Radio, Voices, Music and Me
Radio found me and Raypower 100.5 was the instrument that opened me up to a world of limitless music. I listened to it like my life depended on it and to some extent, maybe it did. It was 1996, I was new in the city of Lagos, had no friends, school was a disaster, and I was happy to stop going once I sat for my common entrance examination. With nothing to do and nowhere to go, I turned to radio. I knew every single jingle and the names and voices of all the presenters. I had a thing for voices, I still do. There is just this way that a smooth, baritone, husky or musical voice that carries clear diction does things to my ears and makes me want to listen. Top that with the owner of the voice discussing issues I can relate with and I can get lost in the sound of the voice. The late Steve Efosa Kadiri popularly known as ‘Steve the Sleek’ was my favourite voice in Raypower.
I remember stopping everything I was doing one morning because I heard first a synthesizer, then drums followed by a mini wind orchestra, led by a tenor saxophone on the intro to a song I had never heard before. The blend of multiple wind instruments and Yoruba drums beating out a tune that had a sprinkle of Calypso, Latin and Afrobeat caught my attention because it was a sound that I was not familiar with, given that most of the music I had listened to prior to that time was mainly western. The twenty-eight seconds of that intro were the most beautiful sounds I had heard and just when I thought it could not get better, an even-textured, strong, and unique voice that conveyed proper diction through the airwaves spiced the music, creating a rich blend of sounds.
“Oh why is it difficult for us to live in peace
Why oh to love each other
What exactly are you looking for?
Remember this vanity
One day you’ll go
Leave everything behind
For yonder you must give account
O ma tete coolu coolu coolu temper
coolu temper”
The next day, I was going about my daily chores in the house when I heard the same intro. The harmony was fantastic, and I was mesmerized. The intro was followed by that voice again and this time, I pressed my ear to the radio, trying to get the ‘headphone’ experience, soaking it all in and trying to take note of all the parts of the song in case I did not get to hear it again. I kept wondering who was behind that voice and why I was just hearing it. Those two days marked the beginning of my love for Lagbaja as an artist. I could not get over that voice. I played it over and over again in my head and wondered how anyone could combine different percussion instruments and blend the rhythms with that of the bass guitar and other string and wind instruments to bring out such a beautiful harmony. Add to that the extremely soothing solos from his tenor sax. Not only would this experience mark the beginning of a love for Lagbaja, but it marked the beginning of a long journey into the world of music through radio.
After Raypower came Cool FM in 1998 and I switched allegiances in 2000 when Dan Foster became the host of the popular ‘Good Morning Nigeria Show’. I hate to admit it, but I was carried away by his foreign accent. Beyond that, at the time, it was the most interactive breakfast show on radio. He was funny, there were lots of games to play and the show generally created a community of radio listeners. Dan Foster wasn’t the only fantastic radio presenter that Cool FM had. At different times, there was Lakeside, Kemi, Dare, Ebele, Iyke the Gee, Vicky and Olisa. Lakeside, Kemi and Dare had afternoon shows, Ebele and Vicky were the queens of the night and Iyke the Gee’s Sunday evening show was where you get your music requests played and he had a fantastic music collection.
The situation with me having no friends had slightly improved and I had made some friends, but we didn’t visit each other frequently and we couldn’t communicate over the phone, so it was easy for me to immerse myself in the radio and become a part of the world of the airwaves. I preferred to listen to the radio when there was no interruption which was either during the day when everyone was out or late at night when everyone had gone to bed. A favourite pastime was imagining myself in the scenario of each song. So, whether it was Seal singing Dionne Warwick’s ‘Walk on By’ or Whitney Houston singing “I Have Nothing,” it was easy for me to close my eyes and be part of the story that the song was about. And listening to Cool FM was how I discovered artists like Coldplay, Keane, Maroon 5, Kings of Leon, Aerosmith, Mark Schultz, Joan Osborne, Counting Crows, Vanessa Carlton, Nelly Furtado, The Corrs, Do, Katie Melua, Kylie Mynogue, Natalie Imbrugli, Norah Jones, Carlos Santana, Michelle Branch, Sixpence Non the Richer and so many others.
