Professional keyboardist, Olatunji Ajibola, who became visually impaired at the age of 10, speaks with AYOOLA OLASUPO about how he taught himself to play the keyboard, built a career as a musician, producer and singer, and why he believes disability should never define a person
Could you take us through your childhood journey?
I’m from Ogun State, and I went to the School for the Blind for my primary education along Ajao Road, Surulere, Lagos State. That’s Pacelli, and after that, I attended King’s College. During my time at King’s College, I began to understand the reality of the country: nobody is coming to help you.
Before then, I had started playing music. I started playing the drums at the age of five. After I lost my sight, I was in the School for the Blind, but there was nobody to teach me the keyboard, so I started learning the keyboard by myself. Most of the people staying with me at home were people who were seeing a blind person for the first time.
I had great listening skills for music, and I loved music; music has always been a passion. It’s either music or nothing for me right from the beginning. At the age of nine, I was playing the drums; even people who were much older than me always marvelled at how I was able to attain such a height. I didn’t learn from anybody.
My grandfather and my father used to play the local conga. My uncle used to play the drums. His name is Adebayo Ajibola, popularly known as Holy Malam. He’s a comedian, and I used to call him a drum god because he is very good. My elder and younger brothers also play the drums.
How did you lose your sight?
The visual impairment happened as I grew older. I lost my sight at the age of 10. I had been using glasses at some point, but I had to stop. I had to start wearing different glasses for different purposes. I remember that at some point, because of my low vision, I used glasses, and most of the time, I was harassed by people trying to take advantage of me.
My glasses, at the end of the day, were always my fighting tool. At that point, I couldn’t keep going with that. Then I had eye injuries too. There was a time I fell, hitting my eyes on the ground. One day, I just woke up and lost my vision.
How did that experience shape the person you eventually became?
For me, I think it’s another world; a sweet world that people don’t really understand. People just say, “He doesn’t see” without knowing that that’s as far as they know. Blindness, I feel, is in the mind. Being a blind person is quite interesting because you become a mystery for everybody to study.
Everything you do amuses people. Sometimes, I’m the one going out, but people are the ones panicking. I always ask those panicking because I went out, “What’s happening? I’m just going out. I know that nothing is going to happen to me.” But I understand the fact that people feel they can see, but I cannot.
They always feel that I cannot see what they are seeing. But it is so funny that if something happens and people start to run, they might be running in the wrong direction, but when I decide to move, I might be moving in the right direction.
How are you able to do that?
I just feel like God doesn’t take everything from people. He gives you one thing to replace another. Even people who have all five senses can’t do anything without relying on their sight. I have some people whom I teach the keyboard and who can see. I noticed that most of them, if they are not looking at my hands, are not able to play what I ask them to play by sound.
So, for visually challenged people, I feel it is a great privilege that God has given us, that we can use our ears, nose and hands to define a lot of things, such as the level at which I can listen to sound. I am also a music producer. I have a music studio where I produce music. I also sing. I do a lot of music jobs—everything that has to do with music. I play drums and keyboard; I sing, do music production, direct songs and also write.
For music production, the level at which I am able to arrange sounds is different. Sometimes, the keyboard I am using might be a small one, but when I am done setting it up, people will come and say, “This keyboard is small.” But what we heard is that of a big keyboard. That amazes them.
Is the visual impairment partial?
No, it’s total. In fact, one thing I know for sure is that if I have an opportunity to see, there are a whole lot of things I still wouldn’t change because I wouldn’t want to depend on my eyes to do things.
When you discovered your passion and talent for playing the keyboard, what made you decide to pursue the career professionally despite the challenges that come with the impairment?
Music, for me, has been part of my life. I grew up around people who played music. There is a kind of feeling I have about music. For me, music is beyond passion. It’s more like a calling. Every part of music that I embraced was due to the mandate or calling I received. So, I pursued this with my whole heart. I can give everything up, but this is what I want to do.
How has the journey been as a professional keyboardist?
As a professional keyboardist, if I say the journey has been easy, that would not be fair at all. It’s because of this part of the world we find ourselves in—Africa. People can be cruel and insensitive, and I can cite some examples. I once got to a place to play, and someone said, “Na keyboardist we dey find o, we no dey find beggar here,” because I was the only visually challenged person there.
When the person told me that, I was angry, but I didn’t show it. What I did to the person that day, I’m sure it will still remain in his memory, and he will tell it to his children and grandchildren.
Can you share what you did to him?
While he was playing, I was just touching the keyboard as if I was admiring what it looked like. But I already knew the product, so as my hand moved, I touched some buttons. Those buttons would not display anything on the screen, but I knew what they were. I was locking the keyboard with a password, but he didn’t know.
Immediately, I stood up as if I wanted to go and relieve myself, and I kicked the adapter of the keyboard. The keyboard went off, and people were like, “Ah, sorry, sorry. You didn’t know the adapter of the keyboard was there.” They didn’t know that I had already used my hand to trace the adapter and knew exactly where to place my leg, so I kicked it and it went off.
When it came back on, it requested a password. At that time, it was coincidentally when the pastor wanted to sing. He didn’t know what to do with the locked keyboard, and I just told him, “Bros, abeg shift, the beggar wants to play.” I only pressed one button, and the keyboard came alive.
He had to learn that lesson so that next time, if he comes across a visually challenged person, he doesn’t need to insult them. We are also human. Many churches like to take advantage of people who are visually impaired, and that is another reason why the churches I work with are very limited. You can’t see me everywhere. If you don’t know my work, I will not go.
Are there difficult moments that you have had to overcome in your career?
Imagine I come across 50 keyboards. I have to study the settings of 50 different keyboards and put them in my head. One mistake can make people feel that I’m incompetent. I remember there’s one big keyboard called the Yamaha Montage. When I first encountered it, it had a touch screen and a lot of buttons. It has many functions. I was disturbed because the programme would start in a few minutes.
The people who invited me had already said, “When he come, he go know wetin to do.” But I didn’t know what to do because one of the realities is that I’m visually challenged. If it was just to play the keyboard, I understood that, but the functions were strange to me. The keyboard had a touch screen, and there were buttons everywhere.
I thanked God I had my AirPods; I went on YouTube and searched for information. They mentioned some buttons. I made sure I memorised those buttons and called somebody, acting as if I already knew what I wanted to do. I said, “Hey, come lend me your eyes; I want to check something.”
He came, and I said, “Where is this button?” He showed me everything I asked for, and then I acted as if I already knew the positions of the buttons and quickly manoeuvred and managed the settings.
The way I handled the keyboard, people didn’t know that I had been struggling with it a few minutes earlier. So, if accessibility components can be incorporated into keyboards, it will help visually challenged people do their work effectively. With my phone and laptop, for example, I need nobody to help me operate them.
What are some of the daily challenges you face as a visually impaired person that you wish society understood better?
What society needs to understand is that it needs to be more open-minded because I have experiences that I can share concerning that. Let’s boil it down to relationships. For instance, a visually challenged guy who has worked hard and is doing well for himself now probably has to meet somebody, and the person can see. The first thing that comes to mind when he gets to the lady’s family is, “Ah, you brought home a blind person?”
We are also human beings, and we can even do better than people who are not visually challenged. There are visually challenged people who are lawyers, musicians and other accomplished individuals doing things for themselves and living well.
We also know people who can see but are still trying to find their way around life or are smoking and ruining themselves. If we all agree that being visually challenged does not mean your mind or brain is dead, or that you do not exist, then we will have a better understanding of one another. Once we have that understanding, it will help us build a better future.
