@ 70, Victor Uwaifo says, To be successful in life, explore your inspirations

Posted on 05 Mar 2011 at 7:32am

By Ogbonna Amadi, Entertainment Editor
S ir Victor Efosa Uwaifo is one of the few living  legends of our time. A reporter’s delight any day, moments spent with the legendary musician, sculptor, erudite scholar and teacher are usually  moments laden with knowledge.

Uwaifo…the scholar

Last, Tuesday the man who’s scored so many firsts in his chosen fields of endeavor turned 70 and as usual, he had an interesting  story to tell.
This is how he began his story.

A life fulfilled So it’s very fulfilling. It’s good to be 70. There was this short one I wrote just last week. I looked at myself at the mirror and I liked what I saw. It looked good but I was still looking for another image behind  the image in the mirror and I thought I could find it.  I looked for it I couldn’t find it, so I turned round one hundred and eighty degrees to look for it, behind me.  I saw neither the mirror nor the image. Then I said, well it’s good to be 70 . . . the search has just begun.
So what exactly were you expecting to find in the Mirror?

I know myself, I know my second self but I was looking for the third self. My first self you know already. First I’m an artist and musician which metamorphosed into art and which I trained for. I went ahead to make the best use of each talent both in music as a maestro and the art as a sculptor. And now I snowballed into the intellectual world as an academic.
There’s so much to benefit from all these gifts the talent from music to sculpture to philosophy to poetry and to academics.

And anything I set my eyes on anything, gives some thing back to me. And anything I hear gives something that’s a new meaning.
How do you mean?

It’s like, I’ve never been 70 before and now I’m 70. I know how I feel and it is good  to be 70. If you set up the high jump poles at Five feet, six, I will jump it.
What’s the different today from what you felt last year?

I even feel better. I can still sprint at 70 and I am not boasting.  What you feel you will be. You can actually achieve whatever you want to achieve in life when you have this  kind sense of purpose, dedication and discipline. It’s good to be 70 and a search for the third self has just begun
Are there things that if you’re given a chance you’ll like to do all over again, things you feel you didn’t do well  . . . ?

I ‘m a fulfilled man, very fulfilled. I take responsibility for everything I have done in life and I’ve never had regrets. In fact, the two things that I fear? First is that I fear, worship, obey and love God. And the other thing I fear most in my life is failure and that’s why I don’t want to fail. I go  the extra mile to do things just to achieve success. So I have never had any course to regret over anything I did.
What was growing up like and what kind of parent were given to ?

I had very good parent. My father was a disciplined man and I will say we grew up in that kind of upper middle class family because at that time if your father could buy a gramophone and a gas lamp, he was considered well to do.

And towards the end when I was still growing up he bought a car. He was a Christian, a member of the Baptist church while we were Catholic  faithful.
We were thirteen but he was not a polygamist as such. I have half brothers but we never knew we belong to different doors. We are very unique and my   father was not particular about what we did and what we didn’t do as long as it was in line with his disciplinary standard.

He was very articulate and cared about what we do that would not tarnish the of the family.

And which of your parents did you inherit your talents from?

It runs in the blood. I took my talents from both sides, my father and mother. My father was a gifted man, one who was able to distinguish the design of his house from the rest of the community.  He designed the pillars of his house in such a way that it distinguished it from other houses on the street.

And when did the call to become a musician happen?

My father provided the enabling environment that led me into  music. He didn’t know that when he bought the gramophone that played all those Spanish and Latin records and would invite me sometimes to dance and perform, I was going to be sucked in.

I started developing my interest and at the age of about ten, I’d started making my own guitar, trying to play like those Spanish musicians I heard in the records.

So that way, it I was influenced but along the line I took it too far and he was not comfortable. It was like almost day and night I was playing the guitar around the house and he wasn’t very comfortable  with that.
And there was a day I played late into the night and thinking I’d probably end up in the palm wine bar.  He seized the guitar. I made a promise not to play it again because it was my mother who helped recover the guitar for me. I kept the promise, but went down town to meet some guitarists at the palm wine bar and interacted. I now developed it from there. So that was the beginning of it

Was your first single released when you were a student in Yaba Tech or before then?

