| Fatai Rolling Dollar |
While he lived, he served as the link between contemporary highlife and the roots of the music. A product of the traditional juju music era which began from the 1920s to the 60s, Rolling Dollar epitomized palm wine guitar and highlife, the folk music of the musty creeks, shanties and back streets of West Africa which constituted the first hybrid of native African and Western music. He structured and accomplished his simple melodies as well as harmonic progressions with the guitar, an instrument originally introduced to African music by Portuguese and Spanish sailors via the coastal urban centers of Africa - where he first encountered the instrument, as a sailor himself.
Rolling Dollar endeared himself to this generation of music lovers with a youthful performing energy level even in his eighties, identifying with the young generation and reminding them about early highlife and the need to fuse their music with this cultural heritage. Towards this end he released a CD with Jazzhole Records which contained Okere si number, a simple, melodic tune that became an instant hit.
A source of inspiration to the new generation, Rolling Dollar became a relevant force in the Nigerian music industry in the past fourteen years, playing live shows with his own band and identifying with hip hop artistes who have had a lot to tap from his musicianship and wealth of experience. Many of them, including my grandson Burna Boy, were looking forward to doing ‘collabos’ with him so they could fuse the culture of hip hop with that of traditional highlife. They are all shocked and disappointed that this dream will no longer materialize.
The late Oliver De Coque who came into prominence in 1980 with the hit song, Funny Funny Identity is down in highlife history as the man who introduced flamboyance to the music in terms of his dress essence and active stage presence. But Rolling Dollar went a step further to add female singers and dancers to his performance to upgrade the culture of the music and make it appeal to today’s generation. In addition, he composed a few songs whose performances became resplendent with rock and other fusions in the bid to expand the scope of the music. In his eighties, he was active. He was busy. He was lively. He was relevant! However, it was not all rosy for the octogenarian super star. For over fifteen years, he went into oblivion and was completely forgotten before he bounced back in 2000 even though his career began on a brilliant note in the 50s.
Fatai Rolling Dollar emerged from the traditional juju music era which started in the 1930s with the likes of Irewolede Denge who walked the streets of Lagos, singing and playing the guitar - an era which became consolidated with the emergence of Tunde King under whom juju music got its name. It evolved through the years – in its traditional form - in the hands of musicians such as Sunday Harbour Giant, Ambrose Campbell, Ayinde Bakare,Tunde Western Nightingale, Theopholus Iwalokun, J.O. Oyesiku, Julius Araba, Adeolu Akinsanya, I.K.Dairo. Fatai Rolling Dollar began his career with Julius Araba and His Afro Skiffle Group, a formidable quartet - before he struck out on his own to take up a performing residency at Boundary Hotel, Idioro. So successful was his stint that he became the mentor of many young and promising musicians that included Chief Ebenezer Obey who is now an evangelist.
Fatai Rolling Dollar’s musical fortunes started to dwindle; and his popularity began to wane in the early 70s when juju music, which was hitherto a product of traditional music, transformed into an urban social music type (without distinctive melodies and lyrical lines) in the hands of new wave musicians who merely used high voltage amplification and multiple guitars as vehicles for hyping the music. He refused to join the band wagon and stuck to his lean but melodically authentic sound the way Fela Anikulapo Kuti refused to play soul music in 1968 when Geraldo Pino almost swept the Koola Lobitos off the scene upon the advent of soul music. However, he was able to hold out till 1976 before he finally filtered into oblivion as a result of being irrelevant
He however came out of retirement in 1979 when he was heard on an Afro rock album headlined by the late Easy Kabaka Brown and his Okpotpo, the group.The outing was accidental while his recognition was short lived: Rolling Dollar had been invited by Easy Kabaka Brown to do a session with him in the studio. Short of materials to fill the album, Fatai composed a tune titled On bu mi on the spur of the moment, featuring the late Crosdale Juba on trumpet. This song turned out to be the one that sold the album for Polygram Records. He did not perform again until 1994 when the late Steve Rhodes told the story of highlife in concert at the Randle Memorial Hall, Lagos.
The next time Rolling Dollar came out of forced retirement again was five years after in 1999 on the bill of the first edition of the Great Highlife Party sponsored by the Goethe Institut and coordinated by this writer and Jahman Anikulapo. He played palm wine guitar with rhythm accompaniment. His notes were as clean as ever. His chords were brilliant.
The big opportunity came for him in the year 2000 when I was invited to help initiate promotional programmes for OJez Club which was then operating at Iwaya, Lagos. The reason I took the job was to promote highlife and jazz. I had in mind Fatai Rolling Dollar and Peter King who both had potentials for breaking out; and as soon as I settled down, Peter King started a monthly ‘Jazz Alive’ programme that was very popular. On the other hand, I put in place a programme called ‘Elder’s Forum’ where Fatai Rolling Dollar performed on monthly basis along with Alaba Pedro and Maliki Showman who are both dead. The programme also featured Tunde Osofisan with Y.S.Akinnibosun as the standing orchestra.
As if he already had a band in place, Fatai often came with his own musicians where others relied on the standing band. While others were repeating the same songs for lack of rehearsals, Rolling Dollar often came prepared with chorus girls doing group – vocal harmonies and call- and- response patterns. While his colleagues were playing copyright, Fatai was performing his own original materials. He immediately became the top of the bill!
Further enhancing the promotion of the club and the musicians was the involvement of the Committee For Relevant Art (CORA) where Toyin Akinoso and Jahman Anikulapo stepped into the spotlight. I had approached them to help give the highlife revival initiative a boost by using it as a platform for honouring their artists. Almost all the great artists in the country including the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, Uche Okeke, Bruce Onobrakpeya and all of them were celebrated. And of course the whole project was backed up with regular previews and reviews in the Guardian. This was how the popularity of Fatai Rolling Dollar reached its apotheosis. His introduction to Kunle Tejuoso of Jazzhole put the final seal on it with the release of Okere si number.
Fatai Rolling Dollar will be greatly missed by the numerous fans he cultivated in the last 14 years.
Source: The Guardian Nigeria
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