The legendary I.K. Dairo won the Yamaha L2G motorcycle as the special prize for his excellent performance in the 1972 World Popular Song Festival

Words by Sesan Adeniji

In the Nigerian music industry, the volume of historic documentation lost in transit is alarming. The obvious selective amnesia and lack of willingness to research and meticulously document should be worrisome for the intellectual depth of future generations. It took me over fourteen years to finally understand what transpired within I.K Dairo and Yamaha.

Like I previously said, 14years ago while doing a cover editorial on Paul Play Dairo, I came across the image of his father being presented a Yamaha motorcycle. Was that an endorsement campaign he did for the brand? -That nagging question inspired my research on an editorial titled ‘Endorsement Hustle In The Music industry‘. Although I published the article a year after but no one nor any publication could help me solve the I.K Dairo and Yamaha puzzle.

2018, I picked up the image and continue my research. I put a call through to Paul Play, the legendary Lemi Ghariokwu and also the iconic Chris Ajilo to help me capture all that transpired in the career of I.K Dairo within the 1970 – 1980 time frame. Putting together all the information they gave me, I created a lead and further my investigation until I finally found the material needed in a 1973 monthly news journal published in Tokyo, Japan.

The legendary I.K. Dairo won the Yamaha L2G motorcycle as the special prize for his excellent performance in the 1972 World Popular Song Festival (Yamaha Music Festival) organized by Nippon Gakki,

the world’s largest manufacturer of musical instruments and Yamaha Motor’s sister company. The prize presentation ceremony was arranged by J. Allen & Co Limited in Lagos. The photo shows, Mr. Dairo sitting astride his new Yamaha motorcycle with Mr. W. Pretty, the territorial manager of J. Allen. The artiste that won that year’s competition is ‘Capricorn’ from the United Kingdom.