Sir Victor Uwaifo was a man multi-talented in different areas of art, from music to sculpting to fine arts and a cultural advocate.
Sir Victor Uwaifo’s music was in a class of its own. You can’t classify Victor Uwaifo and say he was a reggae, highlife or jazz artist. He created his genre. He called it at one time Titibiti music and another time Ekassa sound. He was just very dynamic and could blend some different genres and create something new, and that for me is a mark of a genius.
Many years to come, you’ll see people going back to what he did 40 years ago to try and make it fresh again. And I think that’s what stood him out; you never really could compare Sir Victor Uwaifo to any other musician directly because his style was so distinct.
I remember that Sir Victor Uwaifo was one of the first Nigerian artistes to win an award outside Nigeria. That brought attention to the music scene as at then in the very early 60s when he won the Gold Disc Award with Joromi.
He was a performing artiste, and he had a regular running show on TV. He had a music academy, a studio, he represented Nigeria at different international fora, flying the Nigerian flag as a cultural ambassador. He was somebody more than four presidents had invited at different times. He was a guest of royalty the world over at different times.
He was somebody who made his mark, and you cannot rule out the fact that his foray into music and the popularity of his earliest recordings helped to promote the career of other Nigerian musicians who by extension got an advantage by the fact that Sir Victor had already passed through where their paths were about to follow.
We will miss him, and his legacy will live forever.
- Edi Lawani is the Head Consultant, Showbiz Network Services Ltd./Paragonis Multi-Media Productions
