I’m a man exposed to good living through the hard way – Chris Ajilo

Come the next Boxing Day, Highlife legend, composer and one of the pioneer musicologists in Nigeria, Chris Ajilo will clock 84 years old but when he walked into the Corporate Office of Vanguard Media Limited some days back, to visit his old friend, the publisher of Vanguard, Mr. Sam Amuka, there was nothing of him to show he was anything near that age.
Twice, the old music master climbed the four flight of stairs to the Publisher’s office without as much as a pant. He was so full of life with much breath to spare even when those of us much younger were a bit breathless by the simple exercise.
He was accompanied by Beautiful Nubia who granted us an interview but when it was Pa Ajilo’s turn, he kindly declined. “ I have been interviewed too many times. There is nothing new to be said about me that hasn’t been said before. Everything you want to know about me is in the book”, he said, referring to “Reminiscences of a Nigerian Pioneer Musicologist”, an autobiography of his life he launched in January of  2013. “It is my gift to the future. It took me two years to complete and I am proud to say I wrote the book without assistance from any quarter”
“I am not only a musician, I am a Copyright man, a Trade Unionist, a man that makes use of his hands and his brain” he said. “Read the book and you will share in my experience, the journey I had to travel through life”. So, we took a journey into the mind of a great man through pages of his own autobiography:
The Early Life
Chris Ajilo was born on December 26, 1929 in Oke Popo, in Lagos Island, close to Kakawa and Campos Square, an area commonly referred to as the ‘Brazilian quarters’ because slaves brought from different areas of South America after the abolition of the Slave Trade were quartered in this area.

Ajilo

Chris Ajilo had a normal upbringing like every child born in the early 1900s in Lagos, growing up with his other four siblings. But his father’s early death reshaped his life and cut a different path for him to follow. He was only nine years old when his father died and the burden of raising the children fell on his mother, Late Mrs Christiana Ajilo, who was a sewing mistress.
His first encounter with music came at  C.M.S. Grammar School where he was taught the theory of music. It was a compulsory subject at CMS then and it had as much effect on him as it did on every young person fascinated with music at that time. Then, he met another person who contributed in some way in awakening the music giant in him.
“The young man was Fola Arogundade and he was a man of many parts. He played the guitar, he sang,  he was a playwright. He was my role model and inspirer in music which was then a compulsory subject at the CMS Grammar School,” he wrote.
By Class four at CMS it dawned on Young Ajilo that he could not any longer depended on his mother to pay his way through school because in his words, “It was already manifestly clear that things had become unbearably tough for Mama to cater effectively for the household, more so, with the undisguised threats from money lenders.”
On the 8th of April, 1946, Ajilo decided to leave home for greener pastures abroad. To do this, he disguised himself in his senior brother’s military uniform, who had served in the West African Frontier Force during the Second World War. He joined the convoy leaving for Ghana at the Abalti Barracks in Idi-Oro, Lagos.
From Teshi Army Base, he went to Accra and began on a long journey, from one African seaport to another, often times as a stowaway, surviving harshest of conditions life has to offer. Sometimes, going without food for days. At a point, after sailing with an American Ship he changed his name to Johnny Foster, again, disguising, this time, as an African-American. From there on, life was a merry-go-round of dashed expectations, adventures and even imprisonment but he eventually made it to Great Britain and  ultimately to Birmingham, where his life took a rhythmic turn on the path  to music.
At that point in his life, music was the last thing on his mind. His having to work in several factories had tuned his mind towards becoming an engineer but his weekend escapades at various balls, shows and concerts stirred the musical giant long asleep in him back to life.
“ I wrote to my mother in Lagos informing her about changing my course of study in England to music. She instantly replied my letter only to rebuke me that my decision would turn me to a beggar when I return to Nigeria” he wrote. To pursue his dream he had to leave Birmingham for London, leaving behind his fiancée, a lady named Barbara Hulme who bore him his first child, a baby girl.
The musical journey
“ I saved enough money to get admission into the Central School of Dance Music (later known  as Eric Gilder School of Music)  under the great guitarist and music teacher, Mr. Ivor Mairant” he wrote. His lecturers included Johnny Dankworth, Don Randell, Jimmy Ducher, Aubrey Frank and many other notable names. He worked and schooled at the same time. “My first instrument, an alto saxophone, was bought from a pawn shop in the West End for fifteen pounds”.
“By the time I purchased my own tenor saxophone, I started practical lessons on the instrument from my instructor, Don Randell. I was also learning to play the clarinet from my other instructor, Aubrey Frank” he wrote. But what helped him more was having to travel with professional bands and playing with them. This was something he too inculcated in his students later in life. “In fact, today, I believe what I learnt from these professionals were much more than what I learnt in the School of Music” he wrote.
After music school he joined a semi-professional band of youths, playing Afrocuban music with a touch of jazz. Then he played with bands like Kenny Graham and his Afrocubist Band; the Ginger Johnson Abalabi Band; the Arthur Rowebury’s Band. The birth of his own first band came through his return visit to Birmingham where he met a group of Nigerians who needed someone to direct and groom their musical passion. The Cool Cats Band of Africa was born and later resurfaced in Lagos at the West End Cafe in Lagos after his return to the country.
Back in the fatherland
Now a groomed musicologist, Chris Ajilo arrived in Nigeria to a sort of hero’s welcome from his family and the Nigerian Press. It was a memorable day and more memorable was his linking up with his old band, the ‘West End Cool Cats Orchestra’ which was already playing at the West End Cafe at Apongbon Street owned by Mr. Larinde Cole a.k.a ABC Cole. “ members of the band were Kazool Anifowoshe, lead trumpet, late Bala Miller, second trumpet, Victor Olaita, third trumpet, Late Tex Lati Oluwa, double bass, Lander Shashore, bongos with late Olu Gabson, jazz drums. There were two lady vocalists, my younger sister, Connie Ajilo and Kathleen Equa Garland. There were also Oden Lawal, on drums, Sammy Lartey, on alto, baritone saxophones and clarinet and I, on tenor saxophone, clarinet and leading the band” he wrote.
After a few weeks he left “ I had to leave the band with other musicians because of the style of the management which gave only one third of the collected gate fees as the band’s salary. The idea was unacceptable to my perception of running a resident band” he explained.
On the origin of Highlife
“ There had been many arguments on the origin of Highlife. Some school of thought said it was from the then Gold Coast now Ghana. Others believe it was from other parts of the West African countries. But my belief is that the word ‘Highlife’ was coined from the free style of dancing which was not as strict as the other Western or foreign dance steps of the yesteryears. This pattern of music was found throughout the West African Coast with various musical instruments used” he wrote.
Taking music to the next level
Right after the West End Cool Cats experience he became obvious to Ajilo musicians were not being placed in their pride of place in the scheme of things and in the face of seeming economic boom in the country he began a quest to find identity for musicians.
His band, Chris Ajilo and his Cubanos was formally launched on August 1, 1955. The member were Johnson Omooba, trombone, Tex Lati Oluwa, double bass guitar, Lander Sasore, bongos, Akanni Martins, guitar, Candido D’Ajax, conga drums, late Bayo Martins, jazz drums and vocals. Later, Tony Obbs and Marco Bazz on alto sax and trumpet respectively joined the band.