Charly Boy, the ace Nigerian singer, has detailed his tale of rebellion and reconciliation with Chukwudifu Oputa, his late father.
Oputa, a former supreme court of Nigeria judge, died on May
11, 2014.
In a recent interview on WithChude, Charly Boy revealed that
his decision to pursue music led to a fallout with his father.
The 73-year-old activist, born Charles Oputa, said after
returning from the United States, he relocated to his village in Oguta, Imo
state, where he lived for seven years due to financial struggles.
He said he “disowned my parents” who relocated to Lagos,
adding that “the village robbed me of self-esteem”.
“I had disowned my parents. We were living in Owerri and my
parents moved to Lagos. I moved back to the village because I had just returned
from America. So I stayed in the village for seven years. I had no money. I had
nothing. But that village robbed me of self-esteem. It robbed me of many
things,” he said.
The singer, also called Area Fada, recalled how his
rebellious nature often led to a clash with his father.
Charly Boy said he was frequently punished and whipped as a
child, but eventually found a way to bond with Oputa.
“That is how I felt right from the day I was born. I want to
go the other way. My thing with the status quo started from the house,” he
said.
“Why should my father be telling us and giving us all these
commands like time to eat, time to pray and all of that? I was just so tired of
all that. It did not make sense to me.
“I was the one that was whipped most among my siblings. And I
was the one that was punished the most because I would not do what I was asked
to do.
“But then, my father
forgot that he planted these things. He would say ‘query and investigate
everything’. I used to have a vocal battle with him. I just did not understand.
He just thought I was a kid from hell who needed to be punished and trashed
seriously. I do not think we liked each other that much till everybody started
getting mature and started to see the beauty of our personalities. Sometimes he
would tease me and call me a pocket lawyer.
“At first, we could not agree on anything. And I found out
that this was not enabling me to bond with my father. Till the day I decided I
was going to flip it.”
On how they reconciled, the activist said during a tense
conversation, he chose not to react to his father’s screaming.
Charly Boy, a former president of the Performing Musicians
Association of Nigeria (PMAN), said he instead listened to his father as he
spoke.
The singer said he then calmly asked his dad to listen to
his perspective, marking a turning point in their strained relationship.
“One day, I came to him as usual to talk about something
close to my mind. He started screaming and shouting and I did not shout back. I
did not say anything,” he said.
“I listened to him very attentively. He was surprised he was
not getting any reaction. After he said everything, I said ‘Daddy, I have
listened to you, can you listen to me now?’
“He looked at me critically and that was the last day he shouted
at me. That was the day everything changed. Because I found a new way of
dealing with this man.
“After they retired I brought them to Abuja to live with me
for almost 15 years. They died in my house. The greatest job I had was to take
care of them.”
Charly Boy started his music career in 1982. His most
popular album has remained ‘1990’ which was released in 1988. The project
bordered on a corrupt military government that was expected to hand over power
to civilians that year.
In the late eighties, he had created a new ‘punk persona’,
consisting of leather jackets and boots, power-bikes, mohawks, and a new
direction in music, combining African pop and Afrobeat.
He was famous for his rings and piercings, as well as his
preference for make-up, relaxed and braided hairstyles, and what many dubbed
women’s clothes, which was controversial among conservatives.
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