Tunde King
Encyclopedia
Tunde King was a Nigeria
n musician, credited as the founder of Jùjú music
, who had great influence on Nigerian popular music.
Lagos
in the 1920s and 1930s was peopled by a mixture of local Yoruba people and returnees from the New World. Together they created a form of music named "Palm Wine" that combined Yoruba
folk music with musical idioms from countries such as Brazil and Cuba. Banjos, guitars, shakers and hand drums supported lilting songs about daily life.
Jùjú music was a form of Palm Wine music that originated in the Olowogbowo
area of Lagos
in the 1920s, in a motor mechanic workshop where "area boys" used to gather to drink and make music. Tunde King was the leader of this group.
on 24 August 1910. He was the son of Ibrahim Sanni King, a member of the minority Muslim
Saro community. His father was a chief Native Court clerk at Ilaro, and had lived for some time in Fourah Bay
, Sierra Leone
.
Tunde King attended a local Methodist primary school and the Eko Boy's High School. A schoolmate taught him to play guitar, and he became a leading member of a local group of "area boys" who hung out at a mechanic's shop on West Balogun Street. The group talked, drank beer and sang, accompanied by improvised instruments. By 1929, King had a clerical job and was also working part-time as a singer and guitarist with a trio including guitar
, samba and maracas
, later changing to tambourine
, guitar-banjo
. and sekere (shaker). By the mid-1930s he enjoyed considerable success, with several recordings and radio broadcasts, but he still relied on live performances to earn a living, often at private functions.
For example, King played at the wake of the prominent doctor Oguntola Sapara
in June 1935.
With the outbreak of World War II
in 1939, Tunde King joined the Merchant Marines. He returned to Lagos in 1941, then disappeared for the next eleven years. He was rediscovered playing in Francophone ports such as Conakry
and Dakar
, and returned to Lagos in 1954. He died in the 1980s.
store, which he gave to his Samba drummer. The drummer developed a flamboyant style that included throwing the tambourine into the air and catching it, which the audience called Jù-jú, duplicating the Yoruba word for "throw" with tonal accent.
His trio expanded into a quartet, with King on six-string guitar-banjo and vocals, Ishola Caxton Martins on sekere (gourde rattle), Ahmeed Lamidi George on tambourine and Sanya ("Snake") Johnson on tomtom and supporting vocals. The members of the band created an moderately-paced ensemble sound that backed up the guitar and vocals with simple harmonic progressions.
In the 1930s Nigeria was a British
colony. A Nigerian could go so far, but no further, in the government or in business, regardless of ability or qualifications. Tunde King expressed popular feelings in his songs. In "Oba Oyinbo", he celebrated the ascension of King George VI of Britain, saying with quiet irony "We Have a father ... King George is our father ... White man Cameron (the governor) is our father ..." In songs that were not recorded, he went further, expressing resentment more explicitly. The song "Soja Idunmota" describes a monument of a white soldier with a native carrier, whose head is hanging down, saying "Cruelly, they forget the common descent of man". In the song "Eti Joluwe" he said that was better for Yorubas to work for themselves than for the government.
of the EMI
group, starting in 1936, released on 78rpm shellac discs. Tundu King released a number of these recordings including "Eko Akete" and the classic "Oba Oyinbo" ("European King"). He was paid only a small amount to record each release, and earned a very small amount from royalties. However, the recordings were essential in establishing his reputation.
Other recordings include "Sapara ti sajule orun", "Dunia (Ameda)" and "Ojuola lojo agan". In all, he made over 30 records.
Two of his recordings, "Oba Oyinbo" and "Dunia" were included on an anthology CD Juju Roots: 1930s-1950s, released by Rounder Records
in January 1985.
, Tunde Nightingale
and Ojoge Daniel in the 1940s, players in the 1960s such as King Sunny Ade
and Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, who introduced electric guitars, 1970s stars such as General Prince Adekunle and continued to have great influence into the 1980s when stars such as Sir Shina Peters
and Segun Adewale
were playing modern forms of Jùjú.
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
n musician, credited as the founder of Jùjú music
Jùjú music
Jùjú is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name comes from a Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "throwing" or "something being thrown." Juju music did not derive its name from juju, which "is a form of magic and the use of magic objects or...
, who had great influence on Nigerian popular music.
Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
in the 1920s and 1930s was peopled by a mixture of local Yoruba people and returnees from the New World. Together they created a form of music named "Palm Wine" that combined Yoruba
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
folk music with musical idioms from countries such as Brazil and Cuba. Banjos, guitars, shakers and hand drums supported lilting songs about daily life.
Jùjú music was a form of Palm Wine music that originated in the Olowogbowo
Olowogbowo
Olowogbowo is an area in the west of Lagos Island in Lagos, Nigeria, also known as Apongbon. The area is in the central business district....
area of Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
in the 1920s, in a motor mechanic workshop where "area boys" used to gather to drink and make music. Tunde King was the leader of this group.
