibadan where we spread mat and sleep. Except when you had some other place where you could hang out, maybe with your girlfriends. I then had a girlfriend, a Cameroonian, a beautiful, fair lady who worked at Independence Hotel in Mokola. Sometimes, she cooked for all of us. In those days, after taking our usual stuffs and drinks, we would mount the stage to perform at Independence Hotel at night. Once we were on stage, we would be in paradise because we were already high. To be candid, that was what we enjoyed then. There was not much money from music in those days. Whatever we made then, we always set aside a portion for IK Dairo as payment for the instruments bought for our band. Unfortunately, the band was not well managed by OJ, so IK disbanded the group and all of us went our different ways while I moved to Lagos in 1962. The band did not really last for long but we were popular in Ibadan. In Lagos, I moved with different bands playing from one hotel to another in Mushin and other parts of Lagos. Then, we played happily once feeding, weeds and drinks were taken care of, others didn’t really matter to us.
I once played with Western Hotel, Idioro, Mushin in 1960. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister was younger then. He was playing there. He was in Labinjo not too far from the hotel.
He continues: “Fela came back to Nigeria in 1963. I was introduced to Fela by Tony Allen and Ojo Ikeji. I usually played with both of them with different bands before we joined Fela. Koola Lobitos according to Fela was the name his band was using while he was in London. The band was at the formative stage till we launched out. It was called Fela and Koola Lobitos as you can see in the pictures. He was FRS- Fela Ransome Kuti, while the band boys were Koola Lobitos.
“What is Koola Lobitos?” The writer asked.
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“ Koola Lobitos was about d–k and pu–y,” he answered with a roar of laughter. “Fela told us that it was a joke between him and his friend who was the Music Director of the Navy, Bucknor. Fela would have been the Music Director of the Navy in Nigeria then, but he rejected the offer. Both of them were graduates of Music.
Pa Easy smiled as he swam in the memory of the past. He added: “It was when I joined Fela that I could say that I was a real musician because he was organised. We had time for practice. He also paid us weekly. Then, I was able to rent a place of my own, dress gorgeously and had more ladies to satisfy the yearning of the young lad. I also played with Zeal Onyia.
“I also recall that in Idioro area of Mushin then were so many other budding musicians like Ebenezer Obey, who was then with Fatai Rolling Dollars. He also played Conga. Most times when I was playing, he would stay beside me and watch me play. He used to call me, ‘Egbon Mi’. In those days, our pride was being run after by ladies, majority of whom were into prostitution and not even Nigerians. We had our fun and enjoyed it while it lasted.”
The writer though enjoying Pa Easy`s somewhat reverie into the past drew him back. He smiled apologetically and came back to the bone of the matter: the creation of Afrobeats.
“I am aware that there was argument that it was Fela and not OJ that created Afrobeats. It is a pity that Fela is dead.
“Anyone who is of that age will know that Fela started out as a Jazz player (He started playing Fela’s music with his mouth). He asked, “Is this Afrobeats or Jazz?”
“Tony Allen can confirm that when we started with Fela, we played Jazz highlife. (Again, he satrted playing the Jazz highlife with his mouth… singing, “Aya wa ni, laise, lairo, o gba mi niyawo, o fi mi satimole….” the instruments and songs are purely Jazz highlife. Radio presenters who were of that period will also confirm. I can say it confidently that Fela was not the creator of Afrobeats.
“Unfortunately, OJ was not popular with Afrobeats. It was Fela that made that genre popular because Fela knew music. He was a specialist in music. You can’t take that away from Fela. Even OJ at a time was copying Fela`s brand of music.
“Though OJ didn’t name his brand of music Afrobeats because then, we were not exposed. The same with Fela, he didn’t start out with Afrobeats neither did he name his band as Afrobeats. While I was playing for him, his band was not named Afrobeats, nor was he playing Afrobeats. Jazz highlife is different from Afrobeats.”
Pa Isiaka Adio added, “You can notice the difference, right? By the time Fela sang `Jeun Ko Ku`, I had left the band, Ojo Ikeji had left also. Allen and Animasaun were still with the band then. Fela didn’t switch to Afrobeats outright. He changed to Africa 70 before the change to Afrobeats which is now accepted worldwide.”
