In the year 2012, when Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey clocked 70 years on earth, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall K1 was on the band stand at the music night to commemorate the event; supported by many other musician on the day though, he was the main act.
Curiously, for the first 30 minutes or so on stage, K1 kept singing that he was not at the event in his own capacity. He insisted he was there to stand in for his mentor and father, the late Dr. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister who, had he not passed was the ‘owner of the occasion’.
This same sentiment was repeated 10 years after in the year 2022, when Baba Obey again turned 80. K1 was again on the bandstand.
In the same vain, when K1 was honoured with the national award as MON, his widely publicized letter of acceptance dedicated the award to ‘my father and mentor, Dr. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister MFR’.
Imagine K1 that you and me know to be that reverent!
Papa; Abass Akande Obesere spared no effort in inheriting the Agba-Akin title of Ayinde Barrister in the same manner that K1 also took on the Barrister ‘s Bobagunwa title at Idimu, Lagos.
Big deal? Really? Don’t they say imitation is the purest form of flattery?
Recently, a staircase in a newly built mosque was symbolically dedicated to and commissioned in the name of Otunba Wasiu Alabi Pasuma. Pasuma wasted no time in dedicating the occasion to ‘the late founder of the profession that has given me so much; Dr. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister MFR’.
How many awards, how many events and commemorative occasions and how many landmark successes of the lot of Fuji musicians are dedicated to the memory and greatness of Dr. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister MFR even decades after he had passed.
How many ‘squabbles’ and rounds of in-fighting amongst Fujicians were/are still as a result of the slightest perceived infringements on the name and legacy of SAB?
Barrister ‘s currency has waxed stronger and stronger every passing year since his demise. And that is not yet talking about the fact that he is still by far the highest selling late Nigerian artiste.
It would seem Barrister is billed to live forever!
How? Why?
First off; Barrister ‘got his lane right’ and that very early in life. He started singing at age 10 and went professional at 18 after enough time of ‘learning the ropes’. He went as far as resigning him military commission for his beloved music career.
In his 1975 LP titled ‘Bisimillahi’, Barrister sang inter alia; ‘eyin le ni kin ma r’oko, e si tun ni kin ma ye’na rara; nje kinni kin ma se tin o fi ri iyonu omo araye o? Iya mi e lorin ni kin ma ko, gbogbo oun ti mo ba npe ama je mi o…Yes, Barrister got it right. Right early. That was the clincher and he didn’t deviate till he breathed his last!
Secondly, Barrister went a step further by creating his own brand of music. How? Dare-devilry? Necessity?
Wouldnt it have been easier for him to just grab an existing style/genre and run with it? Like lesser humans would? The musicians of those days don’t take kindly to competition. You either swim on your own or sink. Even at that, borrowing somebody else’s style was mediocrity, even though easier. That was Ayinde Barrister’s thought.
Rather Barrister took the ‘longer and the harder path’, he combined all of the existing styles/genre-Juju, Sakara, Apala, Highlife-that way, nobody can claim propriety. He then reinvented the combo by infusing it with his own 10% originality.
The 10% originality incrementally subsume the initial combo to the point of ratio 80 to 20 and yes; there we have the most popular indigenous genre of music out of Africa! For the next few years, Ayinde Barrister was the lone voice marketing and marshalling the new brand. Until…
Thirdly, Barrister created and recruited his own rivals and competition. That was the masterstroke! While music leaders of his time where shielding new entrants into their trade from coming in, Barrister was opening the door wide for them! He was training and carrying them under his wings.
He created competition and rivalry against himself. He assembled talents and gifted them Fuji. He gave them liberty to tweek and to tinker. He didn’t give them any tight formulary. That was and still is the edge Fuji has over Juju-especially.
He was both the fertilizer as well as ‘Alaso alari igan kan’ from whom anyone who wanted cut; fila, buba, sokoto, dansiki, agbada etc., He was the ‘alaso alari to s’oriire. ‘B’eeyan ba nsere Fuji to ba fi ni laari; isiri min ni Ayinde Commander omo Agbajelola, iwaju l’ero nb’ero’, so he declared in his Fuji Vibration LP of 1985.
Barrister further likened himself to a bull in one of his records. ‘Ninu gbogbo eran t’Olohun da o, Maaalu lo ugly ju, sugbon eran Maaalu l’o l’Alubarika ju ninu gbogbo eranko.
In the same LP, Barrister insisted that his comrade fujicians don’t have to eulogise him to prosper in the craft. They were at liberty to musically abuse him as well. The two paths lead equally to unprecedented success!
…B’eyan ba ki mi a fi la, ara’le mon’le afi ko’le mon le; a fink’omo’se re’lu Oba, yi o fi l’okiki jaburata-agaaga, b’eyan ba bu mi a fi la, ara’le mon’le afi ko’le mon le; a fink’omo’se re’lu Oba, yi o fi l’okiki jaburata…Barrister went as far as opening himself up for verbal attacks from his flanks! He was that accommodating, he was that big on his brand.
How do you beat that?!
Next, Barrister cultivated his audience. He was approachable. He was a superstar with a difference. He played for free. He attended events gratis. He served generations of fans not thinking about the accruable ‘filthy lucre’. He was the class act but he didn’t snub. He was like none. He was OUR BARRISTER…
Soon enough Barrister became a crusader, a social and public intellectual and the conscience of the nation. It is only predictable that over the coming generations, the Barrister brand is bound to continue in glory and popularity.
He prayed for it, ‘okiki ti o ni parun lawa nfe; iru t’Anobi Muhammadu.
He worked for it.
He gave his best.
He gave his all.
He made his own memorial.
Ayinde Barrister will never die!
He will not.
*Dr. Kayode Adejumo-Bello,*
Professional Biographer and Memoirist.
