Current Affairs

Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey released over 100 albums over his career, and many songs are played so frequently at weddings and other functions that they have become deeply ingrained in Nigeria’s cultural consciousness. While it’s almost impossible to pick a standout record, as almost all of them were huge hits, Current Affairs is up there with the best. The 1980 album was the first of Obey’s to be a success outside of Nigeria, and is composed of only two tracks. At this point Obey had added dozens of musicians to his ensemble, and his tracks were getting longer and longer, which became a standard in jùjú. On “Oba Sijuade”, which runs about 18 minutes long, Obey pays tribute to King Okunade Sijuade over leisurely percussion, a combination of congas, shakers, and the regular bounce of the talking drum, as vocal harmonies or a flowing guitar line take it in turns to lead. On “Ogunpa Flood Disaster” Obey commiserates with the family of victims who perished in a disastrous flood earlier that year, praising the politicians who helped in its wake. Obey has always been vocal about social, economic, and environmental issues, even writing a song about Coronavirus.