Music icon,
Late Victor Olaiya who died on Februrary 12, 2020 has finally been laid to rest
today 7th of May at the Vaults & Garden Cemetery, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The legend
died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos after suffering
from a brief illness.
Victor Olaiya
was born on 31 December 1930 in Calabar Cross River State, 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, Ilọijọs Bar, stood at 2 Bamgbose Street, Lagos Island, until it
was demolished in September 2016.
His musical
style was influenced by James Brown, with horn parts harmonised in Brown’s
style, as opposed to the mostly unison lines of Afrobeat. The music includes
the swinging percussion of Tony Allen, but not the syncopated style that Allen
later pioneered. 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment