Apala music is a Nigerian music genre birthed in the 1970’s and it is pioneered by late Ayinla Omowura and late Haruna Ishola. In the 1990’s the songs of these legends buzzed on our airwaves and parties. If you were born in 1985 or earlier, you ought to be familiar with lyrical excerpts from Ayinla’s music: “Aanu re lo n se mi o/ Lo je ki n ba o da’moran/ Pe o ye ki o bi’beji / Koto bora”. The attention and reception this music genre enjoyed, however, declined in the late 90’s as Nigerian Hip-Hop, Rap, Pop and Afrobeats music took over.
But in 2003, offspring of one of the front-liners, Musiliu Babatunde Ishola, picked up from where it left off and re-introduced Apala music to us with his “Soyoyo” album. This album was so huge it contended with Tuface’s critically acclaimed and ever-green “African Queen” album. It is noteworthy the playlist houses so many hit tracks including album title track, “Soyoyo”, which is a fusion of Apala and indigenous rap music. Even at a time when other songs off the album lost relevance, “Soyoyo” stood tall like Colossus. This was the beginning of the era of another version of Apala music- Apala Hip-Hop- which was seconded by Terry Alexander Ejeh popularly known as Terry Apala with the release of “Baca” in 2018.
After the frenzy of Baca died down, it felt like Apala music was dead only for it to bounce back with the new school Apala music crooner’s comeback hit, “Apala Disco” featuring DJ Tunez. This was so big Afrobeats giant, Wizkid had to jump on it for a remix. This massive collaboration is currently banging everywhere: our bars, lounges and clubs. It is a fact Apala music keeps soaring higher since its re-emergence. Thanks to Alexander who delights us at least quarterly with his Apala classic tunes.
It is good news while foundational and similar Nigerian music genres like Fuji are gradually going into extinction, Apala music continues to gain more fame. This is so because of its satirical nature- it attempts to correct real-life, societal ills.
Apala music is going nowhere and I think more Nigerian artistes should join Terry so that this great inheritance would last forever.
osh-ng.com 
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