Life
Abdulrafiu Babatunde King was born in the Saro-dominated Olowogbowo area of Lagos IslandLagos Island
Lagos Island is the principal and central local government area of the Metropolitan Lagos in Nigeria. It is part of the Lagos Division. As of the preliminary 2006 Nigerian census, the LGA had a population of 209,437 in an area of 8.7 km²...
on 24 August 1910. He was the son of Ibrahim Sanni King, a member of the minority Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Saro community. His father was a chief Native Court clerk at Ilaro, and had lived for some time in Fourah Bay
Fourah Bay
Fourah Bay is a neighborhood in the West End of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Fourah Bay is known for its rich culture and deeply religious muslim people. Fourah Bay is largely muslim and is home to Sierra Leone's biggest and West Africa's oldest university, the Fourah Bay College ) to which it gives its...
, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
.
Tunde King attended a local Methodist primary school and the Eko Boy's High School. A schoolmate taught him to play guitar, and he became a leading member of a local group of "area boys" who hung out at a mechanic's shop on West Balogun Street. The group talked, drank beer and sang, accompanied by improvised instruments. By 1929, King had a clerical job and was also working part-time as a singer and guitarist with a trio including guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, samba and maracas
Maracás
Maracás is a town and municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.-References:...
, later changing to tambourine
Tambourine
The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
, guitar-banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
. and sekere (shaker). By the mid-1930s he enjoyed considerable success, with several recordings and radio broadcasts, but he still relied on live performances to earn a living, often at private functions.
For example, King played at the wake of the prominent doctor Oguntola Sapara
Oguntola Sapara
Oguntola Odunbaku Sapara was a doctor, originally from Sierra Leone, who spent most of his career in Nigeria. He was best known for his campaign against secret societies that were spreading smallpox.-Birth and education:...
in June 1935.
With the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1939, Tunde King joined the Merchant Marines. He returned to Lagos in 1941, then disappeared for the next eleven years. He was rediscovered playing in Francophone ports such as Conakry
Conakry
Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...
and Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
, and returned to Lagos in 1954. He died in the 1980s.
Music
The guitar-centered Jùjú musical style blends African elements such as the Yoruba talking drum with Western and Afro-Cuban influences. Tunde King says that the name "Jùjú" itself originated when he bought a tambourine from a Salvation ArmySalvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
store, which he gave to his Samba drummer. The drummer developed a flamboyant style that included throwing the tambourine into the air and catching it, which the audience called Jù-jú, duplicating the Yoruba word for "throw" with tonal accent.
His trio expanded into a quartet, with King on six-string guitar-banjo and vocals, Ishola Caxton Martins on sekere (gourde rattle), Ahmeed Lamidi George on tambourine and Sanya ("Snake") Johnson on tomtom and supporting vocals. The members of the band created an moderately-paced ensemble sound that backed up the guitar and vocals with simple harmonic progressions.
In the 1930s Nigeria was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
colony. A Nigerian could go so far, but no further, in the government or in business, regardless of ability or qualifications. Tunde King expressed popular feelings in his songs. In "Oba Oyinbo", he celebrated the ascension of King George VI of Britain, saying with quiet irony "We Have a father ... King George is our father ... White man Cameron (the governor) is our father ..." In songs that were not recorded, he went further, expressing resentment more explicitly. The song "Soja Idunmota" describes a monument of a white soldier with a native carrier, whose head is hanging down, saying "Cruelly, they forget the common descent of man". In the song "Eti Joluwe" he said that was better for Yorubas to work for themselves than for the government.
Recordings
The first mass recordings of Jùjú music were made by ParlophoneParlophone
Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
of the EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
group, starting in 1936, released on 78rpm shellac discs. Tundu King released a number of these recordings including "Eko Akete" and the classic "Oba Oyinbo" ("European King"). He was paid only a small amount to record each release, and earned a very small amount from royalties. However, the recordings were essential in establishing his reputation.
Other recordings include "Sapara ti sajule orun", "Dunia (Ameda)" and "Ojuola lojo agan". In all, he made over 30 records.
Two of his recordings, "Oba Oyinbo" and "Dunia" were included on an anthology CD Juju Roots: 1930s-1950s, released by Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
in January 1985.
Legacy
Tunde King's music influenced his contemporaries, later players such as Akanbi Ege, Ayinde BakareAyinde Bakare
Ayinde Bakare was a pioneering Yoruba juju and highlife musician. He began recording on the HMV label in 1937 and is thought to have been the first juju musician to use an amplified guitar, in 1949....
, Tunde Nightingale
Tunde Nightingale
Tunde Nightingale, a.k.a., "Western" was a native of Ibadan, the largest city in both Nigeria and Africa. An incredible guitarist with a sonorous voice to boot, he was best known for his unique Jùjú music style, following in the tradition of Tunde King....
and Ojoge Daniel in the 1940s, players in the 1960s such as King Sunny Ade
King Sunny Adé
King Sunny Adé is a popular performer of Yoruba Nigerian Jùjú music and a pioneer of modern world music. He has been classed as one of the most influential musicians of all time.-Background:...
and Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, who introduced electric guitars, 1970s stars such as General Prince Adekunle and continued to have great influence into the 1980s when stars such as Sir Shina Peters
Sir Shina Peters
Sir Shina Peters is a Nigerian Jùjú musician. Born Oluwashina Akanbi Peters in Ogun State, he began his career while playing the guitar with General Prince Adekunle, later forming his own group with Juju Maestro Segun Adewale...
and Segun Adewale
Segun Adewale
Segun Adewale is a Nigerian musician. He is considered the pioneer of Yo-pop, a mix of funk, jazz, juju, reggae, and Afro-beat....
were playing modern forms of Jùjú.