Known for his reverberating rendition of evergreen songs, Akinloye Tofowomo, popularly called Akin Shuga, is an icon of live band music in Nigeria and beyond the African continent. His foray into the music entertainment industry which kicked off twenty years ago has been tortuous but also rewarding. Our reporter takes a look at the journey of the legend and president, Association of Music Band Owners of Nigeria (AMBON), whose life has become an inspiration to his contemporary and the coming generations.
Akinloye Tofowomo… the live band Maestro saunters in
In a quiet corner of Ogba in Lagos, spring is breaking through. Sun lights up the fields between a converted container’s shed, hosting the band’s rehearsal equipments. Then the beat drops. It never leaves. The new songs fit into the set as seamlessly as though they’d been there forever. The energy was so fantastic, and the whole time at the rehearsal studio was so warm.
In his early mid-40s, mid-height, a gentle headmasterly type in a cable-knit jumper in plaid jacket. Nearby is a huge archive of computers, synthesizers and tapes that tell their long story. It’s a remarkable one: from a resolutely successful 1990s, through a hugely fruitful 21st century that has included long periods working independently, rehearsing and jamming the biggest gigs over 20 years, creating soul and brilliant ‘noise.’
This isn’t just any crooner hawking his craft on the music scene, though: this is arguably the single most influential living live band musician, full stop. Yes, Akinloye Tofowomo is still surviving and thriving after twenty rough and tough years on the grind.
The live music scene in Nigeria is acclaimed to have been transformed by the influence of the man who hails from Ile-Oluji in Ondo state, who, over two decades, has turned live band music from a rather unappreciated genre to a pop-culture craze and one of most sweeping artistic movements of the 21th century.
Born into the noble family of Late Judge Tofowomo from Ile-Oluji, Ondo State of Nigeria, Akin Shuga was determined to be great despite his life-changing encounter with polio at age five.
Dealing with and overcoming Polio at five
At five, he had an encounter with one of the most dreadful childhood killer disease – Polio. But it didn’t affect that stage of his childhood really much despite the fact that every child in the family had chores they were expected to perform, including Akin. His early childhood condition didn’t hamper parental love he craved and deserved as a child, as he was treated nicely by his family. With adequate show of love, childhood wasn’t so difficult for him. Three years after, the realisation dawned on him that he was indeed different from others, and that most crucially, there were physical limits to what he could do as a child. This marked a defining moment in his life as a child.
“My father always told me that whoever pitied me was actually my enemy. Regardless of my condition, I was made to do everything the other children in the house did. As a matter of fact, discipline was the watchword for us in the house. Whenever we were home for holidays, my father drew a timetable of activities that we would engage in, including chores so; there was no room for messing up. We always worked on the farm in the compound under the strict supervision of my father and our gardener. Whoever failed to impress him was made to clear grass as punishment. It was tough,” he recounted.
Children, in their ignorance taunted and called him all sorts of humorous nicknames he isn’t. In secondary school, they called him ‘Reckless’ because of his penchant for rap, whilst he was Monickered ‘Dupompe’ because of the way he walked. Some stuck, some didn’t, but in all, these circumstances didn’t define him.
Growing up under the tutelage of a father who travelled often for work in places like Calabar, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, and Lagos etc, those growing-up years and indeed the environments rubbed off the musician. Asides English, which is Nigeria’s official language, and his mother tongue – Yoruba, Akin speaks Igbo fluently.
“I was enthralled by the arts and watching videos like Ogboju Ode ninu Igbo Irunmole. That was how deep and culturally engaging I was. Listening to deep Yoruba and Igbo lyrics was part of my formative days. I am glad to have experienced life in all these different cities across Nigeria as a young boy because it contributed to how I was able to develop myself as an individual and expanded my world view,” he narrated.
The dream knocks
After graduating with a Diploma in Business and Industrial Law from the University of Lagos and an Alumnus of Music Business from Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, Akinloye and his father were at loggerheads over career path.
“My father wanted me to become a lawyer or a doctor, so he would always compare me to his colleagues’ children, who were also judges. But I wasn’t thinking about all of those professions, as I had my mind fixed on music. Music has always been a passion for me, but never encouraged in the family.
“Although my father used to play and listen to Ayinla Omowura, Ayinde Bakare, Frank Sinatra, and Hubert Ogunde amongst others, you dared not sing at home, if you didn’t want trouble from my father. At that time, anyone who was in music was looked down upon, so it was a big challenge telling my father that it was what I really wanted to do. As a result of this, I saw music only as fun, and not something that could put food on the table,” he said.
