Ebenezer Obey Turns 74 Today!..
Ebenezer Obey (born 3
April 1942 as Ebenezer Remilekun Aremu Olasupo Obey-Fabiyi in Idogo,
Nigeria), nicknamed the "Chief Commander", is a Nigerian jùjú musician.
He
began his professional career in the mid-1950s after moving to Lagos.
After tutelage under Fatai Rolling-Dollar's band, he formed a band
called The International Brothers in 1964, playing highlife–jùjú fusion.
The band later metamorphosed into Inter-Reformers in the early-1970s,
with a long list of Juju album hits on the West African Decca musical
label.
Obey began experimenting with Yoruba percussion style and
expanding on the band by adding more drum kits, guitars and talking
drums. Obey's musical strengths lie in weaving intricate Yoruba axioms
into dance-floor compositions. As is characteristic of Nigerian Yoruba
social-circle music, the Inter-Reformers band excel in praise-singing
for rich Nigerian socialites and business tycoons. Obey, however, is
also renowned for Christian spiritual themes in his music and has since
the early-1990s retired into Nigerian gospel music ministry.
0 comments: