Maliki Showman, that Auchi, Edo State, born highlife musician that sang ‘eleyi wa le ni osi nkan’ made the the word ‘Dem Mama’ very popular in the early ’90s before Timaya took it up and used it in one of his songs.
In fact, among members of Performing Musicians Employers’ Association in the days of Chief Tony Okoroji, he was better known by that moniker. And he was always with his trumpet, he will always bring out from its bag and blow for whoever cares to listen.
Maliki sang the Hausa hook line of King Sunny Ade’s ‘ Nigeria ni ti gbo gbo e gbe keme gbe’ whose video was produced by the maverick one, Charly Boy, in the early ’90s. Maliki who died from wounds he sustained when a hit and run driver knocked him down at Maryland on his way to his Bariga residence in …., was a real elder friend in the true sense of the word.
However, that is not the crux of this piece. What he once told me about the late Sonny Okosuns right in the present of the ozzidi man is what I want to disclose today.
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