#3 Trends In Fuji Music Of Nigeria
UDC:
Received: Dec 12, 2025
Reviewed: Jan 26, 2026
Accepted: Feb 02, 2026
#3 Trends In Fuji Music Of Nigeria
Citation: Lawal, Olutoba Hameed. 2026. "Trends In Fuji Music Of Nigeria." Accelerando: Belgrade Journal of Music and Dance 11:3
Abstract
Fuji music which evolved from Were music, which is used to wake Muslims for their early breakfast (sahur) during the holy month of Ramadan has metamorphosed into a popular music in the south-west of Nigeria. Over the years, this brand of music which is basically traditional in lyrics and instrumentation has been modernised to meet the taste of national and international audiences. The precursors of the modification of this religious cum social music are namely Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, Ayinla Kollington, Isiaka Iyanda Sawaba, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, Adewale Ayuba and Shina Akanni. Acceptance and popularity of Fuji music is evidenced in the large number of new generation of Fuji musicians and their fans that cut across Nigeria and the international scene. Modification of Fuji music which incorporates elements of Sakara, Apala and Waka genres of Yoruba traditional music as pioneered by the first generation has been stepped up by the new generation. In this paper, content analysis and documentary methods are adapted to explore the evolution of Fuji music from Were music - its rapid transformation in lyrics and instrumentation, and its future. Among other findings, it has been discovered that new Fuji music has gone beyond fusion of Sakara, Apala and Were to incorporate elements of Juju and Highlife music as typified in use of set, guitar, trumpet, saxophone and piano. This has subsequently given it an edge over these brands of music. This creativity has attracted a large audience and been used as a yardstick of new talents . Fuji music is experiencing a significant, creative revival in 2025 - 2026. Fuji music is no longer on the sidelines; it is currently the "pulse" behind modern Nigerian street-pop. Major Afrobeats artists are incorporating Fuji-influenced tracks, with artists like Seyi Vibez using it to lead the scene. Older Fuji hits from icons like King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal (K1) and Saheed Osupa are being revived through TikTok trends, bridging the gap between generations. Major events like "Fuji: A Opera" and "Fuji Vibrations" are drawing large crowds, with 2025 concerts celebrating the genre's growth. Emerging artists such as Portable, T.I Blaze, and Badboi OML are heavily influenced by Fuji, adopting its "energy" and vocal styles. In addition, a new generation of female Fuji voices, including Barritide, Abebi Ayala, and Fatimo Cindarella, are emerging, adding new, diverse energy to the genre.
fuji, religious music, social music, nigeria, yoruba, wéré, apala
Introduction
Before the emergence of Fuji brand of music on Nigerian music scene, Apala (Omolaye 2014) and Sakara which derived their names from the major drums used for the instrumentation were the most popular forms of traditional music in the south-west of Nigeria as typified by the works of late Haruna Ishola and Yusuf Olatunji of blessed memory.
The birth of Fuji music from these two brands of traditional music in the early 1970s sent Apala and Sakara into musical limbo in late 1980s. Later fusion of elements of Apala and Sakara with lyrics and instrumentation of Fuji music with modernization appears to make their adaptation unattractive to new talents and upcoming Yoruba musicians.
Late Alhaji Ayinla Omowura Anigilaje who would have given the duo of Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde and Alhaji Kolington Ayinla a stiff competition with his fast tempo brand of Apala died at the peak of his musical career in 1980.
Effort of Musiliyu Haruna Ishola, son of Haruna Ishola and Dauda Omowura, brother to Ayinla Omowura, Raji Owonikoko and Y. K. Ajadi to sustain Apala in Nigerian music scene cannot withstand the rapid modernization of Fuji which now has the elements of others types of popular music in Nigeria and the western world in terms of the use of English language in composition, back up girls, rappings, keyboard, Jazz drums, trumpet, guitar in addition to Apala and Sakara drums.
