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It’s about a week
to saxophonist Eji Oyewole’s 70th birthday and he believes he has cause
to be thankful. “God has been very kind to me,” notes the soft-spoken
artist who has been entertaining for over 40 years and who has
performed across three continents.

“The journey so far
has been good and bad but that is life for you,” he adds. The good
aspect of the journey for Oyewole is seeing people enjoy his music
while the bad is “the unpleasantness that goes with the way music is
handled in this country.” Specifically, the unpleasantness is the lack
of professionalism and opportunism prevalent in the industry. “The
music industry is down and it is so bad it gives room for just anybody
to say I run a record company. And it is a way of exploitation.

They
use that to exploit unsuspecting artists, the younger ones who are
desperate to be in the limelight.” Like many musicians, Oyewole took up
music early in primary school. What however did it for him was
listening to musicians from across the world. “I must say that I grew
up fast in music awareness. I knew a lot of things people of my age
probably did not know at that time.” Listening to Highlife music from
Ghana, particularly E.T. Mensah, the Ramblers, Star Gazers and the
Uhuru further reinforced his interest. “I think E.T Mensah was actually
one of the musicians who opened my ears.

Then we had at that time Juju
musicians including Irewolede Denge. Though I was small at that time, I
was able to appreciate them and their very beautiful, intelligent and
philosophical songs.” Though he had started playing music
professionally before completing secondary school, the man, friends
call ‘Saxophone legend’ began fully after he was done schooling.

He
played with Adeolu Akinsanya; Eddy Okonta in Ibadan; Bobby Benson at
Caban Bamboo Night Club in Lagos and with Afrobeat legend, Fela
Anikulapo Kuti. “When Fela came back we were together jamming in clubs
and doing some radio programmes together. But I couldn’t join when he
was forming (Koola) Lobitos because then I was with Bobby and he would
not let me go,” he recalls.

Globetrotter

Apart from his job
as a journalist, the late Olabisi Ajala was renowned for his
globetrotting, which inspired a famous song by Ebenezer Obey. Till
date, the Yorubas refer to a person who travels a lot as Ajala. But
Ajala may actually not be as widely travelled as Oyewole, who embarked
on a tour of West Africa after leaving Akinsanya’s band in the 1960s.
The tour later transformed into an adventure around the world.

Cotonou, Benin
Republic was his first port of call. He stayed with some musicians who
kept him in the Francophone country for about a year before returning
to Nigeria. It wasn’t long before the travel bug bit him again. He
headed to Togo this time around and met the Black Santiago, a touring
Highlife band from Ghana. Fast becoming a roving minstrel, Oyewole
allowed himself to be persuaded by the bandleader to follow them to
Ghana where he met other Highlife musicians.

Oyewole wasn’t done
yet. He left Ghana for Abidjan, Cote d’ Ivoire to play in cabarets
before joining President Felix Houphouet-Boigny’s presidential band. “I
was with his band but I left and returned to cabarets because I was
preparing to go to France. I didn’t know whether to go to France, US or
Britain at the time, I did not make up my mind. But some French people
who saw me on a tour asked me to come down to France,” Oyewole
discloses.

He first stayed in
Lyon before moving to Paris where he played with some pop groups. He
met Johnny Halliday, who he describes as “the French version of Elvis
Presley” in Paris before moving to Geneva, Switzerland and later
Hamburg, Germany.

Oyewole sought to
improve himself in Hamburg by registering in the Music Department of
the city’s university. “I was there playing in between studying,” he
says, adding that “I moved to West Berlin where I was studying and
playing. Some Americans saw me there because I was playing in some
night clubs. I would leave the school to go and make some money.

The
Americans told me,‘‘We have a Jazz club, why don’t you come?’ That was
how I got to know of the Jazz Gallery band. Its leader was Billy
Brooks, very beautiful Jazz drummer. It was there that I met a lot of
great American musicians. Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davies, they all came
there. In 1971 I was able to play at the Berlin Jazz Festival.” The
saxophonist eventually joined the Gasoline Band formed by the group,
before doing a stint in New York and later London.

Oyewole studied
Music at Trinity College, London, but still couldn’t refrain from
playing. He eventually abandoned his studies to focus on playing music,
just like he did at Hamburg later.

Mellow sound

Over time,
Oyewole, who started out as a saxophonist, later switched to the flute.
“I love the flute because its sound is very mellow, you can play it
anywhere. It is very portable. That’s why I like the flute. It’s more
or less my companion. I hardly go anywhere without it,” he discloses.

Explaining the type
of music he plays, Oyewole says, “I am an all rounder. Starting with
Highlife and graduating to Oriental music, Continental, Ballroom music,
Cabarets, laying Foxtrot and Tango. I play any kind of music now. I can
fit in into any kind of music but basically I can call myself Afro Jazz
musician. I play anything that has traces of Africa in it. Basically,
I’m a Jazz artist.” Charity begins at home

Having played with
different bands over the years, it is not surprising that Oyewole has
only six solo albums. He reveals how the first, titled ‘Charity Begins
at Home’, came about. “I came back for FESTAC 77 several years after my
sojourn; I represented the UK Black along with the Osibisa Band. During
that time, I recorded an album for EMI. I had signed the contract in
London where I could have recorded it but I decided to come back to
Nigeria to add Nigeria’s flavour.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the EMI
people did not do the right thing to release the album. It almost got
unreleased because of the politics at EMI at the time. Later, they
released reluctantly it but it wasn’t given the promotion it deserved.”
After FESTAC 77, Oyewole returned to England to join Island Records. He
recorded albums with a number of artists including Bob Marley and
played on the Reggae legend’s track, ‘Buffalo Soldier’. After several
years abroad, Oyewole returned to Nigeria finally in 1983 but still
travelled occasionally. It’s only in the last five years that he has
not left Nigeria’s shores.

Since one doesn’t celebrate 70 years twice, Oyewole, leader of the
Afro Bars Band has decided to mark the occasion on February 19 with a
concert at Bogobiri, Ikoyi, Lagos. “The reason I want to celebrate is
to appreciate God, the Father for keeping me till date and for giving
me the energy to play the saxophone. The saxophone is to praise Him ,
glorify Him and make people happy’’.