{"id":274182,"date":"2011-01-15T03:55:51","date_gmt":"2011-01-15T03:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/?p=47857"},"modified":"2011-01-15T03:55:51","modified_gmt":"2011-01-15T03:55:51","slug":"celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Evil Genius of Highlife @ 80"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong> <\/strong><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_37731\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-37731\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-37731\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2010\/11\/28\/%e2%80%98i-have-an-album-for-each-of-my-wivies%e2%80%99\/victor-abimbola-olaiya\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-37731\" title=\"Victor Abimbola Olaiya\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Victor-Abimbola-Olaiya.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-37731\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr.Victor Abimbola Olaiya <\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nBy SOLA BALOGUN<br \/>\nIt was an evening of fun, and a gathering of music icons                      at the 80th birthday concert in honour of Dr Victor Olaiya,                      popularly called Evil Genius of Highlife. The Stadium Hotel                      venue in Surulere area of Lagos provided a rallying point                      for Olaiya\u2019s colleagues, particularly his fellow Highlife                      singers who came to celebrate with him upon joining the league                      of octogenarians.<br \/>\nOrganised by Hi-Life Allstars Club specifically to mark Olaiya\u2019s                      80th birthday, the concert expectedly became a plaform for                      friends and colleagues to demonstrate their love for the veteran                      singer. On the list of dignitaries were Ambassador Segun Olusola,                      Pa Fatai Rolling Dollar, Orlando Julius-Ekemode and wife;                      Latoya, Benson Idonije, Tee Mac Utseli, Dejumo Lewis, Alaba                      Pedro, Femi Esho, Engr Fashola, Yinka Davies, Yinka Alakija,                      Eji Oyewole, Bimbo Ademiluyi(compere), Tessy Allan, Ige Olusoga,                      among many others.<br \/>\nShortly before the concert, Ambassador Olusola who was chairman                      described Olaiya as a rare musician who combine talent with                      skill. He recalled his days at the Western Nigerian Television                      in Ibadan, when Olaiya was a force to reckon with in the growth                      and development of Highlife music. Olusola also congratulated                      Olaiya for attaining the ripe age of 80, and urged the guests                      to pray for him live longer.<br \/>\nWhile proposing the toast, Benson Idonije, music critic and                      analyst gave two reason for celebrating Olaiya at 80. First,                      the music legend was lucky to have lived long, unlike many                      of his colleagues who died young. Secondly, Olaiya\u2019s                      relevance to the growth of Highlife music is legendary, as                      he was one of the pioneers of the music genre, having established                      his band as far back as 1954. Also while the late Bobby Benson                      was acknowledged as the father of Highife, Olaiya remains                      the father of popular music in Nigeria.<br \/>\nIdonije also recalled how Olaiya made Highlife popular in                      the country, and how he gave Nigeria an edge over Ghana, when                      compared to the late E.T Mensah\u2019s music. Olaiya was                      equally commended for having influenced many of his younger                      colleagues, including the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.                      Following Idonije\u2019s speech was the celebrant who gave                      a stint of his music after a short address. Olaiya joined                      his band to sing a number; Aya Mi o, to which the dignitaries                      responded warmly by trooping to the dance floor.<br \/>\nOlaiya expressed his gratitude to all present, noting that                      in the past, musicians like him were engrossed with the struggle                      for supremacy, hence they often clashed and eventually fell                      apart. But the media, particularly TV and Radio, played a                      significant role in harnessing talents and promoting artistes                      like him in the 50s and 60s. As a result, Olaiya underscored                      his joy as an octogenarian, adding\u2019\u2019 As young                      man of 80, today is one of the happiest days in my life\u2019\u2019.<br \/>\nFollowing this, the birthday cake was cut by Olaiya, with                      some of the guests joining in the exercise. The floor was                      declared open and members of the Evergreen Band took over                      from Victor Olaiya\u2019s band. First to perform was Orlando                      Julius who thrilled with his evergreen;Jaguar Nana, while                      backing it up with trumpet. Orlando\u2019s show was boosted                      by his wife, Latoya, whose dancesteps became all the more                      scintillating.<br \/>\nAfter Orlando was Pa Rolling Dollar who used his popular number,                      Won Kere Si Number, to eulogise Olaiya, while entertaining                      the guests with his stagecraft and suprano. Others who thrilled                      the audience in honour of Olaiya include Alaba Pedro, Yinka                      Davies and Tee Mac on flute.The Evergreen Band was particularly                      a delight to the guests as it entertained them with saxophone                      and trumpets, while rendering vocals to reminisce on such                      highlife numbers as Olaiya\u2019s Bisi, Ololufe Mi, Fela\u2019s                      Ekuro Lalabaku Ewa, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By SOLA BALOGUN It was an evening of fun, and a gathering of music icons at the 80th birthday concert in honour of Dr Victor Olaiya, popularly called Evil Genius of Highlife. The Stadium Hotel venue in Surulere area of Lagos provided a rallying point for Olaiya\u2019s colleagues, particularly his fellow Highlife singers who came [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Celebrating Evil Genius of Highlife @ 80 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Celebrating Evil Genius of Highlife @ 80 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"By SOLA BALOGUN It was an evening of fun, and a gathering of music icons at the 80th birthday concert in honour of Dr Victor Olaiya, popularly called Evil Genius of Highlife. The Stadium Hotel venue in Surulere area of Lagos provided a rallying point for Olaiya\u2019s colleagues, particularly his fellow Highlife singers who came [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Victor-Abimbola-Olaiya.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Celebrating Evil Genius of Highlife @ 80\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-15T03:55:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/\"},\"wordCount\":641,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Victor-Abimbola-Olaiya.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/\",\"name\":\"Celebrating Evil Genius of Highlife @ 80 - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Victor-Abimbola-Olaiya.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-15T03:55:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Victor-Abimbola-Olaiya.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Victor-Abimbola-Olaiya.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Celebrating Evil Genius of Highlife @ 80 - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/15\/celebrating-evil-genius-of-highlife-80\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Celebrating Evil Genius of Highlife @ 80 - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"By SOLA BALOGUN It was an evening of fun, and a gathering of music icons at the 80th birthday concert in honour of Dr Victor Olaiya, popularly called Evil Genius of Highlife. 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