Legendary music promoter, Femi Esho, is dead

Legendary Nigerian Evergreen music promoter and collector, Femi Esho, is dead.

He was the Chairman and CEO of Evergreen Musical Company Limited, until his demise.

The music promoter would have been 78 in October, but death beckoned earlier.

His daughter, Bunmi Esho, broke the news of his death on Facebook on Monday, revealing that Baba Esho departed to greater glory on Monday, after a brief illness.

In May, Mr Esho launched an exceptional project, the Evergreen Music Heritage Foundation. It is said to be the biggest music museum and gallery in Africa and a collaboration with the Mountain of Fire Ministries founder, Daniel Olukoya.

The project consisted of a music library, a music museum, a music gallery showcasing a headburst of artists, a display of over 1000 pictures of Nigerian musicians from 1914, relics of their costumes and old musical instruments, an event centre for music concerts, a cinema theatre, and a recording studio, all billed to be completed by December.

Illustrious career

The late music promoter was known for his prowess in music collection. He was an extraordinary music collector.

At an event in December 2017, the music promoter told the audience how long ago he started collecting music.

He said, “I started collecting music at the age of 12”. Today, Femi Esho is the undisputed most prominent collector of music of yesteryears with over 150,000 vinyl plates made up of 78rpm breakable plates, 45rpm and 33rpm, hundreds of reel-to-reel tapes, thousands of cassette tapes of various music along with archival materials such as His Master’s Voice (HMV), various reel-to-reel machines, various turntables with the oldest 100 years old, books and newspaper articles on Nigerian music, video recordings of early Nigerian music icons’’.

ALSO READ: Wigwe, Imoukhuede, and Access Bank: Beyond rumours and stories, By Simbo Olorunfemi

Before he formed his musical company, he had worked for the Lagos State Government under its first military governor, Mobolaji Johnson, and a major architectural firm.

He had also set up an Advertising/PR agency and ran a printing consultancy. He also formed a band dedicated to evergreen music.

It testified to his band’s quality and the demand for evergreen music. The band performed at prestigious places in Lagos, including Metropolitan Club, Ikoyi Club, MUSON Centre, Island Club and Yoruba Tennis Club. Various corporate giants have also patronised it.

To mark Nigeria’s centenary celebration in 2014, he reviewed Nigerian music from 1914 to 2014 in a programme on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) network service.

He presented “Highlife Renaissance” on Raypower weekly for about three years.