By Vanessa Obioha
Legendary musician, Sir Victor Uwaifo, who was the first Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism in Nigeria, is dead. The news of.his death was announced by his son Uwaifo Peter de Rock on Facebook. He was said to have died after a brief illness.
His son said his death came after a week of collaborating with him.
Uwaifo wore many hats beyond his music. He was in a class of his own. He was an athlete with an unbroken record, an inventor, a visual artist and a sculptor. He was an academic, earning a First Class in Fine Arts.
He excelled in everything he did.
Popularly known as the ‘Guitar Boy’, the deceased was also the first professional musician to be awarded the National Merit Honours of Member of the Order of the Niger (MON). He was invited to the State House by four Presidents and Heads of State of Nigeria.
Uwaifo was born in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria and obtained his secondary school education at the Western Boys’ High School Benin and St Gregory’s College, Lagos, from 1957 to 1961. He began playing the guitar when he was 12 years old, his earliest popular music influences being Spanish and Latin American music.
While in St Gregory’s College, he played music and was among the leading Lagos high school bandleaders. As a young man, he played in different bands like the late Victor Olaiya, late E.C Arinze, Stephen Osadebe and Fred Coker before forming his band Melody Maestros. The band released the hit single ‘Joromi’ which became a popular hit and the most sampled song from his vast catalogue of music.
He developed the Akwete rhythm sound and in 1969, launched a new beat called Shadow accompanied by a new dance also called Shadow, a mixture of Akwete and twist.
He was the first among his peers to attain monumental fame when he sold over 1,000 copies of his album, making him the first winner of a gold disc on the internet. He would later win seven other gold discs in the ‘Guitar boy’, ‘Arabade’, ‘Ekassa’ series and ‘Akwete’ music.
In ‘Elder’s Corner’, a documentary film by musicians Ade Bantu and Siji Awoyinka, Uwaifo described music as spiritual.
“There is a telepathy in music,” he said.
He also lamented how the country forgets its pioneering music stars.
“It must be a devil’s trick to be born in a country where neither soul nor talent is appreciated.”
Uwaifo’s love for music and the arts was ingrained. It showed in everything he did.
He built a museum in his premises in Benin which houses some of the greatest artworks he did. For instance, he told the history of Nigeria through visuals and combined them with sounds to create a real-life effect.
A consummate artist, he was perhaps the only professional who excelled in arts and sciences. He invented a musical instrument, the double-neck guitar which he played, an aeroplane and a car which are all in his museum. THISDAY Group Politics Editor Nseobong Okon-Ekong who spent two days in his house in 2008 described him as one of Nigeria’s greats.
“There’s no Nigerian like him.”
At 77, Uwaifo obtained a PhD in Architectural Sculpture from the University of Benin. His thesis was on ‘A Reinvention of Benin Royal Ancestral Pieces’. He was a lecturer at the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at the same university and was the Chairman of Joromi Organization, a multi-track recording and television studio in Benin City.
Bantu recalled the deceased as a true renaissance man.
“Victor Uwaifo was one of a kind, a true renaissance man who effortlessly wore multiple hats be it as a musician, sculptor, inventor, politician or educator. His outstanding musical catalogue won him a dedicated and loyal fan base that cut across generations. Never one to rest on past laurels, Uwaifo was always pushing his restless creativity while charting new ways to reinvent and express himself. Sir Victor Uwaifo, the ‘Guitar Boy’ was a force of nature, his charm and charisma were infectious and disarming.”
Interestingly, in a career that spanned over 60 years, he amazingly kept a clean slate and was scandal-free. He was known to be athletic even as he advanced in age.
The deceased celebrated his 80th birthday last March.
