Fuji legend K1 De Ultimate expresses displeasure over current state of Yoruba music

Few days after he marked his 61st birthday, Fuji musician King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall popularly known as K1 De Ultimate has revealed his discontent with the present state of Yoruba music.

He was speaking as part of a panel that discussed the evolution of traditional Yoruba music at the 2018 Ariya Repete Roundtable Discourse. The event which held in Abeokuta, sought to create a panacea to discuss the successes recorded and threats to Fuji and Juju genres of Yoruba music.

K1, while answering a question posed to him to find out what he thinks of the dearth of fresh talents in his field, said:
“I am not happy. How can I be happy when the very language is being threatened? Most Nigerian parents nowadays do not allow their children to speak the Yoruba language. Of course it will affect the music and that’s what we’re seeing now. Present day musicians are not making effective use of the language in their music. Nigerians often call their own mother tongue ‘vernacular’. It’s a worrying development, not something to be proud of.”