Guitar Boy Superstar

Guitar-Boy Superstar is the first survey of the long career of the legendary Nigerian musician, artist and poet Victor Uwaifo, one of Nigeria's greatest stars -- a long-overdue release that puts Victor Uwaifo next to other Nigerian greats better known in the West. Victor Uwaifo's mission to spread and preserve the cultural heritage of ancient Benin (Modern day Edo State, Nigeria) has seen him work as a commissioner for cultural affairs in his native Edo State, a University lecturer, acclaimed bronze sculptor and poet as well as a highly successful musician. He has been awarded Nigeria's highest cultural tribute -- the order of the Niger, and continues to teach and work today with an energy that has not abated for nearly fifty years. Cutting his musical teeth with Victor Olaiya ("the evil genius of highlife") in the early '60s, he went on to form his own band The Melody Maestros, producing Nigeria's biggest-ever selling record with Joromi in 1965, for which he was awarded Africa's first gold disc. He has continued to produce some of the most popular and engaging music in Nigeria ever since. This album focuses on his early 1970s musical output. Uwaifo invented a unique style of highlife music that he called ekassa -- based on ancient rhythms and fused with modern highlife instrumentation and just a dash of rock and soul.