Barrister Passes on

Barrister Dead

Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, Nigerian Fuji music legend, passed on, December 16, Saint Mary Hospital, Paddington, United Kingdom.
Born on 1942, Barrister, started his life under rough financial circumstances. He attended a Qurannic school and later Yaba College of Technology but later dropped out of the college because he could not afford the tuition fees. He went to train under a stenographer and later volunteered as a soldier in the Nigerian Army during the civil war of 1967 and 1970.

Meanwhile, Barrister had developed an interest in music at the age of ten, and had mastered a music style that was traditional used during the month of Ramadan. Signed to Africa Songs Ltd, a Nigerian record label, Fuji Garbage, as he was famously known, produced many songs alongside the Supreme Commanders, a 25 man band, that not only carried moral and religious depths but were financially groundbreaking. He later worked with the African Musical International, a smaller music group.



Fuji Garbage, as he was famously called, also experimented with Apala, Juju and other older Yoruba music forms, which he introduced with enigmatic use of percussions. He was also a musical genius who used his voice to convey the pulse of the people in many national issues while some of his songs re-enacted some of the experiences of the people. Some of the albums produced by Sikiru Ayinde were Ejeka Gbo T’Oloun in the late 1960s, Alayinde Ma De O, Itan Anobi Rasaq, Ori Mi Ewo Ninse, late 1970s, and Aiye Dun Pupo/Love In Tokyo, 1975.



He also produced popular albums, Fuji Exponent, 1976, Omo Nigeria, 1977, London Specials, 1978, and Iwa, 1982, among others. His fuji movement has grown with young fuji musicians like Osupa Saidi, Pasuma and others.