MEET OLAMIDE TIMOTHY: THE NIGERIA BORN SUPER JAZZ BASSIEST
Special report by Mike CERUTTI)
Today’s youths and even the older generation must continue
to learn from the iconic late Dr High
Chief Nelson R.MANDELA, unarguably the biggest human brand of the last millennium and probably the most successful and
most admired man of his era
Why was MANDELA revered? Simple, he was imprisoned for good
27 years in the process of tryig to secure independence for his nation, and
freedom from apartheid enclave South Africa –a feat that was eventually
achieved by tenacity and saw Mandela coming from prison to be President
What a feat?
Today many are now using such template to get their dreams come true, with the Mandela secret formula, part of
which was his readiness to go the extra
mile to accomplish a worthy cause ,it shows that if we do more than they world
expect of us a bigget reward await us in front
In today’s showbiz world, the market is spinning millions on
daily bases, yet only few who work extremely hard and position themselves well
can be part of the jumbo cum big money spinning market
And that is where a talented Nigerian born
jazz bassist and musician Olamide Timothy who started music at a very early
stage as a choir boy where he would cry to play all sort of hand percussion
available is heading
He
quickly learnt himself how to play many of these handy instruments to ensure
his space among the instrumentalists in the choir. He began to perform as a
teenager at ceremonies, parties and churches where he was exposed to different
kinds of music that was popular then in Nigeria from such great artists as King
Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Fela Kuti, Haruna Ishola, Orlando Julius, amongst
others. All these musicians will later influence his musical compositions and
thoughts. As a child his father played a lot of Lps from
different kinds of
music around the world and his interest in music was clearly shown even as a
child that he would hum some melodies from albums so accurate as it's being
played. He later became a drummer where he performed and recorded with a lot of
known Nigerian and international artists. Ola! As popularly called, would learn
any instrument just by looking at how it's being played then after which he
would try his hands on it. He started learning the bass in the same manner but
took it even more seriously after listening to Richard Bona's album, scenes
from my life. He continued to get better on it daily as he would sit for hours
to figure out everything on that album. He was later influenced by a lot of all
other jazz bassists around the world including the greats as Jaco Pastorius,
Marcus Miller, John Patittucci, Christian McBride, Stanley Clarke etc... It was
through listening to this greats that drew his attention more into Jazz music
and got to know such great musicians as Miles Davies, Bill Evans, Eddie Gomez,
Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, Herbie Hancock,Clifford Brown, Wayne Shorter, Joe
Zawinul amongst others. He switched after two years from engineering and
statistics to study music at the university as it seems music was more powerful
and dominant in his life. He also attended the Muson diploma school of music
where he learned properly the ethics of western classical music under the
tutelage of Karen Patterson with his major on the upright bass and performed
for several years in the Muson symphony orchestra and also gave recitals on the
double bass. He got a scholarship from the prestigious Berklee College of Music
Boston Massachusetts United States after finishing from MUSON in 2010 but
couldn't see to the end of this as a result of fund. He took professional exams
in Music theory up to grade 8 , diploma and licentiate in performance from the
Associated Board of the Schools of Music (ABRSM) and Guildhall Trinity London.
Olamide has performed, produced and recorded with great musicians such as Earl
Klugh, Jimmy Dludlu, Ntsiki, Steve Rhodes Orchestra, Chinaza, Biodun Batik,
Orlando Julius, Karen Patterson, Nerak Patterson, amongst others. He was the
conductor and music director of the Limpopo Youth Orchestra, South Africa where
he's currently working as an instructor, performing with his group and several
great musicians. Ola's music is known to infuse African idioms mostly
influenced by other jazz genres to create a whole new style that touches
multiple audience across the globe. He just released his debut album Ti' Bami
Se .. aka ..My Music Soul Journey. The album which is a result of compositions
influenced by songs Ola heard while growing up mostly and those that has
thought him life lessons both as a musician and what life is all about. He
chose to sing in his Yoruba dialect as to be able to convince and affirm the
messages of each song as inspired. This album features great musicians
including Micheal Oloyede-Drums, Victor Odetunde- Piano and Keyboards, Segun
Atoyebi- saxophones, Philip Uwuagwu- Guitar, Wura Samba- Percussions and a
chamber orchestra from the Muson Symphony Orchestra. TI' BAMI SE ENIKENI OPE
IRE Each music from his album has a story behind it examples includes. TI' BAMI
SE/ It's about what God can do beyond man's imagination and encouraging people
to hope in God always. ENIKENI/ It's the Yoruba folk song that tells the story
of helping others that one is capable of helping as we are replicates of each
other. OPE/ It's a thanksgiving song to express gratitude at every point in
life. IRE/ It's a song that defines goodness and also calls for all who want or
wish for good things in life. It's an eleven track album in total and all in
different genres but categorized under Jazz and world music 
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