Dr. Fabomo Edoleyi a.k.a the Itendo 1 of Benin Kingdom, is a renowned Edo highlife musician from Oza community in Edo South, Edo state, Nigeria.
Dr. Fabomo has been a highlife musician for over 40yrs, and his craft has taken him to so many places, within and outside the shores of Nigeria.
As a man whose parents were Karita dancers and musicians (Karita dance is a type of cultural dance in Edo state which is almost lost, if not already lost.), Dr. Famobo fell in love with his parents’ kind of music, but decided to toll his path as a parable and proverbial musician, which as at when he started, was not really a trend at the time.
Dr. Fabomo plays the guitar very well, he plays the guitar both on stage and in the studio, while singing at same time.
Being a successful highlife musician over the years, has been a rewarding one for Dr. Fabomo, the ability to be able to make and create heartwarming songs over the years, without feeling drained mentally and psychologically is a reward on its own to the highlife artiste.
Over the years, the elderly and even some young people in the Benin Kingdom and beyond, have been so appreciative of Itendo’s music genre that they even went as far as contributing money to buy him a new car in his community (Oza Community), when he lost his previous car to a fire accident.
The Okpitan kroner believes that success and fulfillment in life, is not attributed to the amount of money or material wealth one can amass for themselves while living, rather the number of lives you are able to touch and affect positively through either your GOD given talent or life’s purpose.
In his words, “What are the reasons for immortality? It is so that, what you leave behind, people yet unborn will come and meet it and say this is from someone over 300 years ago.”
Dr. believes, success is leaving an indelible mark in the tablets of life’s history, for individuals to remember and immortalize your deeds in their hearts, from generation to generation.
The major challenge in the type of music he makes, is finance, funding and monetary rewards, as a lot of people don’t show their support for highlife music anymore because most of them are connected to our cultural heritage.
Dr. Fabomo feels highlife musicians like himself should be appreciated and provided for, as this would help preserve our almost extinct culture and tradition within the region and Nigeria in general.
Dr. Fabomo Edoleyi was given a doctorate honor by the Bini and Esan community in Lagos Nigeria, for the song Okpitan, which he wrote and produced in the year 1988. They were baffled at the content of wisdom in the music done in parables. They marveled at how he was able to write such interesting and wisdom-filled songs in the early stages of his life and music career.
Dr. believes in determination and one’s strong will to achieve success in life, the ability to be different and unique, even when you are in a particular circle of trending lifestyle, you should be able to carve out a unique niche for yourself and your craft. This understanding has been a major driving force for him, which he intends the younger generation to emulate.
Dr. is a very traditional man, who believes our music industry should reflect our cultural heritage and originality. In his words, his greatest pain and challenge in the industry is that our identity as a people is gradually going into extinction in the music industry.
Training upcoming musicians is in the art of making music that sells our cultural heritage to the world, is a fit that Dr. Fabomo wishes to achieve and he is working in that aspect.
He wishes for the younger generation to not only do music in other languages and culture, but to also embrace our roots and do original music in our local dialect, showcasing our beautiful and gracious cultural heritage to the entire world.
He is presently, training his sons to become highlife musicians like their father and carry on the legacy after his passing to the great beyond. His greatest desire is for his sons to not deviate from the originality of highlife music.
Dr. Fabomo does not intend to retire from making music, even in his very old age, he says he will continue to write and sing songs with his old voice.
Story Source – FONDCUP Team Edo state
Photo Credit – Grinde Spotlight Photography
