Bobby Benson

This article deals with the Nigerian musician; for the ice hockey player of the same name, see Robert Benson (ice hockey player) .

Bobby Benson (born April 11, 1922 in Ikorodu as Bernard Olabinjo Benson ; † May 14, 1983 in Lagos ) was a Nigerian jazz and entertainment musician who had a significant influence on the music scene in his country in the 1950s and therefore "father of Nigerian Music ”; he merged the big band sound and Caribbean influences with the then popular highlife music of West Africa. He was not only a multi-instrumentalist, comedian and entertainer, but also recognized as a singer and songwriter.

Live and act

After finishing school, Benson turned to a career as a boxer before becoming a seaman in the merchant navy. In 1944 the boat he was traveling on was hit by a torpedo ; after the rescue, he stayed in London, where he performed with an African ballet, with which he made guest appearances in several European countries. During this time he met his wife with Scottish and Caribbean ancestors, with whom he returned to Nigeria in 1947 to found the Bobby Benson and Cassandra Theatrical Party . As a copy of the Afro-American "Bobs" in the slapstick comedies , he disguised himself in skinny pants and tails and put white make-up on his lips and eyes. Although he was a self-taught musician , he played the saxophone and guitar while his wife danced. Compared to the rather “stilted” jazz that was common in Nigeria up until then, it had a rather “wild” style and was very successful with it. In 1948 he founded the Bobby Benson Jam Session , with which he played swing , jive, but also sambas , boogie-woogie and calypso ; He toured all of Nigeria with her for two years. The band was soon recognized as the leading jazz band in the country. In the 1950s he changed his lineup, in 1952 as Nigeria Jazz Club , then as Agil Jazz Club ; he turned to the popular highlife style. His formation now comprised eleven musicians (including seven wind players) and played with them in the Empire Hotel and in the Lido Bar in Lagos, before he founded his own Caban Bamboo Night Club (which then became his Hotel Bobby in Lagos). Musicians such as Roy Chicago , Victor Olaiya , Eddie Okunta , Sir Victor Uwaifo , Bayo Martins and Zeal Onyia played in his band .

With Taxi Driver he had a big hit in Nigeria; other successes followed such as Freedom Yes, Sir and Iyawo se wo lose mi, Mafe, Nylon Dress and Niger Mambo . Niger Mambo had Randy Weston in his repertoire for 15 years since 1963 and recorded it again in 1998; the piece was recorded in 1964 by Stanley Turrentine .

In 1960 he became the president of the Nigerian Musicians Union. He held on to highlife for a long time instead of turning to the now popular Jùjú . In the 1970s, he had his own television show on NTA .

literature

• Wolfgang Bender : Sweet Mother: Modern African Music Trickster, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-923804-10-5
• Graeme Ewens: Africa O-Ye! A Celebration of African Music . Guinness Publishing, London 1991, ISBN 978-0-306-80461-8
• Ronnie Graham: World of African Music: Stern's Guide to Contemporary African Music . Pluto, London 1992; ISBN 0-7453-0552-0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ W. Bender Sweet Mother , p. 103
2. ↑ ^{a b} Bobby Benson . Online Nigeria. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
3. ↑ Cf. Chief Bassey Ita Jazz in Nigeria: An Outline Cultural History (1984), after W. Bender Sweet Mother , pp. 103f.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Brief portrait (Nigerian Evergreen Music) ( Memento of the original from June 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ cf. Tom Lord Jazz Discography (online, accessed August 19, 2013)