Chief Sally Young: The King of Urhobo Highlife Music

By Ochuko Tonukari

As I was sitting in the velvety  coolness of my room some few days ago, pen and paper in hand, trying to finish my story and chewing the end of my pen as I suppose you often do when you are writing essay, a most fascinating incidence that took place the week before caught my fancy.  As a freelance journalist, I must confess that it was an intriguing incidence that brought in its wake many challenges such as the financial wherewithal to accomplish it. The timeframe too was extemporaneous as it coincided with other major activities like my job. But it was altogether worthwhile.

It had all started about two weeks ago. I had gone as was usual to pay a surprise visit to a bosom friend of mine in Sapele and in the course of our discussion, he told me about how happy he was on reading a tribute I wrote about late Chief Omokomoko Osokpa published in the good Website pages of Naija Stories. As the conversation progressed, he expressed the view that I was a good writer and wondered whether I could find time to do similar works on Chief Sally Young or some of the other Urhobo traditional music maestros like Go-Slow Arhavwore, Chief Ogute Otan and Chief J.C Ogbiniki whom I mentioned in the Omokomoko treatise. It was a different angle to a story. To a say I was happy or overjoyed was a mere understatement. I was simply mad with joy that someone at least, saw meaning in my little undertaking.

The music of Sally Young especially, like that of Omokomoko Osokpa, had been a source of great joy and inspiration to me right from my infancy. As a little boy, I remember musing endlessly over Sally Young’s musical repertoire with delight. Indeed, he gave real meaning to Urhobo music in those days. His songs in the 70s and 80s brought happiness to many hearts, smiles to many lips and tears to many eyes. His lyrics were a moving exploration of man’s every day struggles and they portrayed real life situations.

Frankly, I cannot now forget such lovely lyrical numbers like’oko oko kidie wo rue na’ ‘hungry dey, austerity dey kill o na wa’, ‘odju djue je eyareyagboma,’ and ogban ri mi hworo ri vwe evu orerhe r’ihwo fa’ in a hurry. The Urhobo youths of my generation would later wonder at what Sally Young was trying to insinuate through his music ‘oko oko’. A lot of explanation where given of the song’s overtones and undertones. But it was later to be realized that the song was borne out of Sally Young’s personal experience of his disappointment by a traitorous friend. At the time Sally Young sang this song which later turned out to become his magnus opus, no get-to-gether was complete without him gracing it. singing with so much gusto, his music was a natural item in the Midwestern Region and later Bendel State. But it was not always so. A background story of Sally Young’s childhood would help to explain how his resilience and commitment to what he believed skyrocketed and brought his music to the forefront, so that even his initial detractors became his greatest fan. As a little boy, Sally Young demonstrated so much love for music but his people disapproved of music as a profession-a familiar life story, with a familiar ending. He ignored everyone who was against him, and left home to pursue his love, in this case, in Benin. It was here that he soared into a musical sensation of no mean status.

Sally Young is famed for his infectious gregariousness, his musical vision, talent, perseverance and individuality. His music is loved to this day all over Nigeria. His songs are regularly performed and danced at live band shows in Nigeria, and a number of young musicians have resang some of his old hits, and his relevance continued to be felt. 

But where is