Guess it was one of those days mum took me to Lagos Island for some shopping. Somewhere around Tinubu Square we saw a crowd gathered around a banjo-clad singer. Knowing mum didn’t have any time for frivolities, I intentionally slowed down so that I could have a peep at what was going on.
When mum couldn’t find me right at her back, she called me and asked what was delaying me. The question was rhetorical. I guess she knew what I was up to.
I later learnt the man was called Kokoro, an itinerant singer.
His real name was Benjamin Aderounmu, an Owo prince.
He was born on 25 February 1925 and became blind at age ten. He developed a unique style of singing accompanied first by a drum and later by a tambourine.
He moved to Lagos in 1947. There, he became exposed to major local musicians like Ayinde Bakare, Bobby Benson and Victor Olaiya. In the 1960s and 1970s, he featured regularly on Federal and local radio stations, and was widely respected for the depth and wisdom of his lyrics.
He was an earlier pioneer of juju music and sang in Yoruba about love, money, conflicts and urban decadence.
He had a wide influence on other musicians.
The author Cyprian Ekwensi wrote a fictionalzed version of his life in his novel for adolescents, The Drummer Boy.
Although he was more comfortable performing among the people in many cities in Nigeria, he later found himself performing overseas.
He was exploited by people who took advantage of his blindness.
Often he was homeless, and he resorted to playing on the streets to make ends meet.
But in 2007, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola donated him a two-bedroom apartment after meeting him at a King Sunny Ade performance.
He died of a diarrhea-related ailment shortly before the planned release of his album titled Igi Araba on January 25 2009.
He was survived by his wife of 32 years, Abike Beatrice Adewunmi.
