•Chief Commander, EBENEZER OBEY
In the next few weeks, Chief Commander, Evangelist Ebenezer Obey will be 81. And he plans to celebrate it, in a different kind of way. Since he was a little child he has always celebrated his birthdays, which usually falls on 3rd April of every year.
When he was young, his mum usually ensured that Baba Obey and his family members ate rice. And the Music icon has kept up that tradition till today.
This year’s birthday is just 8 weeks away. Ordinarily, he will hold a Thanksgiving Service and a party. Last year, when he turned 80, he had a mega party in both Lagos & Abeokuta. But this years birthday will take a different shape. He wants to give back to soceity. He wants to spend the day which falls on Monday at the Lepers Colony in Abeokuta, his home town in Ogun State. This is what he told City People Magazine Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE & Head of City People TV, SUNDAY ADIGUN, when we spent quality time with him last Monday at his Lagos home. One of the things you can’t take away from him is Punctuality. For Chief Commander of Juju Music, Punctuality is the soul of business. The interview was scheduled for 2pm but by 1.30pm Papa was already sitted in his spacious sitting room waiting for us.
We asked him about his plans as 2023 unfolds. What should his fans expect? What are his thoughts? “First and foremost, I want to give thanks to God Almighty that he made it possible for us to see the New Year. We must thank God for making that possible, because not everybody who saw the beginning of last year was able to enter this New Year. So, I appreciate God for his kindness and I thank him for that”.
“In this New Year, we need a lot of prayers in this country, because of the situation of things. We have to pray more, that God will see us through so that things can be much better than they are now”.
“This New Year is in the hands of Almighty God, to guide me in the year and to see me through, as he has done in the years past”.
“My birthday is about 8 weeks from now. I normally celebrate my birthday every year. But this year, it is going to be in another dimension altogether. This year, I want to give back to society. I have chosen to spend my birthday at the Lepers Colony in Abeokuta.”
“And to spend time with them there, bless them, and to be there to make them happy, sing songs with them. Luckily, April 2nd is a Sunday. So, I will go to church normally, to thank God. No big ceremony. No party. That’s all. Just to worship in the church. Then on Monday which is the 3rd, I will go to the Lepers Colony in Abeokuta. And I have chosen one Orphanage Home in Ilorin and to be a blessing to the Lepers Colony and the Orphanage Home in Ilorin.”
“That is my plan for this year. No noise, just a quiet birthday to thank God, that God, I appreciate you, that I clock 81. I want to use that opportunity to thank God and all my fans, to show Gratitude to Gov. I want to have a quiet celebration, contrary to what we use to have, contrary to the big celebration we are use to”.
When he was much younger did he use to celebrate his birthday or did he start the habit when he grew up? “When I was young my mother used to celebrate birthdays for we her children.”
“I still do that. My mother will kill chickens and the celebrant will have a special portion of the chicken. We were 3. And each of our birthdays was always celebrated. It goes with Chicken and rice. My mother kept that tradition intact until when I became an adult, and I started doing it the same way, my mum did it. That is how it has been. And when I became successful, it continued. Every year, I celebrate by giving thanks to God.”
Talking about his kind of music, has anything changed. Or is there anything he plans to change about his Ebenezer Obey music, now that he is turning 81. “I thank God that I still have the ability to continue to play good music, to compose, with the experience of over 60 years that I have gained, it can only get better. There is a lot of experience that I have that others don’t have. Everything in me improves daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. Music is just me, everything about me is music. And with the experience that I have had so far, I thank God for everything, keeping me alive and still giving me ideas, in music. That gift is still there, especially the gift of composition. The only problem is that the younger ones of these days are not serious. I am sad that most of my old musicians are gone. Many of them have gone to be with the lord. So, the death of most of them is something that makes me feel sad. I miss them a lot. I still have few of the old ones with me, but I am old, they are old, we are all old. So, the younger ones who are supposed to be used as replacements are not serious, they are not dedicated, they are playful. There is a lot of difference.”
“They claim they know it, but they don’t know anything. When you are teaching them, their mind is not in what you are teaching them. Their mind is not in what they are doing”.
“That is the reflection of the new generation. Those new ones in my band are young and they are like my grandchildren. They have the opportunity, but they don’t want to work. They don’t want to rehearse. And you can’t succeed in music if you don’t rehearse. In music, you have to rehearse, keep rehearsing, despite the fact that you have been doing it for long. What you have been doing you have to rehearse it, by day by day. They are lazy. They don’t want to work.”
“So, there is not much I can do. I have to cope with what we have. But the old people are still very committed. They are kept to time. They are dependable. They are reliable. They are still working. But for the younger ones, we are still begging them.” “Let me tell you that I have set up a music foundation, Ebenezer Obey Music Foundation under the Foundation we have Ebenezer Obey Music & Skill Institute. In our institute, our centre in Abeokuta is a youth Empowerment Centre. We are affiliated with some higher institutions. We have associations with some universities so that in our centre we have those who do their Top up with us, to have their BSc and we have about 4 sets now. So, that is going very well. We have an affiliation with Federal Poly. We merge our own curriculum with the curriculum of the high institution. The difference in our school is that our students know more of practicals than theory. The problem with many of our schools is that they teach students more of Theory than Practical. In our school we make sure the 2 go hard in hand. People must know the theory.”
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