The Beginning of Exposure

I did say it would not be another two months, didn't I? Never mind that it came close by inches. I promise to repent.

So, I had become a member of the choir of the LASUCF choir for a while, enjoying the opportunity to 'do' music at all. Then came this week that the choir was preparing for a Friday night programme and Rotimi Mosaku, the keyboardist, was not going to be there - he had church arrangements back at home for which he traveled every weekend. Word got to the Choir Director that I could accompany the choir and so I was called up. Lo and behold, I became the fellowship's second keyboardist that weekend. With that came new responsibilities too - it was more important for me now to be at every service, especially if Rotimi was not going to be there. When he was, I still managed to join the choir, only for a short while longer though.

One of my defining (or shaping) moments in those early days came from the experience I had when I went with a few friends from school to attend a service at Pastor Paul Adefarasin's House On The Rock on a Sunday the church choir was going to hold a concert. It was the first time I would hear about the church or its choir, and I was bought over in that one service - the praise/worship session, the choir song, the Word, the excellence exuded in every activity was very appealing to me. The concert did not take place till evening, but it was a classy event and it was an exhibition of a quality of contemporary music that I had not seen performed live before. However, I still felt there could have been more - by the time the evening had come to end, I sat there thinking, "there should have been more!"

After that 'outing', I started to collect tapes of prolific christian musicians, (mostly foreigners) with Seun Dawodu's help. I also started getting the opportunity of rehearsing with the fellowship's Yamaha PSR-630 electronic keyboard. And now, I had become a 'keyboardist' as well as an organist.

9/11 Decade

How could I post something today and not mention 9/11?!

It has been ten whole years since that terror came knocking on our windows courtesy of a few wicked and Godless men (I guess I should reverse the order of those adjectives). And till date, many families, and even nations, are still struggling to move beyond that point...

I really do not want to say too much...

May God teach us to love like He does, and be able to look beyond ours and others' differences and depravities. Amen.

Warming Up to Epe

It has been a whole of two months since my last post. Wow! Blogging is by no means a mean fit, I see. Kudos to the folks who are able to do it in combination with other tasks in their lives.


Back to my blog!

I got admission to the pre-degree class of the legendary (some would consider this legend dubious though) Lagos State University (LASU) and for reasons that are not easily explainable, resumed three weeks late. Consequently, I missed the school's orientation programme and had to be inducted courtesy of the great friends I first met in the pre-degree class.

Of the things I was told about the Epe campus of LASU, one of the items that triggered my fancy is the bit about the many Christian fellowships that were present on campus. I took my time to make a choice, and of course, the music would play a phat role in determining my final choice. Back home in Abeokuta, folks would have concluded that the Anglican Students' Fellowship would be my automatic choice. For some reason, I did not even consider it. However, I had given thought to playing the organ at the Anglican church in Epe town, but at this time, the idea has ceased to be attractive.

After taking some more time to weigh my options, I joined the choir of LASU Christian Fellowship (LASUCF). I suppose having Mr. Oluwatoyin Ayedun for company in joining the choir helped me reach the decision fast enough. We were admitted into the choir and I sang "tenor" for a few weeks.

A quick interlude: As a result of the situation of electricity in Nigeria (which has sadly prevailed till now, with no hope in particular anywhere in sight), most people carried around something we called a "rechargeable lamp" at that time. I had one of my own, and i had carefully picked it - it had a torch, a reading lamp, some very mild kind of flood lights and a cassette player. You only needed to charge the battery of this device for a few hours and it could serve you for the same period of charge, or longer. My favourite part, of course, was the cassette player since I was growing a handsome collection of tapes for myself, anyway; I only needed to allow enough power on the battery to light the torch at the time of need.

I had this rechargeable lamp playing music while I sang along in the bathroom one day, and that is all I needed to attract the attention of a young man who has now been my friend for over ten years - Mr Oluwaseun Akinola Dawodu. I do not have that rechargeable device anymore, but I am grateful for the friendships that came by it.

