•After 3 Accidents
To many young juju music lovers of today, the name Ahuja Bello may not immediately ring a bell. But to the older generation, not only does his name ring a loud bell, it sparks of nostalgia of those old days when music was beautiful and sweet to the ears. Those were the days when every song you listened to was laced with incredibly melodious rhythms and dripped of lyrical depth and enduring messages. During the early 60s down to the late 80s when juju music reigned supreme, Ahuja Bello, was one of the finest juju musician of his time. It was a few years after the two Juju music legends, Chief Ebenezer Obey and King Sunny Ade stormed the music scene that he came on board. He was like a breath of fresh air. Ahuja Bello immediately became a super star. From his very first album,, it was clear he was going to give the two kings a run for their money. He was a great singer with impressive vocal delivery. And what’s more, he sang like the juju maestro, KSA, and sounded just like him. He also played the guitar pretty well. The only difference was he couldn’t dance like KSA. Back then, often times, people thought it was KSA singing whenever he was performing live. They even nearly almost looked alike. Both the musical and physical semblance were simply uncanny. Many expected he had all the qualities to stand the test of time and go all the way to make his mark as one of the best musicians to ever strut the Nigerian music scene, but fate had other plans in store for him.
Dubbed the man with nine lives, Ahuja Bello has encountered fiery storms of live and survived everyone of them somehow. Though he has the scars of his many battles of life written all over him, he is still standing strong on his feet. Owing to his many challenges, Ahuja Bello had to abandon music for many years. But he has returned to his first love. He is no longer doing studio albums, all he does are live performances. Penultimate Saturday, this juju music legend turned 80 years old and he was honoured and celebrated by his old fans who rallied round him to make the day memorable for the juju music star. Even at 80, Ahuja Bello’s voice remains as strong and as melodious as it used to be. For a man his age, he still performed brilliantly to the delight of everyone present at the birthday party. His star may have faded away, but his passion for music still remains as strong as ever. Enjoy the story of Ahuja Bello, you could learn a thing or two about life from it. .
Even if you hadn’t met him in person before, it wasn’t difficult to know he was a man who had seen better days. His looks easily betrayed him as a man who is doing battle with the vicissitudes of life. He didn’t have to echo his peculiar life drama, as popularised in the song entitled Life Drama by Afro-pop singer, 9ice, before one knew he had tasted a slice of the reversal of fortunes. But with his impaired gait and lean frame, one could tell he must have been hit several times by the blustery winds of life. Therefore, when he was prodded to knit the tragic-comic story of his life, one wasn’t astounded by his outburst: “It’s well! Let’s just thank God, my brother.”
But what could have made the once bubbly and famed Ahuja Bello, who used to be one of the celebrated Juju music sensations, to suddenly become a shadow of his former self? At the outset of his career, it was a kind of pleasure ride on the boulevard of the Nigerian entertainment industry, when he released his debut album, Awa ti dan fo, in 1976. He was certainly not a flash in the pan, as he subsequently turned out hit upon hit. He soared high, even to the envy of some, on the wings of such ever-green albums like Ariya ti de, Ahuja in London, Ijo olomo, Fellow Nigerians and Victory. He was loved by his fans. He globetrotted. He also probably had no worries bed-hopping, typical of an averagely successful musician. He had cars. He even built a modest house in his hometown, Iseyin, Oyo State. Above all, he was a household name.
Looking back now, it appeared things happened so fast. For the next six years after he launched his career, he hugged fame so warmly; and he cherished it with every ounce of his blood. But the overpowering power of life dealt him a heavy blow on August 24, 1982, less than a month to his 40th birthday! He recalled: “I had a ghastly motor accident about 3.00am around Alaka in Lagos. I was returning from a show tagged Itunu Awe Day in Martins Street, Lagos when it happened. It was a yearly event, where several musicians used to perform. I was driving my Toyota car and there were three other people in the car with me. Somehow, I rammed into a stationary Army car, a situation that resulted in a multiple accident involving two other cars coming behind me. As a result of the collision, the head of my right femur got broken. Strangely, the three other people also suffered fractures in their right legs. It was Y.K Ajao (a fellow Juju artiste) who recognised my car when he got to the accident spot-he had also performed at the show after me.”
For the father of 10, it was really a setback in his fledging career. Everything seemed to have come to a halt. When asked if he had any premonition of the accident, he confirmed that a certain Edo State-born spiritualist, who was one of his fans, had foretold it. According to him, “The man had told me that I would be involved in a serious accident. He, however, enjoined me to pray fervently, so that I would survive it. I consulted Alfas, pastors and native doctors. I did all that I was told to do, including almsgiving. I myself became more convinced when, in a dream, I was involved in an accident in which the car broke into seven pieces. I also had another dream in which I was tethered and I kept wondering what I had done wrong until I woke up.”
