Hottestgistnaija.com
I know you know him as Burna Boy’s “glampa”,right? Cool.
Back in the mid-’70s to early ’90s on the AM/FM dial of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria 1 to the sister FM station FRCN 2 or RN 2, he answered also to ” Ben I “.But that’s just 5% of his story.
He’s a mulii-media personality with his heart, eyes and hands firmly established on the boisterous concert circuit of the various indigenous Nigerian musicians and bandleaders.Though he’s an all-round global music genres’ presenter, Pa Idonije is an unapologetic jazz music junkie ! He was the one that introduced a lot of us radio addicts back in the days to the early works of Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Groover Washington Jnr, Bob James, Earl Klugh, George Benson, Manu Dibango, Hugh Masekela, Spyrogyra to the various heavyweights from the olden days to the modern day Jazzicians.
FAST-FORWARDING: Benson Idonije’s a longtime freelance music columnist with the Guardian newspapers. He’s the first Band Manager of the Afrobeat god, Fela. Yes, he was the manager from when the band was known as Fela & The Koola Lobitos to Fela Ransome Kuti and the African ’70 to Fela Anikulapo Kuti and the Egypt ’80.
He was part of the pioneering group of broadcasters that gave birth to Nigeria’s foremost strictly stereophonic FM station known as FRCN 2 to RN 2 which later became known in the mid-90s as Metro FM.
However, it can be told safely to today’s Bling,Benza, Indomie and smartphone generation that, Benson Idonije is a MOBILE ENCYCLOPEDIA of Nigeria music from the 1950s ,hence a well-deserved “Happy Birthday and resounding congratulations to the living legend @84. “