With his late uncle who operated a relaxation spot on Allen roundabout in Ikeja, Lagos, his escape into real professional music found expression.
He narrated: “We were living in Ikoyi then, so in order to have access, I would tell my father I was going to Ibadan whereas I was going to meet my uncle at Ogudu, from where we would head to Allen. I used to visit him there on some occasions to watch artistes perform. One night, when the band that was supposed to perform failed to turn up, I pleaded with my uncle to allow me to perform. After much persuasion from the people around, he grudgingly allowed me to perform. That was my first performance, and from there the journey into music proper started for me.
“At the time I started music, I didn’t know that people got paid for singing. In fact, I would perform at shows at the time without knowing or even minding if I was going to get something or not. It was much later I realised that there was actually money to be made in the business.”
From the classics to his genre-defining Nigerian vibes, few artists alive have had such a more indelible mark on Nigeria’s musical landscape than Akinloye Tofowomo. An outspoken patriot, beloved mentor to young artists and still a road warrior, Akin Shuga has parlayed his passion for music into a multi-platinum career and a platform to support the less privileged in the society.
His foray into live band music begins
From the beginning, Akin’s interest in music was apparent — as was his ambition to become a unique brand of star. Though he was surrounded by the kind of songs he’s lately taken to singing, he also listened to distant broadcasts of Rhythm and Blues; Jazz Highlife and Old School, following the rapid evolution of early live band music. By the time he had become a young adult, he was playing local gigs.
The Pintos, a place where he rapidly became a magnetic fixture, should by now be considered a Shuga Band landmark, as the site of a talent show he played with his band was an influential period of his early career life.
His voice, a gift with a striking presence brought him audiences, and the testament then – he was and is a talent to watch till date.
At Pintos, Akinloye played songs of varying genre and brought it All Back Home. His performances were part of one of the most remarkable creative runs not just in live band music history, but in Nigeria’s music history. With those timeless songs, he took everything that had come before — blues, folk, pop, highlife, country — and smelted something both old and new, music that contained multitudes.
For those who frequented his gigs, with stunning breadth and depth, he sang songs that contained scathing introspective poetry, loping highlife and folk numbers that told elliptical relationship stories, ballads that made searing indictments of something or someone that seemed forever to be just outside the listener’s grasp. Though a man of unsung glory, his stage craftsmanship rich, musical career and powerful influence, set a new bar for popular music, and countless artists.
With his gigs making ripples, it was apparent he commanded a wide audience of gifts. Unlike anyone else, he could and still writes songs that combined timeliness, universality, poetry, and melodic brilliance.
His recent song “I can walk” sounds like a clarion call to people young and old who wanted to overthrow the established way of doing things. Like an elder statesman, he is fast becoming an icon of Nigeria’s progressive music movement. His growing disenchantment with the folk scene, and signalled unambiguously that he was shooting for something even bigger than what he’d become.
The long walk to success and fame
Making a living as a musician is hard; and much more as a live band musician. Akin Shuga might sleep on a mattress stuffed with Naira bills in a house made of Rolex watches and Ferrari parts, but down at the other end of the scale, for working performers, life can be tough.
“The choice is a tricky one: to establish a career takes an enormous amount of work and time. The cycle is difficult to break. For the early years on the grind, you can’t help but sacrifice girlfriends, houses and comfort to a lifestyle of hard work, constantly touring and playing anywhere between 15 and 30 premium gigs every month.
“With a growing healthy reputation, niche following and a humongous workforce as a ferocious live band, things barely improved. You are able to afford the good things of life money can buy, but it’s more work. We make enough money to let the band live, but we don’t go beyond our means, ever. We scrimp and save. We never spend anything we don’t have, and when we do, it’s got to be painfully important.
“Playing in a band, performing of any type really, is a calling, not a career, clearly. It can be hyper-successful, but for most people it involves sacrificing security and comfort for a lifestyle that is as frightening as it is exciting. To some it must seem like a baffling choice. But then, standing onstage at a wedding, birthday or a funeral reception singing feels more than worth it”, he said.
Moving forward…
“I love what I do,” says Akin Shuga of his 20-plus years in the music business. “I look forward to entertaining people. When show time gets here, I’m ready to go, ready to go play for them. It’s a labour of love. I just thank God I make a living at what I enjoy doing.”
Watching Akin Shuga perform at ceremonies nowadays, one could not but marvel at the embodiment of this singer-songwriter. “I’m celebrating my new single and 20th anniversary this month”, he said as we wrap up the interview with this Grandmaster of live band music.
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