Grandson reawakens Baba l’Egba’s sakara music, launches new album

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NIGERIA: THIRTY-SEVEN years after the late famous Sakara musician, Alhaji Yusuf Olatunji, often called Baba l’Egba, died, his grandson has reawakened his brand of music, particularly for his grandfather’s teeming lovers.

Abideen Yusuf-Olatunji, who said he was fully prepared to step into his granddad’s shoes, on Sunday, launched his maiden album at Alake’s Palace, Abeokuta where hundreds of Sakara music lovers across the South Western part of Nigeria graced the occasion.

The album, entitled Oke Agba Nfe Suru, has tracks which celebrated former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo and his fellow traditional rulers across the country.

Abideen, who in the album stressed on the need for unity in the country and among all fans of his late grandfather, also sang on the Boko Haram crisis, social vices and democracy.
The musician, who is using his elder father’s violin, the trademark of the deceased, is being packaged by Fatilah Global Entertainment, while the record was released under Audiomila Studio’s label.

The Chairman of Yusuf Olatunji Foundation, Aare Lekan Alabi, in his welcome address, said that the discovery of Abideen was a great effort that would continue to put the name of the family on the music world map.

The 65-year-old Alabi, who disclosed that it was the late Baba l’Egba that entertained guests at his naming ceremony, said that his love for the style of Sakara music of the deceased prompted him to stand by his grandson.
Alabi said that Olatunji’s brand of Sakara remains evergreen, which was full of education, moral teachings and entertainment, adding that the deceased produced over 300 albums before his demise.
A highly elated Abideen explained that he resuscitated his grandfather’s Sakara after he listened to the music and embraced it.

According to him, it was with joy that he inherited the Goje, which was the vital musical instrument of the late Olatunji, with a promise that with his foray into the traditional music he would be among the top musicians in Nigeria and beyond.

• Story by Omoh Judith