Before Ayinla Kollington ventured into music fully, he was in the military. Though, he is called a ‘general,’ a name given to him by the late General Sani Abacha, he never waited to earn that position in the army.
Speaking with our correspondent, he said he did not regret leaving the army as the time he did. He said music had always being his passion and there was no point pursuing other peoples’ passion.
He also stated that he had never been tempted to leave Fuji music for any other genre, insisting that, “When you are a specialist in something and God gave you the gift, you do not need to jump from one place to another.
There is no point leaving your talent and trying to learn another.” According to him, sickness was the major factor that kept him away from music for a long time even though people had said different things about him. He explained, “There is no one beyond challenges. Even our president took ill and he is now back. I was a bit down health wise; I had ulcer and typhoid. Little things kill people; it is not until you are hit by a car before you fall ill. We should all pray not to see problems bigger than us. We all have our problems, which are different from one another. But you know people know how to make a big deal of something.
“I am okay now and I have been playing music. On Good Friday, I had a show; I played on Monday at Igando, Lagos and on April 22 too, I have a show in Osogbo.”
After a long break, the general recently released an album, which he titled, Esin Funfun (white horse). Describing why he settled for the name, he said, “I named my new album, ‘Esin Funfun,’ because it has been a while I released and I wanted my fans to know that I was down. All this while, they did not hear from me because of certain challenges but I have overcome them now. The horse is up and walking. I have bounced back.
“People have been calling me and praying for me for releasing the album. They do not want me to stay too long before releasing another,” he added. For him, there is no problem if younger artistes choose to change Fuji music to move with the trend. He is of the opinion that the world is evolving and change is constant.
“It is great if the younger musicians add innovations to Fuji music provided they are still keeping it alive. We should always move with the world; change is constant. My only advice for them is to sing good music, music that can educate people.”