Attempts by Gboyega Lawal, a renowned broadcaster to re-introduce Sakara with his “Sakara Diversion” received little applause because of the perception of its being too archaic for modern times when danceable rhythm harmonized with the lyrics in fast tempo is preferred.
An attestation to the prominence of Fuji music is the ever increasing number of new and upcoming talents when compared to Highlife, Juju, Afrobeat and English pop singers in Nigeria. Subsequently, new generation of Fuji musicians as characterised in the likes of Abass Akande Obesere, Saheed Osupa Akorede, Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, Taiye Currency, Rahmani Akanni Lecturer, Sule Alao Malaika, Muri Thunder and Suleiman Adio Atawewe have stepped up transformation pioneered by the first generation beyond hybrid of Sakara, Apala and Waka to that of the traditional and the modern with elements of Juju and Highlife music.
This universality of Fuji music in lyrics and instrumentation has in turn endeared it to music enthusiasts beyond the Yoruba speaking people of south west Nigeria. Applause and acceptance of this creativity is discernible in the large pool of fans and new talents that dwarfs that of Juju and Highlife music in Nigeria. What this portends, is a brand of music that will for long, project cultural aesthetics of Nigeria and Africa.
How Fuji Evolved
Among the Yorubas, particularly the Muslims, Were music is a festival sing-song normally used during Ramadan fasting period to keep high morale of believers in their hours of test between 2am to 5am. To enhance colour and retain high standard, the sing-song took Islamic choral groups round Muslim communities taking the dullness out of dawn as believers wake up to perform the fasting rites which encompasses saying special prayers and taking the mandatory meal.
Ademowo (1993, 10) traced the beginning of Were music to Omo Olayemi in 1940 at Dadi Alaja’s compound in Lagos. Born of Ijaiye parents, Omo Olayemi was born and bred in Lagos. Early Were songsters were largely uneducated. They were mostly Muslims if not all. They were artisans who played music during their leisure period but they were vast in Quranic education. Apart from those who rendered their type of Were in Apala form before the advent of Omo Olayemi, Were was popular in Ibadan. When it became competitive, it became complicated. With a prize at stake, Were singers braced up with long preparation.
A couple of days before the end of Ramadan, all of the "ajiwere" or "oniwere" ("one who performs Were music") groups in the area meet in a town hall to compete for prizes—the grand prize is a shiny silver-plated trophy. The first man to win the first cup in Were Ajisari was Ganiyu Oluwole. Kao Aminu won the cup twice. The competitions were usually held at Itafaji, Idumota, Italaagba in Lagos, Foko in Ibadan, Bere, Ayeye and Mapo all in Ibadan. Ajisari, like Were, is Yoruba music, a way of using music to arouse the Islamic faithful to pray and feast during Ramadan festival in Yorubaland. (Adeniji 2018). Ajisari/Were music (early morning Islamic wake-up songs during Ramadan (Omibiyi)).
In Ibadan, Gani Wester was the greatest Ajisaari. Dauda Epo Akara took over from him. video. Nobody else dare defeat him during competitions because he was the toast of everybody then. In Lagos suburb, Bashiru Abinuwaye were the pioneers in Muslim Area, Yekini Ayinla Balogun and late Wasiu were those who championed Were music in that area. In 1958, when Sikiru Ayinde Balogun was 10 years old, he took over from these pace setters.
There are many competitions in those days from which Ayinla Kollington won Nnambi Azikiwe cup in 1965 and Sikiru Ayinde Barrister won a Coca-cola cup in the grand finale of the competitions. Thereafter, they started waxing records as Ajisaari Groups which Monsuru Akande pioneered.
In terms of locality of origin, Omibiyi attests to the origination from Lagos:
Fuji music originated from Isale-Eko having developed from Ajiwere music which is used to wake Muslims for their early breakfast (sahur) during the Ramadan month when they fast…. During the fasting period, they organize themselves in groups and visit prominent Muslims to wake and entertain them. These groups have now graduated into Fuji bands. (Omibiyi 1979, 63; 1992, 152-153.).