It happened just about the same time I left St Gregory college into Yaba Tech.

Before then I had a short spell with Dr. Victor Olaiya in 1960.

When did you form your band, was it after your stint with Victor Olaiya?

No, it was after my stint with E. C.Arinze

E.C. Arinze was the real man that gave me the opportunity to know about music arrangement, band setting and management. I was with him for four years (1961-1964).
When I left, I formed a band with Osita Osadebe and Fred Coker.

We called ourselves the Central Moderneers and we performed at the Central Hotel.

Before then, I was out making record and I called the band Pick-ups, because I picked them up to make records. They were not actually a band, they were just picked up. But then, I was still in E.C. Arinze’s band.

And how did when you formed a band then?

He encouraged me. He liked it and gave me opportunities to sing my songs in the band at Kakadu night club. We had many fans in the Midwest and Kakadu was the happening place. If you were in Nigeria and not in Kakadu, you were missing in action.
Was Joromi your best song?

Joromi wasn’t my best song. There were so many songs I had recorded before then but they didn’t pick up. In fact, I had recorded Joromi before but I didn’t call it Joromi, you wouldn’t know. It was advanced music. Then I decided to turn it into folk way. And I gave it a lot of guitar instrumentation.
I’m sure you didn’t expect it to be a hit…

It wasn’t my intention, it was an accident. And the song was not the best in the album. There was another track Do Ame Amedo that took me to the studio on the flip side, but Joromi took over.

How did the success of your first released single affect you?

I’d graduated from school when Joromi was released in 1965 and was working with the NTA. The success of Joromi didn’t affect me as such but I just thought that I should throw in the towel working for the NTA. Mind you I was earning well and I had a car.

Then Segun Olusola was my immediate boss and he was the programmes director. I was the assistant head of graphics. So, I resigned in 1966 after the Guitar Boy experience.
How did you get the Guitar Boy inspiration?

It was esoteric, a privileged knowledge. If you want that kind of experience, you can come with me one more time to the beach and stay there till late at  night, maybe you’ll see what I saw then.
Weren’t you scared when it happened?

I was a bit scared but after some times, I picked up courage.

I’m sure you’ve  had your fair share of women, money and fame?

I was too busy and I set a goal for myself. After the ten commandments, I created my own extra ten commandments. And all those things guided me in my pursuit. I planned out my life because the worse plan is better than no plan. So, from the outset, I had a plan and I took them one after the other.

There’s no musician that’ll say he didn’t have his own fair share of women.

What fair share?

What I mean is, how did women see you on stage….?

I took most of them as  platonic friendship

Were there embarrassing moments?

It’s common all over the world, women behave alike. It depends on the up-bringing and the way you relate with them. For me, because I never drank or smoke, never took any intoxicant, the music itself was enough to intoxicate me. So you can understand where I’m coming from. Because I am disciplined women couldn’t intoxicate me.
Not much is known about your children and their involvement in music…

uwaifo the Sculpture

You just wait and witness the birthday, then you can now write about it. There’s no way I can talk about it because everything is there in the programme.
I have engineers, lawyers,  sculptor and even a pastor among my children. But they are also trained in the art of music.
Everybody plays music.

I have one who is a sculptor that I taught in the University. And I have Hip Hop musicians amongst them too. But I don’t bother or push them to go my way, I leave them to themselves.
Even the one that’s a pastor was a very promising musician. In fact you’ll mistake him for Michael Jackson. Those days, he used to do some Michael Jackson stuffs.

How did you feel attending lectures with your daughter in the same University?