Asked when next he saw Fela after quitting the Koola Lobitos, Pa Easy Baba said, “I didn’t see him until he came to Akure to play in the early 70s. I told my friends that I once played with him but most of them didn’t believe me. He had become so popular. I was with my friends but the crowd was heavy as he was lifted shoulder high on his way to the Deji’s palace in Akure. I waved but he didn’t see me, so I went closer and gave him a tap at the back. He turned back with surprise and anger, when he saw me, and shouted, “Easy, Easy, Easy Baba!” He hugged me and asked me to meet him at the hotel.”
When asked why Fela would call him “Easy” when his birthname is Isiaka, the old musical warhorse said, “I often dream of him (Fela). I usually see myself and the band playing together in my dreams. He loved his band members passionately particularly those of us that started together and was fond of saying, “Easy, Easy, Easy….” which was to tell me to take it easy whenever I was playing the conga with so much excitement. Other times, he would just exclaim, “Easy Baba”. Fela liked me.
“Animasaun (Baba Ani) is still alive, you can confirm from him everything that I have told you. Benson Idonije was our manager and he knows that I know the history of Afrobeats very well. He was a presenter and knows about the history too. He and Fela also worked in NBC (Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation) in those days. There was a time some people came to see me from outside the country. They asked me so many questions about the history of Afrobeats, I also showed them the album of our early days in Koola Lobitos, they also copied the pictures from the album.
“We played at All Stars, Fela led the band, Rex Lawson failed to show up. Another event organised by Steve Rhodes at the Federal Palace Hotel between us and Rex Lawson was to show who was better between us and Rex Lawson, he didn’t show up. I can call Animashaun to confirm this. Rex was playing in Ebute Metta before Kakadu Hotel. At that hotel, Eric Onuoah was the one playing before Rex Lawson took over.
“What Fela played then was Jazz Highlife not Afrobeats.” Easy Baba insisted.
He stood up and made for the small centre table at the middle of his sparsely furnished sitting room. He picked up an envelope, flipped it open and brought out some photographs of their early days as Fela and the Koola Lobitos. With a heavy and sad voice, he said, “Where are those in this picture today? Fela is gone. Eddie Fayehun is no more. Ojo Ekeji is dead. Crosdale Juba too has passed on. That guitarist, a Lagosian known as Yinka Robert who also played with Victor Olaiya, he read music, I don’t even know if he is alive or dead.
“The All Stars Band was a mixture of different musicians and percussionists. It was a selection of who is who. After the All Stars Concert, I became a well-known face on television because before the programme “The Entertainer”, a picture of mine where I was playing the conga would be shown before the start of the programme.
“I left Koola Lobitos in 1968. It was after I left that they formed Africa 70. The trumpeter with us then was Eddie Fayehun. It was when Eddie left that Tunde took over. He later relocated to London. I left Tunde with Fela before I went to join the Nigerian Army with Ojo Ikeji the bass guitarist. Ojo Ikeji also played with OJ. When Fela died, some journalists interviewed me. I also told them this story but I am not sure it was published.
“The main focus then and after was Fela Anikulapo. Fela`s children also have that mindset that their father created Afrobeats. We actually started Afrobeats but it wasn’t popular. It was after we parted that Crosdale Juba waxed some records. Even his junior brother who was also a soldier was into music, Sunday Juba. Bobby Benson was one of the pioneers of Highlife music in Nigeria. Fatai Rolling Dollars and Adeolu Akinsanya played Agidigbo. Victor Olaiya was once a trumpeter for Bobby Benson. He started his musical career at Bobby Benson`s.
“I also taught some other notable congarists, for example Ade Conga. I wish he were alive to confirm this. Initially, he played for the masquerades (Elegun). He did not know about slapping when playing conga and he used to come and watch me back then.
When did he start professional music, the writer sought to know.
His answer: “I actually started playing music to fend for myself in 1959 after the death of my father in 1958. We had a band then in 1958 at Arigbajo, Ifo in Ogun State.
