Sign me on, and Decca will be the better for it”. At 22, in 1964, oozing with self-confidence before the MD, though unknown and without a waxed record to his credit, Obey said, “I am a future star. From a local band boy who cut his teeth under the late juju music icon, Fatai Rolling Dollar, in Lagos in the 1960’s, Obey emerged a maestro who re-wrote juju music history because he was talented, creative and had the guts to barge his way into the presence of the then expatriate Managing Director of Decca West African records company in Lagos, Mr. Ebenezer Remilekun Aremu Fabiyi took the nickname “Obey” at elementary school in Idogo, Ogun State where his parents plied their trades, because of his constant admonitions to his classmates to always “Obey first and complain later”. The Chief Commander of Juju (Miliki) music, Ebenezer Obey was born at the famous Lagos Island Maternity Hospital on April 03, 1942, although his parents were from Keesi and Owu towns in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Today, the band is called “Inter Reformers Band” Oyenuga (a bossom friend of the late Pa Oriade Oreyomi Wellington and Pa Obikoya) for his mother at Isale-Gangan, on Lagos Island. I first appeared at a live performance of the then Ebenezer Obey-led International Brothers Band sometime in 1969 at a party hosted by Pa. Since 1974 when I was appointed the entertainment page editor of the now-defunct Sunday Sketch, in Ibadan, my pen has never ceased to flow in analyzing “Obey,” his band and music. Modesty will not permit one to say that the ceremonies were successful beyond our dreams. I am, under poetic licence, using buoy as in the above headline, in the two senses for the subject of this tribute – Obey, who I dare say, is my older brother and friend, in the respectable – realms of friendship and brotherhood.Īs if my dear readers did not know, I was the Chairman of Obey’s 70th Birthday Luncheon/Biography Launch/Idogo Hall donation Planning Committee in 2012. As a verb, buoy is to make somebody feel cheerful or confident. For over five decades, “Obey” has been a buoy in the music world. Buoy, as a noun, is an object, which floats on the sea or a river to mark places as dangerous or safe for boats to go. I liken the gifted musician, Obey to the buoy. We wish him many happy returns in good health, joy, honour and contentment. Tommorow, Monday 3rd April, this year, the Chief Commander of juju (Miliki system) music, Evangelist (Professor) Ebenezer Remilekun Obey Fabiyi, MFR, popularly called “Obey Commander” or Simply “Obey” will be 75 years old.
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