Rhythm FM Lagos started in 1997, but by 2000 when Cool FM was my No 1 radio station, Rhythm was No 2, for two reasons. A radio presenter named Paula and the afternoon old school drive. Simply known as Paula, she had an incredible voice that I could listen to for hours without getting tired. She hosted a Sunday morning gospel show where she played contemporary Christian music and gave a brief background to the artists. I rarely missed her show. Then on weekdays between 12 and 4pm I think, it was old school music all the way. An hour between 11am and noon was dedicated to music from all over Africa, introducing me to African greats like Salif Keita, Youssou N’ Dour and Papa Wemba. I was usually torn between listening to Rhythm FM and Cool FM at that time of the day.
When I had to go to boarding school, I got a Palito radio that was my daily companion. It was a small portable radio that came with earphones and was very effective in keeping me from losing my mind in school and more importantly, close to the music that I had come to love. My secondary school years were the worst years of my schooling experience. I was bullied a lot, laughed at for not speaking the language of the environment, had an identity crisis for the most part and I always felt like an outsider in school. I started as a day student and finished as a boarder. As a day student, I would rather listen to the radio at night than complete my homework or study. While in boarding school, I was often lonely and would just plug my ears, listen to the radio and transport myself to a fantasy world of the songs I listened to. It was during this time that I first heard Sixpence None the Richer’s ‘Kiss Me.’ The song to me represented a perfect world.
I did not gain admission into the university immediately after secondary school. I stayed at home for three years and again, listening to the radio helped me keep my sanity. As a teenager, not only had I experienced changes in my body, my reaction to girls, which used to be disdain, now turned to admiration. Consequently, my taste in music changed. Songs about love or heartbreak became relatable suddenly and songs that I had heard when I was much younger but only enjoyed the melody took on a new meaning, like Inner Circle’s ‘Sweat’. I began to listen to a lot of lover’s rock, R n B and soft rock. This was the Coldplay era in my life. Clocks, Lost, The Scientist. Those songs had a way of evoking poignant feelings in me. Still don’t know why.
I had a keen interest in girls, but I was also extremely introverted and shy. So, most of my interactions with girls were either initiated by them or through more outgoing friends. Bottom line, I had many crushes but not the courage to talk to them. Enter Vickie the Night Nurse on Cool FM. Her voice had a healing quality to it. Chante Moore’s ‘Wey U’ was the signature tune of the programme and later when she started the discussion for the night, it was Toni Braxton’s ‘The Art of Love.’ It was easy to listen to her and the music and get transported into another world where nothing else mattered or where I would imagine myself expressing my feelings to my crush and she will say she felt the same way too. I would lie on my bed in the dark and have a silly smile splashed across my face while the music played.
My mum could not understand why the radio had to be on all night. Whenever she came out of her room at night and heard the radio on, she would come in and switch it off. Even if I was asleep, I would wake up as soon as the radio goes off, wait for her to leave and turn it back on, making sure to reduce the volume.
There was this thing I also liked about listening to radio at night. Sometimes a beautiful song is playing, and you begin to hear it in your sleep and when you start waking up, for a few seconds, you are trying to determine whether the song is playing from inside your head or from the radio until you are fully awake and you can hear the song loud and clear. It is such a beautiful feeling. I heard two songs for the first time that way and it feels different when I’m playing the songs in my head: Sixpence Non the Richer’s ‘A Million Parachutes’ and Shola Allyson’s ‘Baba Ese.’
Interestingly, I do not listen to radio now as much as I used to. Life has happened and I cannot afford to sit by the radio all day and wish my problems away. I must be out in the real world, striving to make things happen. I still listen to music, but radio is not the only access to it like it was growing up. Technology has changed so many aspects of our lives over the years and now, all the music in the world can be accessed through a single device. Notwithstanding, there is still something about hearing a song you like being played on the radio, it might be just my imagination, but I think there is a different kind of quality to it. I find myself listening more intently because I know the track will not be replayed.
As the years roll by, that day in 1996 when I discovered Lagbaja has faded into the distance, far away from my current realities, but the influence of the experience and everything it represents will stay in my heart for a very long time. I think of radio and all it has done to me, and I just wonder what life would have been like if my relationship with it had never existed.
