BENIN CITY – And the legend took a walk into the night. So ended the festival of flutes as Sir Victor Uwaifo, musical maestro and artistic irredentist, one of the most innovative of his generation, finally took a bow from the stage. In reality. He was eighty years old.
His death was announced on Saturday by one of his children, Uwaifo Peter de Rock, who broke the news on his Facebook page on Saturday evening.
“Daddy why did you leave us now? Prof Sir Victor UWAIFO has gone to rest. Black Saturday for me nooow… One week now after collaborating with me,” he lamented.
Uwaifo is the first professional musician to be awarded the National Merit Honour, Member of the Order of the Niger.
He was a prolific songwriter, sculptor, music, and instrument inventor, and popularly known as ‘Guitar Boy’.
He was Nigeria’s first Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism and winner of the first gold disc in Africa (Joromi) released in 1965.
He obtained a B.A. Honors (first class valedictorian), Master’s degree and Ph.D in Architectural Sculpture, University of Benin, and lectured at UNIBEN’s Department of Fine and Applied Art.
The reports stated that the legend died after a brief illness.
Professor Victor Uwaifo stands out today, intellectually sound both in mind and body as the most educated performing music icon in the world and the most read contemporary superstar still relevant over 50 years on stage till date.
He has over 600 songs and 100 records to his credit with 8 gold and 2 silver awards. Each record is music of serious research and philosophical work equivalent to academic journal.
He’s a member of the Performing Rights Society of London (PRS), a trustee of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) and Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON).
In 2016, Victor Uwaifo was inducted into the Grammy Award Museum in Los Angelis, USA. He has inspired generations of musicians in Nigeria and beyond and still counting.
Victor Uwaifo is documented in the Dictionary of Music and Musicians, volume 8, documented in “Men and Women of Distinction in the Commonwealth and also “Who is “Who in Nigeria”.
The Nigerian Television Authority celebrated him to mark his 50 years on stage, broadcast live to the world over a decade ago (2006) in Abuja.
Western Nigeria Television, Ibadan (WNTV), first in Africa, also awarded him a Gold Trophy in appreciation of his immense services in 1971.
Professor Victor Uwaifo is the President and Founder of Revelation Palazzo Museum and Victor Uwaifo Academy of Music, Benin City, Nigeria.
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