‘I didn’t see Burna Boy’s rise coming’

Nigerian veteran broadcaster, music critic and the former band manager of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Mr. Benson Idonije will turn 90 on June 13. Idonije who is author of Dis Fela Sef, and grandpa of Nigerian Afro beat singer Burna Boy is regarded as one of Nigeria’s most revered music critics, and was part of the pioneering group of broadcasters who started Radio Nigeria 2 in 1977. He speaks with Assistant Editor (Arts) Ozolua Uhakheme on why he stepped aside from managing Fela, his regret about his grandson, Burna Boy, and why Fela’s mother influenced his music direction among other issues.

How do you feel turning 90 soon?

I feel fulfilled, especially as I’m able to see my grandchildren grow and all my friends pushing and progressing. Yes, I feel happy and I’m grateful to God.

 You did much in broadcasting and print journalism. Can you reflect on the experiences?

Looking back, I think that I should have done more because there are certain things that I think I should have done. But, it’s becoming almost impossible because of age and stress.

You were the first manager of Fela. And this is a man people see differently. How were you able to manage such a character? 

Well, in the first place, he was not as, raucous as he became in later years. In those years, he listened to me a lot, because in the first place, I am senior to him and he met me on the scene. I had to show him the ropes. For instance, I had to employ the first members of the first tradition of the Koola Lobito band because he didn’t know any of the musicians then.  So, he respected me and he listened to me. Also, he knew that I had a lot of experiences. So, he listened to me at that time. But, he became really tough in later years when he went to America in the late 1960s. So, to answer your question, we had respect for each other. And he was manageable.

 Reuben Abati described your book Dis Fela Sef as a memoir. With a man of many parts, do you think your book gave it all to Fela?

Well, in the introduction of the book, I did a long story on why the book. And there I stated that it was not a biography as such because with a biography you need to research into every detail. But, I was just fortunate to be with him in the formative years of his career. So, I devoted the book to what people did not know; the missing elements, the grounds that people should know and the hidden facts that can help them understand the great musician.

So, in that book I tried to push his music a lot because the perception the international community has is that he is first and foremost an activist, or a man who confronted authorities, the military governments and all that. That was not the most important aspect of his life.

His career, which was the most important thing that he achieved, was his music because he was a top-level musician.  He was a master musician. He had a lot of talent. And I cannot see any other musician in the world like him, maybe Miles Davis. He was a great musician.

In fact, he was an incomparable musician. He was a master musician.

How did the family receive the book when it was released?

They didn’t say anything. I gave them copies. They didn’t react in any form. Maybe they liked it or not, I cannot say.  I didn’t get their reactions. But, I’m sure they loved it because I stated the facts out there.

How long did it take you to complete the book?

Well, as a matter of fact, I’ve been collecting information. But I got information from first-hand knowledge. So, I’ve been documenting some of them. And, I just got it together when I was able to write. A few of them I got from the people who lived in his house.

But in later years, we didn’t work together. So it was that aspect that I got from people. But from the formative years of 1963 to 1974, it was eyewitness accounts.

Even up till the 80s and 90s, we still used to meet each other, to discuss music and all that. So, it was about 20% of the books I got from other sources.

 If you were still his manager up to the point when he was seriously in confrontation with the military, what would be your advise to him?

Well, I was part of his confrontation in the 70s. But, it was difficult to advise a man like that who was so made by God and chosen to do great things like that. It was difficult to advise a man like that. Activism runs in the family. He got that strength from the mother. So, even Dr. Beko Kuti, his brother was an activist too. All of them were activists in their own right, in their own ways.

The rise of your grandson, Burna Boy, did you see it coming?

I think it’s a blessing. I think God has a way of remunerating people when you are forthright and honest in whatever you are doing. I think it came to pass in my case because I did not expect it. As a matter of fact, when he was dabbling into music in secondary school, I tried at some point to discourage him because he neglected his studies. And it affected his academic work at the time. So, I tried to put him on the right path, but he did not. But now, I’m regretting that I did that.

But, for the mother who insisted that that aspect of him should be accepted. To answer your question, I didn’t see it coming but feel remunerated by God for all that I’ve done. I’ve pushed a lot of music, and I’ve promoted a lot of musicians that I don’t even know.

Even while I was writing music column in The Guardian, I did not know any of the musicians. I was just writing about musicians and their works.

 What were your reactions to Burna Boy’s first album and how did it fare?

