Victor Uwaifo: Eight Decades of A Legendary Musician

Yinka Olatunbosun

After 80 years of a decorated life, Nigeria’s legendary musician, artist and scholar, Prof Victor Uwaifo passed on at his hometown in Benin on Saturday August 28. Famed for highlife classics such as “Joromi” and “Mammy Water,” Uwaifo was the first Nigerian musician to earn a national award, Member of the Order of the Niger (MON).

Born in March 1941, Uwaifo began playing guitar at the age of 12 thus earning the moniker, “guitar boy.” After his primary school education, he proceeded for his secondary school education at the Western Boys’ High School Benin and St Gregory’s College, Lagos, from 1957 to 1961. He studied graphics at Yaba College of Technology, Lagos and graduated in 1961–63 at the age of 22 years old. He received a bachelor’s degree with first-class honours at 54 years old (Valedictorian) and a master’s degree from the University of Benin in 1997 at 56 where he studied Fine and Applied Arts and majored in Sculpture.

Alongside Segun Bucknor, he played with the Lagos high school bandleaders jamming with Victor Olaiya’s All Stars band. After completing secondary school studies, he played with E.C. Arinze’s highlife during late hours. Uwaifo also honed his music skills with Stephen Osadebe and Fred Coker before forming Melody Maestros in 1965. The band released “Joromi” which became a hit in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa. Uwaifo made history in Nigeria when he won the first Golden record in Nigeria, West Africa and Africa by Philips, West Africa for his smash hit “Joromi” in 1996.

Asides winning the first gold disc in Africa, he won seven other gold discs in Guitar boy, Arabade, Ekassa series and Akwete music. He recorded under the name Victor Uwaifo and His TItibitis. Revered as the most educated performing music legend, musical instrument inventor, and artist worldwide with a B.A Honors (first class valedictorian), Masters degree and Ph.D in Architectural Sculpture, he became the first Honorable Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism in Nigeria.
Between 1965 and 1968, he developed the Akwete rhythm sound. In 1969, he launched a new beat called Shadow accompanied by a new dance also called shadow, a mixture of Akwete and twist. The sound was released when soul music was popular in Lagos and lasted a few years. After the launch of Shadow, the Melody Maestros went on tour of various Nigerian cities.

Uwaifo later experimented with a new rhythm that was similar to soul but soon left it for Ekassa, an interpretation of a traditional Benin sound. In 1971, Uwaifo opened the Joromi Hotel in Benin City. Much later, he established his own television studio and produced a national weekly music and culture programme. Uwaifo, who had a total of 12 golden records to date, has been an influential artists to younger generation of artists such as TuBaba, Flavour N’abania, and others.

In 2013, Hypertek Digital signed him thus propelling a collaboration with TuBaba. The pioneering multi-instrumentalist will be remembered for his undying legacies in arts and culture.