Loading details…
Artist
Paul I.K. Dairo
12+ albums
nigerianafricanYorubanigerianaija
about
With a musical career spanning most of the latter half of the twentieth century, Nigerian bandleader I. K. Dairo is known as the father of juju for his role in establishing that musical style, which eventually displaced West African highlife as Nigeria's national sound. His songs, which reflected traditional Nigerian culture, appealed to a variety of listeners and his music featured instruments as diverse as the talking drums and the accordion. Dairo recorded hundreds of records and toured around the world, making him African music's first truly international star. The son of a carpenter, Isaiah Kehinde Dairo was born in 1931 in Offa, Kwara State, Nigeria. His early interest in music reportedly emerged when his father made a drum for him, which he carried around with him at all times. Unable to finish his education, Dairo worked as an apprentice barber and learned to play and make drums in his free time. By 1942 he had joined his first juju band. (Juju music is an upbeat urban music style that began in the 1930s; it is rooted in Yoruba dance drumming with traditional call-and-response patterns.) From 1942 to 1946, Dairo traveled western Nigeria as a migrant farm laborer, cloth merchant, carpenter, and road builder. By night he played with juju bands led by pioneering musicians such as Oladele Oro and Ojoge Daniel. In 1950 he joined the Rolling Dollars dance band, considered important contributors to the development of modern juju. Settling in Ibadan, he began a decade-long
