Nigerian Afropop artist Sunday Adeniyi prevalently known as Sunny Ade, says his family didn’t bolster his choice to be an artist, on the grounds that just unserious individuals at the time picked music as a profession.
The famous vocalist made this known when he visited Temidara Onafuye, his nine-year-old fan, in Lagos on Sunday.
Onafuye, an elementary school student who is situated in North Carolina, USA, visited Nigeria for the Christmas and New Year and said she needed to see the artist.
While responding to inquiries from his young fan, he stated, “Aside from singing. I play guitar, console, diverse percussion instruments including talking drum, “Sakara”, “Omele’, “Konga”; all these make African music stick out.”
“I have passion for guitar, I see it as my baby and I cannot do without it. A couple of years ago, I was rated 69th best guitarists in the whole world.
“I decided to learn how to play guitar on my own and I bought my first guitar when I was 16 years old. I saved money and bought the guitar for myself. All my family members did not want me to play music because they believed that musicians at that time were not serious people
“Eventually. when I bought the guitar I hid it under the staircase. I was afraid to tell anybody that I wanted to go into the city for music training where I would be exposed.
“Luckily for me, I chose my keys and my style of music which is known as “Juju”.
Ade said he had composed more than 3, 000 songs. He added that all his songs were his favourite because “each of them serves a purpose”.
“I wanted to retire sometime ago, but my fans all over the world did not allow me. They said if I retire, what will I be doing,” the 73-year-old musician said.
“Juju music is in my blood, I cannot retire from music, I can only retire from stage. Even at 100 years, God willing, I will still be singing.”