Just as Ayinde Barrister’s claim to be the originator or creator of Fuji music has been controversial, the coinage of the word “Fuji” is controversial. The word Fuji could be said to have been borrowed from the Japanese word which is spelled and pronounced in the same way. Ademowo (1993) corroborates this assertion:
The word Fuji could be likened to the name of most Japanese made products. In other words, one could safely say that, Fuji is a Japanese word because faaji music which was changed to Fuji music had been in existence before the Japanese came into Nigeria. (Ibid., 37).
What confirmed this was Alhaji Iyanda Sawaba’s account that Were singers existed side by side with Fuji artistes. According to him:
During our performance as Were singers in the late 1950s and early 1960s Fuji artistes used to perform side by side with us with their grotesque costuming and heavy made-up. (Sawaba 2000, interview)
However, according to Ademowo (op. cit.), another school of thought has it that, Fuji originated from ‘Furuji’ which is also Faaji music. It is the notion then that Muslims in Lagos used their type of music which was titled Faaji music to add pep to Ramadan festival while the Ibadan people tagged their brand of Ramadan kind of music Ajisaari-Ajiwere. But because Lagos is the centre the Faaji music which they played during Ramadan fast dominated the scene. It was this Faaji that the Lagosians cannot pronounce “R” very well, Furuji became Fuuji and from Fuuji came Fuji.
Monsuru Akande has the record of being the first to wax a record among the Ajisaari group. It was the following year that Sikiru Ayinde Barrister recorded his first record on the same label. Between 1966 and 1967 Barrister was said to have waxed two other single records and two extended records.
In spite of this controversy on the coinage Fuji, the fact that the combination of the traditional forms of music that made up Fuji music have their root in Were music, cannot be contradicted. To Kollington Ayinla, one of the pioneer’s assertions lends credence to this fact. To him:
Fuji music was carved out of Muslim Ajiwere Ajisaari play music that was being performed by young Muslims to uplift the spirit of fellow worshippers to wake up and eat during the month of Ramadan. (Kollington 25)
Defining Fuji music, the leading pioneer and modernizer, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister defines it:
[...] a combination of the then Sakara as played by Olatunji Yusufu with Haruna Ishola’s Apala and a bit of juju flavour [...] (Ayinde 1983, 12)
In his own definition from the perspective of technicalities of its components Adelere defines Fuji as:
[...] a combination of vocal and instrumental effort to which participants and patronisers respond through dance. (Adelere 1989, 15)
Characteristics of Fuji Music
According to Adelere (op. cit., 22) “in contemporary Nigeria, Fuji thrives with great popularity due to its vibrant nature, rhythmic strength and structural components”. Therefore, in exploring the characteristics of Fuji music, the style of composition in terms of vocalisation in lead, chorus and unison have to be taken into consideration. Accompaniment in instrument will also be analyzed:
The formal pattern of the song is the antiphonal call – and response in which a leader sings a phrase which is then answered by the chorus. There is also a common feature in alternation of sole and chorus in which a short lead or an instrument or voice introduces the song sometime with some dancing. (Adelere op. cit., 24)
The lead could also be a unison of the lead vocal and the back up singers after which a long solo follows with punctuation of chorus for rhythm and to sustain the interest of the listener sometimes the lead singer and chorus may break for drummers to display dexterity by reeling out a dance rhythm. The dance rhythm is most of the time rendered in the same tempo with the beat. What normally determines the tempo of the song and beat is the theme. Most praise singing themes are usually solemn for conciseness and accuracy in rendition of praise poems. It could also begin with slow tempo and end on a fast note for variation. Lyrical stories are equally solemn in rendition and instrumentation.
The language of singing is Yoruba laced with figurative expressions. Predominant ones normally employed by the lead singer and the lead drummer comprise wise sayings, proverbs, incantations, myth, folk-tale and parable. Arabic language is a common feature in religious tracks and songs in praise of Allah to sustain the Islamic origin of Fuji music. Effective use of the languages for harmony depends on the mastery by the lead singer and vocal quality.
