Before Sunny Ade or Ebenezer Obey, Tunde King was the father of Juju music
Lagos in the 1920s and 1930s had a mixture of local Yoruba people and returnees from the New World. Together they created a form of music named "Palm Wine" that combined Yoruba folk music with musical idioms from countries such as Brazil and Cuba. Jùjú music was Palm Wine music that originated in the Olowogbowo area of Lagos in the 1920s, in a motor mechanic workshop where "area boys" used to gather to drink. Tunde King was the leader of this group.
Who was Tunde King?
Abdulrafiu Babatunde King was born in the Saro-dominated Olowogbowo area of Lagos Island on 24 August 1910 to Ibrahim Sanni King, a member of the minority Muslim Saro community.
His father was a chief Native Cøurt clerk at Ilaro, and had lived for some time in Fourah Bay, Sierra Leone.
Though a Muslim, he attended a Christian primary school. While at the Eko Boys High School, a schoolmate taught him to play guitar, and he became a leading member of a local group of "area boys" who hung out at a mechanic's shop on West Balogun Street. The group talked, drank beer and sang, accompanied by self-created instruments.
By 1929, King had a clerical job and worked part-time as a singer and guitarist. By the mid-1930s, he enjoyed considerable success, with several recordings and radio broadcasts, but he still relied on live performances to earn a living, often at private functions.
For example, King played at the wake of the prominent doctor Oguntola Sapara in June 1935.
He generally charged about 8 shillings as a flat fee. While playing, the hosts and guests would throw currencies to him and other members of his band. They made over £15 on a good night, there was even an event in which a woman threw a golden bracelet worth £50 to him while singing her praises.
Tunde’s style, very down-to-earth, involves the use of deeply philosophical elements in conveying vivid messages such as the consolatory song done for Dr. Macaulay who løst his daughter.
He left the world in the 1980s.