Highlife musician, Fatai Rolling Dollar, 83, has been into music for decades. He shares his experiences with Grace Adewara What prompted you to go into highlife music?
Everything you do in life comes with a struggle. I struggled after my school hours to know where I was going because I had the foresight that Nigeria would become another thing in the future. I completed my secondary school in 1944 at St. Patrick, Lagos, and I lost my father shortly after in the same month, December 1944. My father was the first driver to drive from Lagos to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1919. I struggled to be a musician and by following people who understood music; people who read music and I worked what they passed on to me.
What are the other things you ventured into before music?
I learnt a lot of things before I became a musician. I was a painter, MC, engineer, and even a tailor. All these vocations that I learnt did not suit me because I believe music is in my blood. That is why I am in music till today, though I have encountered so many tragedies in music.
How did you come across Ebenezer Obey?
I was in a group before I met Ebenezer Obey, when he came to play. I was playing agidigbo (indigenous music). I started with kokoma in 1945, the music which some people from Benin Republic brought to Lagos around 1945. Everything in this world has to do with time and there is time for everything in life. When the Benin people completed their tour, they left and we started playing our agidigbo, which is our forefathers’ music. After this, I joined a highlife group. Later, I worked under Ishola, Willy Paye and Jubril Isa; he was a Hausa and an ex-service man. He trained me on how to go about music and from there, I derived a lot of inspiration. When Ambrose Campbell came to Nigeria, Ebenezer Obey was the one always taking him around in Nigeria. One day, I was playing my guitar by the roadside when he saw me and asked if I was Fatai Rolling Dollar. Immediately, I said, ‘Yes,’ and that was how we became friends.
Who is your role model?
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