# Fuji Music

> Fuji is a Yorùbá popular genre built on Islamic praise-chant traditions performed to wake worshippers before dawn during Ramadan. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister converted that seasonal wéré/àjísari repertoire into a year-round commercial style from the late 1960s into the 1970s, naming it fuji; Kollington Ayinla's rival ensemble helped popularise it further, and later performers extended it into today's contemporary fuji scene.

**Category:** Music & Film · **Updated:** 2026-07-26 19:36:35 · **Canonical:** https://nigeriastuff.org/a/fuji-music

## Key facts
- **Devotional root:** Wéré / àjísari — Ramadan pre-dawn wake-up chant traditions among Yoruba Muslims
- **Genre founder:** Sikiru Ayinde Barrister (Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Balogun, 1948–2010), Ibadan
- **Formalised:** Late 1960s–early 1970s, following Barrister's Nigerian Civil War military service
- **Name:** "Fuji," popularly linked to Japan's Mount Fuji, though Barrister gave varying accounts of it in interviews
- **Chief rival:** Kollington Ayinla (Abdulrasaq Kolawole Ilori, b. 1949) — decades-long rivalry that helped drive the genre's growth
- **Instrumentation:** Sakara and bata-style hand drums, agidigbo, vocal call-and-response — largely percussion-led, minimal or no guitar
- **Contemporary scene:** K1 De Ultimate, Saheed Osupa, Pasuma Wonder and others carry fuji into current Nigerian pop

## Sources
- Sikiru Ayinde Barrister: The Legendary Creator of Modern Fuji Music — Historical Nigeria (https://historicalnigeria.com/sikiru-ayinde-barrister-the-legendary-creator-of-modern-fuji-music/)
- Throwback Icons: How Three Fuji Legends Shaped Nigerian Music — Historical Nigeria (https://historicalnigeria.com/throwback-icons-how-three-fuji-legends-shaped-nigerian-music/)
- Kollington Ayinla: Inside the Life of a Fuji Music Legend — Historical Nigeria (https://historicalnigeria.com/kollington-ayinla-inside-the-life-of-a-fuji-music-legend/)
- Sikiru Ayinde Barrister: Father of Fuji music who redefined Were sound — The Free Library (https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sikiru+Ayinde+Barrister:+Father+of+Fuji+music+who+redefined+Were...-a0873143962)

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