I didn’t feel bad. I didn’t see her as a daughter, but I saw her like a student, a colleague. They weren’t comfortable in the first place but later, they understood that I went there to learn, not to exhibit a self-aggrandizement. It’s even better for a man to get to a certain age before going to school because he’d  known what he wants. For me, disciplines are the basics that cut across all that I’ve achieved. My going to school wasn’t for fun.  It was for serious academic pursuit. I didn’t bargain for it but I made a first class. As we speak now, I’m a first class graduate.
After then, I went for my Masters and finished. So, it tells you that I meant business. Then I was appointed Commissioner for Arts and Culture and Tourism. And as soon as my tenure ended, I went back to the classroom and took up a teaching job. And I’m still there.

What were some of the challenges . . . ?

I’ve never regarded anything as a challenge. And if there’s any, it’s a stepping stone because it makes me want to work harder to achieve results.
I don’t see them as unconscious something that I can’t understand. The secret of success is once you get an inspiration, you explore it immediately with speed and accuracy.

So when you talk of challenges; it’s good for man to have challenges because without challenges, you cannot improve. I look at life from different perspectives.

As at today I can give many interpretations to one question. But if it were before, I would give just one or two interpretations.
You’re a man of many parts, you designed an aircraft and one had expected government to support you to make it bigger. Doesn’t it worry you?
Well, in the beginning I thought someone or a company should have taken it up. An inventor isn’t the manufacturer. But time will tell.

You also designed your guitar . . . ?

You know it’s not a contract that you can get big money from, probably because the government don’t believe in investing in musical instrument. Otherwise, that’s a good one. I had designed a guitar that has a keyboard in it. And another guitar that rotates at 360o faster than a fan, and it’s the only one in the whole world. For me, I’ve done it and it’s on record. Maybe one day, somebody will pick it up.
Where is the guitar?
It’s the one I use on stage.

Do you have a memorable moment in your life as a musician?

There’s none: Every moment of my life is memorable. Anything that gives me a good kick leads to another. I don’t have a best record. If I have then, I’ll stop singing. And if you insist I’d tell you I can’t remember any.
I hardly get carried away. If I ever was, I would have derailed. So every moment is memorable for me.

Now, I’m 70 that’s memorable. The President wrote me a congratulatory message, that’s memorable. And the  Oba of Benin also wrote me, it’s also memorable

At 70 you still don’t have many grey hair.

Do you know that when you buy a car, and you fail to service it, it will grow old in time and you’ll have to visit the mechanic always. So, it’s the same for the human being.  Life has three dimensions: physical, mental and spiritual. You should be physically fit and clean to keep your mental balance.  You should also commune with God, think positively and it’ll reflect in your looks.
Every day when you wake up, bath and wash your teeth. And when your clothes are dirty, you wash and iron them. And you must keep fit. For me, I like to look good because it makes me happy. And if there’s any way I can improve on myself, I will. I should be better than yesterday.
A man should be able to improve on himself and be superior to himself, so that at the end of every year, he’s a different person. That’s the way I look at myself.

What would you like to be remembered for?

Uwaifo… the musician

Well, if you insist. That man came to this world through Benin, conquered the music, art and intellectual world and died a fulfilled man.

Fact File

Sir Victor Uwaifo was born on the 1st of March , 1941 in Benin City in the Old Western Nigeria which metamorphosed into Midwest State and to Bendel State and now Edo State of Nigeria. He is married with children.
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Educational Background with Dates
Masters Degree. MFA, Sculpture, University of Benin     1996-1997
B.A Hons, First Class, Fine and Applied Arts, University of Benin     1993-1995
National Art Diploma, Distinction, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos     1961-1963
Western Boys High School and St. Gregory’s College, Lagos     1957-1961
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Academic Distinctions:
Sir Victor Uwaifo was the best overall graduating student and read the valedictory speech on behalf of the rest graduating students in the faculty.
He made a distinction in (Commercial Arts) Graphics and won Lintas West Africa Scholarship offer as the best student in 1962 at Yaba College of Technology, Lagos.

National Honors:
In 1983, Sir Victor Uwaifo was bestowed by President Alhaji Shehu Shagari with the National Honors of (MON) Member of the Order of the Niger on the same day with personages like Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Anthony Enahoro,  a rare privilege.

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