Fela's Musicians - Interview with Rilwan "Showboy" Fagbemi, Part 1

Showboy warming up Egypt 80

There is quite a bit of information available about Fela Kuti but very little has been documented about his musicians. It was not just Fela who was great; his entire band was great, and Fela's classic afrobeat sound was constructed from the instrumental contributions of many. But the covers of all those Fela albums released in the West didn't list the names of his band mates in the credits, and the players are largely unknown to their fans.

When I met some of the members of Egypt 80 at Seun Kuti's gig on May 26 and realized that about half of them were in the band prior to Fela's death, I understood that there is still a chance to document the untold history of Fela's band. I started with an interview with Rilwan "Showboy" Fagbemi at the Shrine in Lagos on June 1. This is the first in a series. 

Ron: I think I started when I was like 9 or 10 years old. 

Showboy: With which instrument? 

Ron: I started on clarinet. 

Rilwan "Showboy" Fagbemi today

Showboy: What are you doing? That was my first instrument, the Bb clarinet. 

Ron: I had a plastic clarinet. 

Showboy: I played...my first instrument was the clarinet. I left the clarinet and started playing tenor. Then, I was playing tenor, tenor saxophone on stage. So there was this day, there was problem on the stage, because some members of the band that left due to Fela's incarceration came back when Fela came out of prison. So, there were more tenor saxophone players and more alto saxophone players so I just went for...I did not learn it from nowhere...on stage I picked the baritone and I started playing straight, the baritone. 

Ron. Did you play alto before? 

Showboy: Yeah, I played alto, I played tenor. My favourite was then tenor, but on that day I started playing baritone, and that is baritone I play up 'til today. 

When Fela comes on stage and he looks at his back, when I am not on the stand, you will hear him say, "A technical fault." He will be looking, the moment he sees me coming on stage, he starts the music. Because he never jokes with me. He respected me as a good instrumentalist, as someone who knows his instrument. Very, very important. 

Ron: His sound is anchored with the bari. 

Showboy: Yeah, yeah, yeah, because I am always there. I played solo until he died, I was the lead baritone soloist. 

Ron: So you played on a lot of the famous records? 

Showboy: Yes, yeah man, we recorded at the (name unclear) Studio in New York, 47th by 7th Avenue. (laughs) I recorded with Fela in Paris, I recorded in London, I recorded in New York, besides the ones in Nigeria. So, my experience, you know playing with Fela has a lot of things, you have a lot of things to gain as a musician, because we aren't just playing with Fela, we are learning while playing, because Fela will teach you how to be a musician, Fela will teach you how to play music the right way. Fela will wake your mind up in some aspects of music that your mind and your eyes were closed on, that you were not seeing because, let me take... 

As a soloist Fela built me to be one of the best baritone saxophone players, I made that name, go on the internet, go and check I had my ratings, write my name go on the internet and check baritone saxophone players in Africa blah, blah, blah, you will get the result. There was a day I was playing somewhere, somebody came and told me "I saw your name", I didn't believe it, "you were written as among the world's best baritone saxophone players". How come? It is due to Fela's guide. 

You know, where I knew I was doing right, I also have someone who always tells me, Showboy, don't stop, you are doing good. Keep on playing the way you are doing. And that person was the musical director of the Nigerian Navy, Wally Buckner. In fact Showboy in front of you today talking about musical instrument thanks to Wally Buckner. You know what I am saying? Thanks to Wally Buckner. 

(to be continued...)