How Fuji Music Can Level Up With Afrobeats – Emmanuel Daraloye

By Yusuf Olaitan

A Nigeria based music Journalist, Emmanuel Daraloye has revealed what needed to be done for Fuji music to be at par with Afrobeats.

He stated this over the weekend while appearing as a guest on a program titled “Afinju Game Night,” on Redio Afinju, Osogbo, Osun State. The show which was held between 8 Pm to 9 Pm was anchored by John Omojasola better known as Classic. On the program, the English Language Education graduate answered questions about the state of Fuji music and more.

When asked about the problems of Fuji genre, he said “ Fuji suffers from documentations. The lack of education of the singers remains a drawback. Beyond documentation, you know there was resistance from the elites to the genre most especially at the formative stage. The chaos associated with the genre was a big problem, you know some people don’t like problems, so, they avoid inviting them to events. How many times have you heard of the elites or government inviting Fuji musicians to an event? They prefer Juju music or Jazz to Fuji. Most of the current Afrobeats artistes would have been a Fuji artistes if they were singing in the 1980s or 1990s, the likes of Asake, Qdot, Zinoleesky and others, their foundation were Fuji. Also, the current friction within the top artistes like Saheed Osupa versus Kwam 1, Obesere versus Pasuma and others have also created a faction within the ecosystem. I believe that Fuji music has a lot to gain if they are united”.

On the solutions to the problems, the Senior Music Critic at Afrocritik said “the top Fuji artistes should encourage the young ones to embrace Fuji music. Also, the genre needs record labels, there should be record labels catering for Fuji underground artistes like the way Afrobeats, Highlife and others have. The top artistes have a lot of work to do, I am not sure if they understand the problems at hand yet it is imperative that they wake up to reality. Also, they need to come together and also perform outside the country, they need to start going on tours and music festivals, I am not talking about beer parlour tours in London or the music jump they do at Manchester. There is a lot they can do if they are ready.

On the Future of Fuji music, the former editor of MusicNolly stated that “I have my fear about the future, how do you know if a genre is growing or not? You check the people singing? In the last ten years, the Fuji genre has not produced new talent, until the advent of Tiri Leather. I am a fan of his music. Beyond him, there have not been new artistes that had a national or international appeal. Although, we have Fuji musicians in local areas in Lagos and Ibadan yet none of them have had a national appeal. A lot of work needs to be done for Fuji music to be around for a long time”.

Born in Ipele over three decades ago, Emmanuel Daraloye grew up in Akure, spent a decade in Ondo town. He currently splits his time between Lagos and Ibadan. He is Africa’s most prolific music critic with over one thousand album reviews in his archive.