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| Fatai Rolling Dollar |
Prince Fatai Olayiwola Olagunju, popularly known as Fatai Rolling Dollar, was an enigma in the Nigerian music industry, especially in the juju/highlife genre, having staged an incredible comeback about a decade ago, after a lull in a career that dated back to the early 60s.
The news of his death in a Lagos hospital early Wednesday, at the age of 85, elicited reactions from a cross-section of the society, including President Goodluck Jonathan, who described his influence on African music as overwhelming.
While he was off the musical scene for decades, Fatai Rolling Dollar had waded through a poverty experience that forced him to take up a security job during the construction of the Teslim Balogun Sports Stadium in Lagos.
But, fortune smiled on him a few years back when former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, helped revive his music career by featuring him in state programmes, a development, which brought him back as a household name and lifted him financially.
When Saturday Tribune visited his family compound, on Thursday, in Ede, Osun State, which is situated a few metres away from the palace of the Timi, the paramount ruler of the town, the place was quiet. Some old women were seen chatting in front of some of the clay-made houses with rusty roofing sheets in the compound.
In an interview, a cousin of the deceased, Prince Ibrahim Rasaq Olagunju, said although the musician attained a ripe age of 85, his death was shocking.
“The death of Fatai Rolling Dollar is a great loss to the Olagunju family, Ede, Osun State and Nigeria as a whole. Since yesterday (Wednesday) when the news of his death was broken, people all over the country and even outside have been sending their condolences to us.
“We are going to miss him a lot. Some benefits came with being related to him, but all that may not be there again except by God’s grace. Pa Fatai Rolling Dollar was an eminent personality and a humble representative of Ede land. He was successful and he identified with the Ede community all the time,” Olagunju remarked.
He added: “The last time he came to Ede was three years ago when the community organised a birthday reception for him. He used to come and see former governor of the state, Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke and the Timi, Oba Munirudeen Adesola Lawal. And anytime he came around like that, he would not lodge in a hotel, but sleep in the family house despite the condition of our compound
“There was a time he came home and the former Timi, Oba Tijani Oladokun, asked where he was lodging. Rolling Dollar told the traditional ruler that he would sleep in his family house. This impressed Oba Oladokun such that he promised to give him a piece of land to build his house in Ede. But unfortunately, the traditional ruler died soon after he made the promise.”
In his own reaction, the Mogaji of Olagunju family in Ede, Aliyu Dodo Olagunju, described the deceased as his very good son, who had brought fame to their family through his musical exploits.
“When they called me yesterday that he had passed on, I felt bad and was downcast. I told them to bring his corpse to Ede, but they did not. We will remember him because he left his footprints in the sands of time,” he said.
Saturday Tribune was told that Oba Adesola Lawal was in a meeting when the reaction of the traditional ruler was sought. But, a native of the town, Alhaji Adetunji Ojo, who spoke at the Timi’s palace, described the musician as a great entertainer and a pride to the country, who despite his age, revived highlife music which, he said, had almost gone extinct.
How his ailment started:
The illness that finally claimed the life of the octogenarian started while on a US trip for a concert which was scheduled to hold in top American cities, namely, New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Texas. However, the concert only held in Maryland and New York according to sources.
Narrating his ordeal while on his sick bed at Ahmadiya Hospital, Abule Egba, Rolling Dollar stated, ”I went on stage and performed. When I finished performing and went to sit down, my body was no longer normal. I told somebody to take me to the car and put on the heater. It was about 3.00 a.m. and that was where I started feeling the pain in my leg. It was very cold in America then.” However some people, who spoke to Saturday Tribune in Lagos, noted that Rolling Dollar exposed his body to so much cold while in the Obama country. ‘As you know Baba is old, but believes he is still very much strong. He exposed himself to cold and I believe that was the genesis of his problem, because he was shivering while he was taken to the car” our source narrated.
However, reports said he died of lung cancer.
TRIBUNE
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