Early musical instruments of Fuji included tambourine, gongs, bottles, sekere (guard rattle), Igba (calabash) wooden clippers and sticks. With further modernization Apala Sakara, Gangan, Iya-Ilu, Kanango, Adamo, Bata, Gudugudu and Benbe became prominent.
Among these drums, Iya-Ilu, Apala, Gangan and Sakara are the lead drums that normally determine the tone and tempo of the beat for harmony with the lyrics while other instruments provide good background. Iya-ilu, Gangan, Apala and Sakara equally stand out in instrumental for dance rhythm with Kannango, Omele Sakara (high pitch Sakara) and Omele bata (high pitch bata) in the background when vocals are suspended.
Expounding on the prominence of Iya-ilu in Fuji instrumentation Adelere notes that:
The Iya-ilu plays and dictates the rhythm and tempo of the music. It undergoes continuous variations in its melodic and percussive rhythms. It is capable of tonal variations and being used for speech communication. It combines different patterns much more freely than any of the drums in the Fuji ensemble. It can quickly move from one pattern to another, and thus uniquely combines his repertoire of patterns. (Adelere op. cit., 75)
As the mother of talking drums it is used to disseminate some of the proverbs and figurative expression with complement from Gangan Apala and Sakara. In its absence, these three drums can equally be used to communicate.
Trends in Fuji Music of Nigeria
Rapid transformation of Fuji music in Nigeria can be traced to the late 1970s and the 80s when it underwent a lot of modernization in lyrics and instrumentation. Initial religious songs and excessive praise singing gave way to dance rhythms, love themes, pornographic compositions and rappings side by side with philosophical numbers. Current issues are also captured in lyrics for edification and conscientisation. To reach out to a larger audience use of English and other Nigerian languages were introduced.
In instrumentation, hitherto clay tambourine, gongs and bottles have been replaced and enhanced with a blend of these western and traditional drums namely cleaves, electronic piano, trumpet, saxophone, Bata, Jazz (manual and electronic) and programmed keyboard. For these modernization and upliftment credit must been given to the two giants in the music, Chief Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and Chief Kollington Ayinla whose creativity and healthy rivalry led to rapid transformation from religious music to a social one with an audience that cut across religion and tribal inclination.
Upsurge in the number of Fuji musicians in Nigeria which is an attestation of its popularity makes classification of the artistes and the music a necessity. It is important to note that there is a symbiotic relationship between the modernization the music is undergoing and the generation of artists. Each generation has its own impact in transformation of lyrics and instrumentation. These generations of Fuji artistes also have the stars, the unsung and those that have faded into history.
In view of this fact, this classification is based on the prominence of Fuji artistes in the music scene as there are others in each of these generations whose careers have nosedived.
The pioneers and first generation of Fuji musicians whose pioneering efforts in the 1970s and 1980s uplifted the music to it present status are Monsuru Akande, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, Kollington Ayinla, Dauda Akanmu “Epo Akara”, Iyanda Sawaba, Ejire Bonanza, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, Shina Akanni, Adewale Ayuba, Rasheed Ayinde (Merenge) and Wasiu Ayinla (Karachi) others are Shefiu Alao Adewale Ayuba, Love Azeez, Aremu Commissioner, Adewale Konta (student) Fuji Muniru Aremu, Suara, Kaminzo, Ishola Director, Suleiman Adigun, Fancy Aye Alamu, Maitama Sule, Adisa Alasela, Tajudeen Ayinla Abiodun, Monsuru Ayinla, Aremu Majester, Tajudeen and Ashanti Shole.
Second generation of Fuji musicians who shot into the lime light in late. 1980s and the 1990s include Abbass Akande “Obesere”, Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, Saheed Osupa, Suleiman Adio Atawewe, Sunny T. Adesokan, Ganiyu Abefe, Rahmoni Akanni (lecturer) Suleiman Malaika, Fatai Ishola a.k.a., Muri ‘Thunder’, Taiye Pasuma and Yishau Ayinde (melody) and Muyinat Ejide.
