Anjola Aboderin has
been a musician and Electronics Engineer for over four decades. He
devised how to successfully combine both as a primary school pupil in
the 1960s.
“I started to play
music with my brothers and during that period, we realised that
Electronics was the basis of music. We tried to make our own equipment
because it was too expensive to buy.Before I knew it,I had developed a
keen interest in Electronics; almost higher than the interest I had in
music. Electronics would never have come in if music wasn’t there in
the first place,” he explains.
Aboderin eventually
studied Electronics Engineering via correspondence with tutorial
schools in England, obtaining his first diploma in Practical
Electronics well before he completed secondary school.
The artist’s
interest in the two fields further received a boost with his membership
of ‘The Busters’, a band formed by his two older brothers. TV producer,
Laolu Ogunniyi, Niyi Adenuga and Emman Edem amongst others, were also
members of the band which featured regularly on musical programmes on
the Western Nigeria Television (WNTV), Ibadan. Aboderin, who went into
Electronics with his immediate senior brother, Akin, recalls. “We were
always experimenting and making things like loud speakers, amplifiers,
guitars, radio receivers and transmitters successfully. That greatly
impressed my father and he encouraged us.”
The producer
Though he didn’t
know it at the time, his early preparations would later help his music
career. “A lot of promising musicians fail because of lack of
equipment, encouragement and infrastructure. We were lucky because we
could make some of these things ourselves and that gave us an edge over
a lot of others. Today, I still design and construct a lot of
electronic gadgets for music and industry. I help custom design and
construct recording studios with affordable local components, sound
systems for church bands, musicians, night clubs and so on. I enjoy
helping the less privileged get up on their feet where music and ‘high
tech’ electronics are involved,” he says.
Apart from helping
out in the design of clubs including Wichitis in the London West End,
KS and Safari night clubs in Ibadan and recording studios including
Iyanda Studios in Ibadan; Phonodisk in Ijebu Igbo and Saanu Olu Studios
in Ijebu Ode, Aboderin was also a music producer.
“My interest and
abilities in Electronics came in very handy right from the late 60s.
With my Electronics and ability to play the piano and the organ, I was
able to handle complex music synthesisers easily. At that time we had
analogue synthesisers which required a lot of programming. It was very
complex; you had to know some Electronics as well as music to
understand the programming. For a very long time, the ‘MOOG’
synthesiser as it is known was not usable by everybody; I was one of
the very few musicians at that time that could operate that equipment
well. So, I started a part time job as a session musician with EMI
Studios, Lagos. I made weekly trips there to play the synthesiser into
usually already recorded music. Most of the time, I didn’t even get to
meet the musicians at all. I get there, listen to recording and work on
it. Eventually, I started getting involved in the production. I started
having to sit there, rearrange and rehearse music at the very early
stage of each work.”
He discloses that
working with Odion Iruoje, then executive producer at EMI was a unique
experience. “He wasn’t a musician but he had a good set of ears. He
will identify a wrong note. He produced so many artistes of that time
and there was hardly any big artiste that appeared through EMI that
wasn’t produced by Odion Iruoje. I took care mainly of the younger
musicians, they needed the musical expertise to reach the level for
securing the recording contract and that was where he came in.” He also
worked with the Lijadu Sisters, Akeeb Kareem, Ofege, Tabernacle, Dr
Osofisan and Epiphanio Joseph.
Tunji Oyelana’s apprentice
The musician who
backed Highlife maestro, Tunji Oyelana early in the day explains how he
came about the role. “I started playing alongside with him at Mbari
Mbayo (later Kongi) Club, Adamasingba around 1968. It was a cultural
club that was run by the likes of Professor Wole Soyinka. I used to go
there to play with a band I had in secondary school, ‘Cadet Six’. It
was an offspring of the ‘Busters’. We went there often to jam alongside
Uncle Tunji’s band ‘The Freshmen’ (later ‘The Benders’) I also used to
be featured on stage with Uncle Tunji himself.
“I played guitar,
organ; I could play all the instruments available anyway. After a
while, I became a permanent member of Uncle Tunji’s band. Not too long
after that, because band boys were always drifting away, I had to start
recruiting musicians from my own personal musical groups into Uncle
Tunji’s band. Eventually, I became the acting leader of the band too,
practically taking over the affairs of the band from Uncle Tunji. All
he had to do was come in and sing. A responsibility I still carry till
today. If Uncle Tunji has to do any programme today in Nigeria and
abroad, especially if it requires a full musical band, I rehearse the
band as the leader… just bring Uncle Tunji in and we are performing.”
Multi instrumentalist
Not many people
know that Aboderin plays other instruments apart from the saxophone and
that he is not just limited to Highlife music. “In 1966, when I tried
to form my own primary school boy’s band, I had to train everybody. But
first, I had to teach them to play various instruments so I found
myself first mastering practically all those instruments. I started
with the guitar and organ, moved on to piano. Soon after, bass guitar
and trumpet, alto saxophone. Then briefly while I was in England,
violin. At that time I was playing pop music, Beatles’ type of pop
music. When I came back from England in the mid 1970s, I took up all
the other saxophones in that instrument family,of course drum sets too.
Occasionally, I sang when there was nobody else to do it. I don’t think
there is any form of music that has been popular since 1963 that I have
not been involved with. It’s just generally music that I do, not some
particular type of music.” Though he has a Jazz band, Aboderin does not
have any album.
“We have recorded
quite a number of albums but they are not out commercially. They are
for private distribution within musicians as research materials and to
our fans. Our real interest is the development of artistes and music.
It’s more an academic thing, and not yet a commercial thing that we are
doing.”
Like father, like daughter
One of Aboderin’s
aspirations after succeeding at building electronic equipments for his
band and other bands was to design and build a recording studio from
locally available electronics and building components. He realised the
dream years ago with the establishment of a state of the art studio, an
arm of his Square Waves Limited in his Oke Ado, Ibadan, home.
Some parents wouldn’t want their children to take after them but
this is not the case with the old student of Ibadan Grammar School. His
daughter, Folasade, known as Shady Blue has taken after him. “I was
encouraged by my father and mother. When I discovered that my children
were interested in music; from the oldest to the youngest, I felt so
happy that I am opportuned to help my children just as I have been
encouraging others. She is a singer; she has her own band in England.”
Having noticed an old car in good condition in the premises when I
arrived, I could not but ask what the musician is doing with it. “All
my cars are maintained by me. I have a flair for Mechanical
Engineering. That jeep that you saw out there, it’s a 1969 ‘Mini Moke’
that I’ve had for about 30 years. It’s one of the so many antique cars
that I resuscitate and maintain. It still runs very well. The one you
saw outside the house is a 1968 Morris Mini, it still runs well too.”