The first album was good, but it was not popular. It was the same way the first album by Fela was not accepted by the public. We suffered a lot at that time. But, that was the kind of thing that the boy suffered. His first two albums were not popular, but were good music. However, it’s a good thing that he did not water it down and did not relent. But, it has paid off at the end.

But in the beginning, it was not fully accepted although he was playing good music.

Does he play any instrument?

He plays some piano. He plays some keyboard. He did some music course because his mother was a music entrepreneur. His mother had a music school in Port Harcourt where he also attended and learned to play the piano.

What is your take on music trends among the GenZ?

Well, I think that they are all doing well. We are beginning to see who has talent and who does not. Because when you see a guy who has talent they venture into it and after a time, they zoom.

They are the ones who have no talent. And besides, technology has made many musicians successful because technology brings cutting edge to everything now.

Even then, it makes it obvious for people to separate the good from the bad. That’s the way it is. There is nothing we can say about today’s technology because we live by it. It’s going to be worse with Artificial Intelligence (AI). With artificial intelligence, it’s going to be worse than this. You may not even do anything and Artificial Intelligence will make you what you are not. But at this point, we are still good.

What is the implication of that?

The implication is that art is becoming like no art anymore. But it will not be felt. That perception will not stand because that will become the norm. For instance, now technology is involved. Technology helps a lot with music and it’s been accepted. AI will come and it’s going to be accepted too.

The bottom line will be that the quality of art will be deteriorating. That’s the way it is. We will discover that the generation will begin to refer to what happened in the 1960s when session men were involved in music.  They will start to make reference to it and all that as the great days of music.

Can you describe your days in Radio Nigeria as the golden age?

I had a good time with Radio Nigeria. I went through all aspects of broadcasting. I started as an engineer. I was an engineer assistant. I worked in the control room, transmitters, in outside broadcast and all that. I became a library staff, a library assistant at selecting music for people. Then I became a producer developing ideas and transforming scripts and reading words into radio form. At a point, I became a lecturer at the FRCN Training School, at Oshodi, Lagos from 1984 to 1992 and till I retired, I was in charge of programme production.

I attended courses organised by the BBC on training the trainers. I trained a lot of broadcasters in programme production, script writing and all that who have become directors all over the country. At the time that I was there, some students came from Sierra Leone and the Gambia.

So, I had a good time at the Broadcasting House.

People know me more with the programmes that I presented such as the Big Beat. That was the Big Beat that I did on Radio Nigeria 1, a pop programme.

At that time, Radio Nigeria was the only major radio station in the country. My programme was a network programme. It was for one hour between twelve and one o’clock.

And then later I moved into jazz which I did from 1977 to 1990s. And before then, there was the NBC Jazz Club where Fela and I met. I was presenting NBC Jazz Club every Thursday night at the time.

When Fela arrived in the country, he listened to a few editions and walked straight to the Broadcasting House to meet the voice behind the festival. He introduced himself and he was excited.

That’s how we became friends. We formed the jazz group because at that time, he was a jazz man. He came from London as a jazz musician not as a high life man. Before he veered into high life later in 1965, he was playing jazz with the Fela Ransome Kuti Quintet.

I was a trainer and head of the programme production department.

Your stay with Fela, why was it cut short?

All the period I was Fela’s manager, I had no remuneration. Both of us were still working with NBC then. We were building up something, hoping that in the future, it would yield dividends. However, I saw through the whole process that there was no future for me.

How influential was Fela’s mother in his career growth?

Well, the mother was very influential, in the sense that, he took after the mother, as an activist. The mother was an activist. She was a pioneer woman activist in the country. And the woman had strong beliefs and when she spoke, she was very intelligent. It was the mother who advised us to go back to highlife, saying that was where the future lays.

Your old music reports in The Guardian, what is happening to them?

Well that’s what I am working on now. I had them before but I think they got missing from my computer system.

But they have been retrieved now. The problem is that people don’t read. People are not reading. The book on Fela that I wrote I’m not making any money from it. Nobody is reading it.

Looking back, what would you want to be remembered for?

This generation does not know what I’ve done in the past. However, I want to be known for someone who has promoted the arts, promoted people who are involved in the arts. I see myself as a scholar of contemporary music. And this is one of the reasons why the University of Port Harcourt made me a fellow of its music department.

So, I want to be remembered as somebody who motivates, and promotes Nigerian music.