Chief Doctor Sikiru Ayinde Barrister

Chief Doctor Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, born in 1948 in Lagos, Nigeria, is responsible for the introduction of fuji music, and is still the leading Yoruba fuji singer. Named after Mount Fuji, the Japansese mountain of love, the word was really used because he liked the sound of it. Fuji is a combination of the were beat, juju, apala, and traditional Yoruba praise poems. Barrister developed the sound after a short span in the army during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970). Upon his release from the army Barrister formed his goup of up to 25 members, The Supreme Fuji Commanders. Barrister thinks of his music as a percussion conversation and that definition most aptly describes fuji music.