If he, however, thought that his tribulations were over, he was gravely mistaking. Five years after, he found himself fighting the battle of his life when he fell from an Okada (a commercial motorcycle) somewhere around his home. Part of his right ear was chopped in the crash. It was so heartrending that it temporarily removed the luster from his blossoming career.
Sadly, all that seemed to be like a mere blurb to his seriocomic memoirs, as he also revealed another disquieting period in his career. About 10 years after his tragic fall from the Okada, he had gone to a fan’s house to collect his engagement fee for a show when tragedy struck again. He was obviously infuriated that the fan wasn’t available. But as he was descending the stairs, he tripped and fell! In the process, he suffered a serious fracture in his left leg and developed Hernia. “I couldn’t go for treatment of the Hernia because I was having a terrible cough for three months. But after I was treated of the cough at IDH, Yaba, Lagos, I was then operated upon for the Hernia,” he further explained.
The bitter experience, no doubt, taught 72-year-old Ahuja Bello a hard lesson about life. Most of his friends and family members, according to him, deserted him. He was left to nurse his wounds and fight the battle of his life alone. He, however, said that he didn’t resent anyone. Reason: “I cannot totally blame them. In such a situation, people who would have feel pity for you and help you financially will be spiritually manipulated not to look your way. But I thank God I am alive today. At least, it was after this whole saga that I managed to build this house (an un-painted, sparsely furnished four bed-room flat). I also released an album three years ago, but it was not a commercial success,” he stated.
Certainly, when he set forth at dawn from Iseyin in 1963, his intention was to be an electronic technician. He had bidden his family bye with such strong optimism to ‘make it’ in Lagos. In no time, he started learning how to repair electronics and wiring under one Mr. Lateef. His course in life would later change when he met one Chief Expensive Olubi, a Juju artiste, who was a client to his boss. “Before then, I had worked with I.A. Elegbede, but I left because he didn’t have musical instruments I could service. At a point during my apprenticeship, a man, who was working for KSA (King Sunny Ade) as a sound engineer, had played host to several people during the naming of his child. The man was also a friend to my boss. When KSA saw me setting some musical instruments, he begged his friend to allow me join his band,” he said.
By sheer coincidence, he said KSA had just bought a new set of instruments, which they were trying to set, on the first day of resumption. “Immediately, I set to work on the instruments. Then, when KSA picked the new guitar and twanged it, he shouted: ‘Ahuja’, which is the name of the instrument. And so the name, Ahuja, stuck. I was mainly setting and repairing instruments. But I occasionally played behind him. I left three or four years after I joined the band,” he recalled.
After he disengaged from KSA band, he opened a shop where he was repairing electronics. However, while he was minding his own business, “Olubi, again, encouraged me to come back to him,” he said. It was one encounter that would later boost his profile. How? In one of Olubi’s shows at May Flower Hotel, two of KSA’s fans were among the guests. These two socialites, according to him, only liked to dance to KSA’s music. But Olubi, the band leader, was simply at his wits’ end that day. Aware that the socialites might leave the party without ‘spraying’ his oga any money, Ahuja quickly thought of an idea that saved the day: “I told Oga and the drummers that we had to play any of KSA’s popular tunes. And that did the magic. In the end, they (socialites) parted with two shillings. That day, I got a share of five shillings, which was a lot of money then. I travelled with the band to London, first in 1973 and then 1975. So, it was while I was with Olubi that I actually first played as a musician. But in one of our trips, we had a misunderstanding and I quit. So, I bought a complete set of musical instruments and shipped them home because I had resolved to go back to my business,” he explained.
At that time, Ahuja Bello had thought that he could totally dump music for his handiwork. But he was forced to make a detour to music when one Baba Ogundele, who had recognised his musical talent, surfaced and led him in hand to EMI, a record label. At EMI, young Ahuja Bello was auditioned and interviewed. He wowed the management who signed him on and offered him a car and instruments. He later released his debut album under the name Dele Bello, a situation that gave him an identity crisis. In the face of mounting criticisms by his fans, he dropped the name; and then, Ahuja Bello was born permanently unto the Nigerian entertainment industry. Consequently, the race to make a name began swiftly. And his muse didn’t disappoint him, at least, until tragedy reared its ugly head.
However, like a cat with nine lives, he is still hopeful of a better tomorrow. Today, he is not as active as some of his contemporaries and is not signing endorsement deals like the crop of new generation artistes either. But occasionally, some of his loyal fans still engage him to serenade them at social events. “In the thinking of some people, Ahuja Bello is dead. I remember during one of my shows last year, a man came to the stage to touch me. He said: ‘Are you truly Ahuja Bello? Or are you his younger brother? It was rumoured that you passed on some time ago.’ But I thank God I am alive. I don’t do studio albums any more. I do live shows when I get invitations. But I know things could be better than this,” he said with infectious stoicism.
-WALE LAWAL
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