Bonsue Fuji King, Chief Adewale Ayuba has done it again. He has just released a brand new album that is making waves right now. It is a big hit.
A few days ago, he told City People about this masterpiece. “Yes, my new album is already out. But not the CD. We are trying to get the CD ready in the coming week. The name of the album is Fujify Your Soul. Its just to speak more on Fuji music. That is it. What we need to do now is Legacy, to keep putting the name of Fuji in the minds of a lot of people and on the international scene, in different countries, because I believe what is worth doing at all is worth doing well.”
“When you call a music Fuji, they should know that this comes from Nigeria. It should be attached to Nigeria. There is no particular music that they can say ok, this is for Nigeria. We give glory to God about Fela Anikulapo Kuti (Afro beat). Juju is Nigerian. When you say Juju, your mind will go to King Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey. But abroad you won’t find people saying I want Fuji. I want Juju music. We must make Fuji have an appeal outside Nigeria. Whenever they mention Nigeria, there must be a genre of music that will come with it. My mission is to promote Fuji music worldwide, to take Fuji to the world. That is my prayer too. That is why in whatever I sing you will hear me say Ijo Fuji, something Fuji, Fujify Your Soul. What this means is that whenever you listen to my rhythm you are fujifying your soul.”
How many tracks does the album have? “We have like 5 tracks. What I mean is we have 5 singles in it. We have Kolobakoloba in it. We have Jekarira. We have a lot of short, short tracks. At the same time, we have a long version track that we normally have in our album, 20 minutes long. Fujify Your Soul is a trademark that we are still working upon. It is something we are still going to do all over the world like Felabration, we will be perfoming it all over the world, like in China. This is just the beginning of it. We are still going to launch it”. How long did it take him to put this together. Getting my trademark of Fujifying Your Soul didn’t take long. But what has been on my mind to do to Fuji is what Bob Marley did to Reggae. My prayer to God is for him to use me to promote Fuji to a global level, so that it can be known all over the world.”
What is the title of the long track? “The title of the track is Fujifying Your Soul. That is the main track. Then, we have another long track, that belongs to Asiwaju Adeleke Adesina of Ikenne remo. That is to celebrate him. There is another one for the Sooko Family in Lagos State, (the Onilegbale family) of Lagos.”
What has been the response to his earlier singles, like Kolobakoloba. And how does it make you feel? The response has been great. I have been very lucky. I can’t lie to you. Even the ones I have done before with Jazzman Olofin titled Raising the Roof, the one I did with Bantu which gave me the Award of African Grammy in South Africa then, a t the Kora Awards have been big hits. Kolobakoloba has been a tremendous hit. And it is trending now. People appreciate it a lot and I am so happy about it. Till now, we are still selling. I don’t even believe it could be this big. That is what we are trying to do for Fuji music. So that they can be playing it in Disco Halls. We thank God for that”.
How about the one he did on Lagos “Yes. I just did that to appreciate Lagos State. It is a single titled This Is My Lagos. It is not a song I want to make money from. I just did that for Lagos. I just feel that anywhere you come into and you make some money has to be appreciated. Let’s celebrate our land. Let’s celebrate Lagos.” When he looks back n ow, like how many album has he done? “I have done like 22 album. I have done 3 international and 21 Nigeria.” And at what stage is the Adewale Ayuba brand of music now? “I give glory to God, because I know my mates. I know people that we started together, and I know where Bonsue Muisic is today. There are some families that we performed at their weddings and I am still singing for their children. It shows that the music is still there. I am so happy. That is the gift from God. My music is still relevant over generations.”
