{"id":40938,"date":"2020-02-17T18:04:19","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T17:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/dr-victor-olaiya-the-man-the-music-the-maestro\/"},"modified":"2020-05-16T14:11:30","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T13:11:30","slug":"dr-victor-olaiya-dead-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/dr-victor-olaiya-dead-89\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Victor Olaiya: the man, the music, the maestro"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4 class=\"pam-featured-content\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-37033 pam-featured-content\"  src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/5b00a136-dr-victor-olaiya-.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"840\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/5b00a136-dr-victor-olaiya-.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/5b00a136-dr-victor-olaiya--759x531.jpg 759w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/5b00a136-dr-victor-olaiya--1010x707.jpg 1010w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/5b00a136-dr-victor-olaiya--661x463.jpg 661w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/5b00a136-dr-victor-olaiya--465x326.jpg 465w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/5b00a136-dr-victor-olaiya--375x263.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(min-width:1010px) 759px,100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/h4>\n<h4>It\u2019s been called the end of the golden age of highlife.<\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Announced on<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0February 12th 2020, Victor Abimbola Olaiya (OON) was confirmed to have passed on. He breathed his last breath within the walls of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Unsurprisingly, the demise of\u00a0the<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0musical icon has sent the nation into mourning,\u00a0despite his\u00a0advanced age of 89. Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria, spoke of Dr. Olaiya:<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cHis place in history is guaranteed. He sang, not just for the entertainment value, but also taught critical lessons on life, good neighbourliness, and national cohesion. He will be sorely missed.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To understand Victor Olaiya\u2019s immense contribution to the highlife genre, one must go back to 1954, when he formed the Cool Cats band with Fela Ransome-Kuti and Tony Allen as on and off members. Before then Olaiya had been playing with some other bands, notably Bobby Benson\u2019s Jam Session Orchestra.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Cool Cats, which drew upon\u00a0the pristine highlife sounds Victor Olaiya had picked up on the road, achieved massive success. Queen Elizabeth, who visited Nigeria in 1956 was serenaded by the glorious horns and drums of the highlife band. Their success never ceased: on the national front, the band played at the state balls held in the honor of Nigeria\u2019s independence in 1960 and three years later, when Nigeria became a republic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This recognition from the higher political echelon of the day is, of course, a nod to highlife\u2019s placement as a genre that spoke to the possibilities of\u00a0young Nigeria. Lyrics were often didactic and full of the wisdom of African elders. Its sound was electrifying, grand, and danceable. The 50s, 60s, and years after saw highlife acts dominate the African music scene. Artistes like ET Mensah, Prince Nico Mbarga, Rex Lawson, and Victor Olaiya himself were all\u00a0extremely popular in Africa.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><\/span><br \/>\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-f76TcKv3Dg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br style=\"clear: both;\" \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among his contemporaries, Victor Olaiya was noted as a dedicated artist. He picked up instruments with the curiosity of a\u00a0child\u00a0\u00a0using\u00a0the patience and skill of the ideal student, learned its intricacies to mastery. This dedication goes way back to his young years. Following the trope of the\u00a0incessant creative, Victor Olaiya, rather than train as a Civil Engineer in Howard University opted for music. Of course, it didn\u2019t sit well with his elite parents (Alfred Omolona Olaiya and Bathsheba Owolabi Motajo) who would have wanted young Victor\u00a0to join the\u00a0corporate world which offered a better chance at\u00a0the good life. But Olaiya\u00a0kept on. He learned to play the Bombardon and the French Horn in his early life and with this continued dedication, learned to shape his highlife sound that is joyous and physically demanding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While disclosing how he got the nickname, \u2018evil genius,\u2019 Victor Olaiya in an interview with The Guardian said that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201chighlife music is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration. I am called an evil genius because I make my fans sweat through dancing while enjoying my music. To make a difference in the music, you need to sweat.\u201d<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> He\u2019s harnessed this value in making his timeless highlife music.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One such song, \u201cBaby Jowo,\u201d was quite the affair. A classic love tale, it had listeners in awe decades after its release. In 2013 Victor Olaiya had 2Baba, a contemporary afro-pop master, on the song. As expected, the song was a toast\u00a0for\u00a0the younger generation and a raised fist for Olaiya, saying &#8220;yes, I\u2019m still here&#8221;. In 2017, Victor Olaiya, who kept playing weekly at his hotel (Stadium Hotel) in Surulere, Lagos,\u00a0 announced his retirement. Even then, his manager Gbenga Adewusi said the only reason he wasn\u2019t 100% with the music was due to failing health. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Members of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) were left mourning. Reacting to the news of the passage of the great highlife superstar, singer and trumpeter, COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji, said, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cthis passing of Olaiya is like the fall of a big Iroko and the end of an era. Olaiya was in every way one of Nigeria\u2019s greatest musicians of all times who held on to his art decade after decade after decade.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHis influence on Nigerian music and musicians is immeasurable. His impact on entertainment in the country is unequaled. Yes, there will be other musicians over time, but there will not be another Victor Olaiya. Fare thee well great maestro.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Dr. Victor Olaiya departs, he leaves behind his many wives, his children,\u00a0 and grandchildren.<br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OXVHAZi8mTU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been called the end of the golden age of highlife. Announced on\u00a0February 12th 2020, Victor Abimbola Olaiya (OON) was confirmed to have passed on. He breathed his last breath within the walls of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":37033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11036,7833],"tags":[5431],"location":[8172],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40938"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=40938"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=40938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}