Managing the art of staying on top is the lubricant for reenergizing sustained musical success. This does not only come with record releases, but it is more the product of live performances of a regular nature. Nigeria's Orlando Owoh, master of the juju-highlife format who has remained in super star status consistently for over four decades now is a master of these situations.

But as if this feat is not remarkable enough, at this time when most African musicians are busy trading their African ness for western music trends and fusions in the desperate bid for man appeal and commercial success on the international scene, Orlando is consolidating his grassroots music and projecting it to the outside world in its authentic form.

Orlando's guitar band format has remained the same since the fifties when his career began as a sideman in 1956 with Ogunmola, one of the pioneers of the theatre in Nigeria. From the very be ginning he was faced with musical adventures and challenges: "I ventured into music in 1956 with Ogunmola and his Theatre Party, playing drums and singing," he once said. "I was very young then. We went to welcome the Queen of England that same year at Ibadan, now capital of Oyo State of Nigeria." Continuing, he said.

"From there, we were contracted by the University of Ibadan to provide music and entertainment to the celebration of three of their popular plays, namely, 'Palm Wine Drunkard.' Their enemies and 'Samson and Delilah'. We were used to promote these plays. I provided vocal accompaniment and was involved in drumming."

From this testimony, it is obvious that Orlando was put on a good start from the very beginning. He left Ogunmola in 1958 to join Akindele and His Chocolate Dandies at Ibadan. But while moving from one band to other, he was taking lessons on guitar and broadening his entire musical horizon. When he eventually formed his own band in 1959, the outfit instantly attracted recognition: "It was the quality of my music that recommended me to recording companies. I was playing on a night gig when Decca Records came to discuss with me, and eventually signed me on. I recorded my first hit in 1959, but it was released in 1960, a hit single titled "Oluwa lo ran mi" which literally means "God sent me" with "Mobimo kan to dagba" (I have a grown up child) in Yoruba on the flip side.

One of Decca's top recording stars, he turned out hit after hiw for the company in the sixties, among them "Itan Orogun meji," "Nebu chanezari," "Yabomisa," and "Atalantere" among others. Most of them were on singles but it was in the seventies when he moved to Shanu Olu label that he extensively recorded on 33 vynil such memorable albums as "Money na hand back na ground," "Kennery de ijo ya" among others.

Dr. Orlando as he is fondly called by his admires has been promoting African cultural music abroad since three decades. His first notable effort was in London where he made considerable impact performing on a star-studded bill. Said he, "my band was in London in 1972 to play for Nigerian Law Students who were celebrating their graduation. I played at the African center on October 1, 1972. that was where I was honoured with the doctorate degree in music." Continuing, he said, "I was on the same bill with Mirian Makeba, Ramblers Dance Band of Ghana, Ossibisa, and Ipi Tombe of South Africa."

Encouraged by the reaction of the audience to his music, he toured various parts of Britain including Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham. He also performed in such European countries as Holland, Belgium, Italy among others. This was in the seventies , but this trip opened the doors to America tours for him in the eighties and nineties.

Orlando's music is rich in all the vital elements. The vocal themes are not just based on social commentaries like Fela, he was since become a political activist who abhors injustice, corruption and man's inhumanity to man; and has had some brushes with the authorities.

As a singer, his voice is like no other human sound ever brought into music - with its rich, guttural nature which is a natural endowment. As a result, he is able to project effectively in all the registers - high, low and middle without straining the voice.

Perhaps the most powerful natural resources of Orlando's music is the kinetic energy he derives from the conga on which one of his sidemen thrills audiences with entertaining solo stints. Known all over West Africa and Europe for his exploits Adeconga as he is called remains a commanding presence on the instrument as he creates rhythmic patterns with a dynamic force.

Orlando's music remains enduring and relevant as the pioneer exponent of the juju-highlife idiom.