This story would continue soon... and I promise it would not be another two-month break!

After the Beginning

Hey there! In my last post, I tried to take you through the story of my introduction to music (my earliest memories, at least). Let's continue from there.

So, I had become the stand-in assistant organist of Christ Anglican Church, Iporo-Ake, and that, by anything but formal appointment. When the organist (Mr. Funso Oso)  arrived from sick leave, he merely took the back seat and took on the role of my church-music tutor. Thus began my walk through the classical musical circles of Abeokuta.

Interestingly, a new Principal (Mr. Funso Ogun) had been appointed for my school - the great Abeokuta Grammar School (Abeograms) - and he indicated his interest in reviving strength of the musical theme "Abeograms" was known for. To make this happen, he re-introduced the use of a musical instrument for the accompaniment of music at the daily assembly. The easiest instrument to convey from the music room to the assembly ground happened to be the harmonium* (as the only alternative to the upright pianos which would also have served the purpose *wink*). Did I forget to mention that I was privileged to be called upon to function in the role of school pianist alongside the great talent of Temiloluwa Sobowale? Between us, we had the task of transporting the harmonium to and from the assembly grounds, and work at the pedals while also working at the keyboard. It was a task alright, but one that we enjoyed. It was not long, however, before the school purchased a Yamaha PSR-77 keyboard (helping us to effectively dump the harmonium for good!) along with an Ahuja amplifier and speakers. By this time, we had a three-man team of pianists which now included Adewunmi Dawodu, an old friend of mine who had crossed over from a different school. Our assembly music thus became digital, and definitely funkier!

The school's music teachers had also began the work of rebuilding the school choir. As the school's official pianists, we had the privilege of working with them on this. We also went to a couple of school choir competitions (and we did not perform badly at all). That choir also performed along with the prestigious choir of Cathedral Church of St. Peter, Ake at the school's Founders' day anniversary thanksgiving service on about two occasions.

At about the same time the choir at Abeokuta Grammar School was put together, the Diocesan Organist of the Anglican church of Egba (Dr. M. A. O. Kuti) along with other big weights of classical music in Abeokuta at the time were putting a team together to form Egba Musical Society. I had the privilege of performing at a minimum of four (4) concerts put together by this group. And the older organists gave a lot of encouragement to us the young chaps, comprising Bolaji Omotayo, Temilolu Sobowale (again!) and me. Those beautiful years and opportunities helped ground me (to large extents) in classical music.

And then, I had to go to the university!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion. The air is usually supplied by bellows operated by foot, hand, or knees (Source: Wikipedia). Ours was "leg-operated.

In the Beginning . . .

Let's quickly catch-up on what has happened so far:

My late father introduced me to classical music at a tender age, out of a desire to create a culture of (good) music in the environment his children grew in. I took the introductory part (I am not sure I had a choice; I don't even remember being asked if I was interested) and 'bailed' when the unanticipated disciplinary measures came for failing to practice. I snuck back to the piano out of genuine interest a few years later. This time, my father decided to let me be and learn at my own pace. Soon after, I joined the church choir and sang treble with 'head voice'. I thoroughly enjoyed choir practices, and considered myself a young leader in my part. Hmmnn!!!!

A few months after I got the opportunity to dress up in choir robes and be a regular part of the service processions, the Organist and Choir-master took ill and was admitted to hospital for a period of time. A void was then created as he had no assistants. Interestingly, no one other than my father was 'worthy' to take up the challenge [the result of a dearth of music knowledge in the community]. I, on the other hand, came to evening services which my father had stopped attending at the time. It took a while, but I finally mustered courage [amidst lots of encouragement] to get on the organ and accompany the singing. When word got to my father, he was furious [I later learnt that his anger was out of fear that I would damage the instrument and he would have to cough money out for its repairs], but only for a while; he turned out to be my greatest fan and critic, just as I 'graduated' to major services.

(to be continued)