Chief Sikiru Ayinde Barrister pioneered the modernization with the use of English and other Nigerian languages in his compositions. In instrumentation, he introduced Hawall guitar, piano and electronic jazz into Fuji. Kollington Ayinla equally made his beat distinct with the use of Baba drums for dance rhythm and punctuation of transition from one track to the other with trumpet. He also experimented with the Benbe drum before abandoning it.
Irresistible fast tempo dance rhythm and lyrics of Kollington Ayinla which earned him more followership among youths compelled Ayinde Barrister who hitherto laid emphasis on this philosophical lyrics than the beat to blend it with solemn and fast tempo dance rhythm as evidenced in hit numbers like Barry at 40, Fuji Garbage series II, Barry Wonder, Music Extravaganza and Fantasia Fuji.
This creativity and modernization that lifted Fuji to its present height in the Nigerian music scene was intensified by the likes of Adewale Ayuba with his Hi-tech Fuji as sung in his number entitled* Mr. Johnson*. Hear him:
[...] Bonsue Fuji has gone Hi-tech traditional music played with modern touch [...] (Ayuba 1992)
Wasiu Ayinde Marshal who could be described as a bridge between the old and the new generation of Fuji musicians stepped up the modernization, when he dispensed with his initial emphasis on Sakara drums for funkdafied style in lyrics and instrumentation with these numbers: Fuji Collection, Consolidation, American Tips and the introduction of Jazz element into Fuji with the number titled Nigeria the New Era. This is capped with the use of bass and rhythm guitars in Ado-Oro (Gourd) and Makossa style of instrumentation in The Message.
Fatai Ishola a.k.a Sandoka who has gone into musical limbo has the record of being the first to use female back-up singers in Fuji with rappings akin to American pop songs which is now the vogue in the opening tracks of young generation of Fuji musicians. Services of professional song composers are now employed for these opening tracks in English.
Abass Akande a.k.a Obesere carves a distinct identity for himself with his weird lyrics which emphasizes sex and junk. This departure from the conventional style of his contemporaries won him the heart of youths who find in these lyrics fun and an escape route from realities of life.
Internationalization of Fuji, music through performance in Europe and America is another trend worth mentioning. The grandfather of Fuji music Ayinde Barrister had his first musical trip to London in 1978. This was followed up with a successful musical tour of the United States of America in 1985 with his experience relived in the record titled American special.
Like the pace setter, other young Fuji acts have followed the same pattern. In this category are the likes of Wasiu Ayinde Marshal with his American Tips which captures his performance in God’s own country, Adewale Ayuba’s Bubble D and Abass Akande’s Obesere in Europe. The upcoming Fuji artist's performance in Europe and America is the peak of stardom hence the urge for foreign musical travel.
Future of Fuji Music
Having traced the origin of Fuji music and expounded on its characteristics and trends, transformation of Fuji from a religious music to a social one is a manifestation of a bright future.
Subsequently, this has attracted many young talents and fans. There are now Fuji artistes who are not of Yoruba background, namely, Sunny Adesokan in Lagos and David Sunday Ojeh a.k.a David Kwam II in Ibadan. What this portends is a musical genre with popularity that would cut across tribal and religious barriers.
With the incorporation of modern instruments like Hawaii guitar, keyboard and trumpet which are played on note and the chorus with all parts, treble, tenor, alto and bass, a format could evolve for Fuji in lyrics and instrumental arrangement.
Being a culturally based music, international tours by Fuji artistes if well managed and sustained could be a veritable source of foreign exchange for the artistes and Nigeria in addition to promoting culture and tradition.
Lastly, to sustain the popularity of Fuji music in the new millennium, there is the need for the youngsters to employ the services of professionals in arrangement of lyrics and instrumentation without losing the traditional values of the music.
References
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