| Artist : Dr. Victor Olaiya Album : The Best Of Dr. Victor Olaiya Genre : Nigeria Highlife Label : Premier Music Victor Olaiya: 50 years of ingenious highlife on stage - By Richard Eghaghe, Entertainment Correspondent (Daily Independent Online.) A native of Ondo State, Dr Victor Olaiya was born on December 31, 1931, in Calabar, Cross River State, where his parents, Alfred Omolona Olaiya and Bathsheba Owolabi Motajo, had gone to settle. The 20th child of a family of 24, Olaiya speaks Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba fluently. He took to music at a tender age, while equally pursuing his education. Young Olaiya had his first feel of playing music at the African School, Onitsha, where he was exposed to playing such instruments as Bb Flat Bombardon and Eb French Horn. He moved to the commercial city of Lagos on completion of his secondary education and took to full time music. He played with such bands like the Sammy Akpabot Sextet and the Old Lagos City Orchestra. The turning point in his music career came when young Victor broke away from the popular Bobby Benson Jam Session Orchestra, where he was leader and trumpeter of the second band, to start his own band, Cool Cats, in 1954he made his debut that same year. Ever since, there has been no stopping Olaiya from blowing his trumpet and making the waves with highlife music. His band gained national recognition when it was selected to play at the state ball, which highlighted major activities of Queen Elizabeth of Englands visit to ... |
