People from all walks of life have have continues to shower encomiums on Evangelist Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi, as the living legend in the entertainment industry and a source of inspiration to many others clocks 79.
Miliki crooner is 79
years old today. Ebenezer never hides his love for God, as revealed in my so
many years during interaction with him.
What then is the
genesis of his philosophical lyrics? Is
it inborn or did you learn it?
"I will call
it the gift of God. It is very easy for me to compose songs, not everybody can
do that. It's not just about becoming a composer, it
doesn't start and end there, but what kind of songs are you composing? That is the question. If you can compose good
songs, good songs last forever, it will become a point of reference. People
would want to play it everywhere; they want to listen to it all the time.
People know an artiste for his qualities".
Did you ever find
yourself under pressure to satisfy your listeners?
"That must be
a good pressure. I don't call it pressure because pressure is what you're doing
out of pain and hardship. When you're good in what you do it is a good
pressure. They book performance up to six months and one year in advance. I
enjoy doing it; in fact good music
cannot come from pain. It has to come from the mind that is flowing and
settled. If it looks like pressure that must be a good pressure".
How then do you
get inspiration for your composition?
"If I lay
down on the bed it comes, early in the morning when I wake up and go to toilet,
it comes. It can come anywhere even on stage. You can't compose when you're
occupied, no that's why it comes when people cannot disturb me, on my bed, toilet".
Can you tell us memorable stories in your life?
"I can never,
never forget Mr. Cress, I used to call him my father, I see him as God sent man
to me at the my point of need. I wanted to be discovered, I knew I had something in me. When you have
good things in you, you must not allow it to die until you find a way to
deliver it. If I didn't have the opportunity to be heard all those songs could
have died in me. You see the main reason why I trekked all the way from Mushin
to Lagos Island was because no technology that allows you to record and take
your demo to the producer. So I didn't have the money. I trekked all the way to
Afrodisia Studio on Lagos Island. I met the secretary who said I can't see the
Managing Director that the person I suppose to see was the Artiste Manager and
he was on leave. So he said, I should come back in six weeks time. The argument
continued and that was how the Managing Director called through the intercom to
know the cause of the noise. The secretary said there is a young man here who
said he is a future star, he says he wants to see you and I told him he can't
see you. So the Managing Director
exclaimed future star, send him in. Can
you see one of the reasons I can't forget him. So, I told him I'm a future
star, I want you to record me and don't pay me, my records will sell, after the
records are sold then pay me. He kept on looking at me, speechless. The rest is story now".
There are so many
firsts recorded for the Chief Commander at 79 he is still Chief Commander.
Join me to wish
him happy birthday, long live and prosperity.
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