Some names continue to crop up in the documentation of highlife and juju music. These names have appeared in written books and research studies conducted over the years by different scholars. Some call them pioneers, crusaders and originators, among others.
Togo Lawson was a pioneer Highlifer/Juju musician who began his musical career with the tambourine, which he played as an itinerant artist in the 30s. He was perhaps the one who influenced Benjamin Aderomu (Kokoro the Blind Minstrel).
Shortly after World War 11, Togo Lawson joined the Nigerian Railways as a handyman and later at night became an itinerant musician like Irewole Denge walking the streets of Lagos, serenading mostly the children with social commentaries and praise songs.
Certain unforgettable actions taken by musicians through their weapons (music) shot them into the limelight. This was the case of Togo Lawson who composed a song during the first major strike that rocked the Nigerian Railway Corporation. The song titled Won Ti Sewa Jina showed an aggrieved Lawson confronting his white bosses/colonial masters with the song on refusal to pay workers their bonus. The song back then helped to inspire the striking workers and was very popular and would have been a big hit if recorded at that time.
Lawson had other songs like Sergeant Major, Elemu (the wine tapper), and a love song about a gap-toothed, pretty petite girl.
As an itinerant artist, he had something in common with Irewolede Denge. Only their instruments were different. While Denge doubled on vocals and guitar, Lawson sang and played the tambourine. Also, they had a different clientele.
Denge operated mainly on Lagos Island, where he walked through Tokunbo, Messey, Bamgbose, Kakawa, Campbell, etc. located houses of some Lagos elites who were rich. Denge always succeeds in extracting money from big guns like Candido Da Rochas, Saka Tinibu, etc
But Lawson’s main target audience was children, who often gathered around to listen to his sonorous voice as well as his dexterity on the tambourine.
Togo Lawson had no business acumen, even though he was a musical genius. Instead of playing music for money, he was merely exercising his artistic creativity and performing for children. Even though Togo Lawson’s songs were popular and sought after, he didn’t record them. Irewole Denge, on the other hand, was recording many of his songs under the Odeon label ie Orin Asape Eko, Fija folorun Ja, Otutu ki meja and others.
Togo Lawson, whose real name was Adekunle Lawson, had a Togolese Father and Ijebu mother. He attended St. John’s Aroloya school for kindergarten and proceeded to Holy Catholic School for primary. Upon graduation, he joined the army and served with the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF) in World War 11. After the war, he joined the Nigerian Railways.
He died at the peak of his popularity in the 1940s at the age of 48 of an ailment that was not uncommon with much drinking and smoking, even though he was a musical genius.
Togo Lawson will be remembered for a major achievement. He was the first to create professional music with the tambourine, an essential orchestral instrument of the early years. His proficiency in the tambourine made the instrument recognized as an integral part of highlife instrumentation.
