Nigerian author launches book on life, times of late fuji maestro, Ayinde Barrister

Nigerian author launches book on life, times of late fuji maestro, Ayinde Barrister

Divided into 14 chapters, the author says the book also analyses the role played by fans and social media in Barrister's post-career life.

Tunde Busari, the author of a new book on the career of the late popular musician, Sikiru Ayinde, whose stage name was Barrister, has said his book is not the late music maestro’s biography but a compilation of his observations through his many contacts with him, both on and off the stage.

Ayinde Barrister was a Nigerian-born Yoruba singer-songwriter, song producer, and music performer. He is regarded as a pioneer of Fuji and Wéré music. After his first break into music in 1965, Ayinde Barrister went on to release over 70 studio albums in his lifetime.

Mr Busari, who is also a journalist, said the book which is titled; “My Journey With Barry Wonder,” is a compilation of his years of contact with the late singer as well as through his records and live performances which he claimed he was fortunate to have witnessed.

He said: “Honestly, I wouldn’t have written this book if not for calls from fans, especially readers of my column. Their insistence turned into an obligation which I could not resist.”

“I dedicate a chapter to different groups which celebrate Barrister today. I don’t even know all the groups because there are many now. These groups deserve my mention; that is my little to appreciate them.

“Again, I thank them for their selfless service to the man who cannot rise and sing their praises. This is a lesson to the living musicians to also work hard to live permanently in memories of their fans,” he said.

The author said through the book, he has introduced a new perspective to the personality of the late fuji musician, saying his long years of studying him and his music informed his submission that Mr Ayinde was more than a fuji musician.

He said there are other attributes that he found in him and documented in his new books, adding that he examined the attributes exhaustively and left readers to make judgments.

“He had some things in him which influenced his composition prowess and ability to balance relationships among his cult of fans. I also realised that the Barrister on stage was not the Barrister inside the studio, and the one inside the studio was not the Barrister on stage performing before a large audience. He was hard working and unrelenting in his struggle to sustain the status of fuji music among other indigenous genres,” he said.

Mr Busari, a former employee of The Punch, National Mirror, and Tribune Newspapers, and founder of TeeTee Management Limited, publisher of TheTabloid.net, said his research, which covered many years of Barrister’s career, had revealed that the late musician was conscious of challenges ahead as the bearer of a new genre.

“Hence his continuous and progressive work on himself and his music to break the monopoly enjoyed by older genres.”

“Results of those efforts are seen in many evergreen records he released, all of which still sell well in the market. I have carried out a painstaking market survey and found an incredible result that Barrister’s music still performs well despite his demise,” Mr Busari said.