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Fújì is a genre of Yoruba people popular music that emerged in Nigeria in the 1960s. It evolved from the improvisational Were music also known as ajísari (meaning "waking up for Suhur", performed to awaken Muslims before dawn during the fasting season of Ramadan. Fuji music was named after the Japanese stratovolcano-mountain, Mount Fuji by Ayinde Barrister (pioneer of Fuji). It features energetic beats, diverse Yoruba rhythms, and call-and-response vocals. Fuji's influence extends into contemporary music, with its hooks and rhythms frequently appearing in Nigerian hip hop.
In February 2024, professor and filmmaker Saheed Aderinto released the first episode of The Fuji Documentary titled "Mr. Fuji: Barry Wonder" which chronicles the story of Fuji music creator Sikiru Ayinde Barrister.
Toward the end of the colonial period during the 1950s, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, General Ayinla Kollington, Tunde King, Ayinla Omowura, Alhaji Kola Adegoke, Alhaji Kamoru Ayinde, Alhaji Salami Ayinde, Alhaji Dauda Epo-Akara and Ganiyu Kuti (Gani Irefin) founded and popularized wéré.W. Akpan, "And the beat goes on?", in M. Drewett and M. Cloonan, eds, Popular Music Censorship in Africa (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006), , p. 101. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, numerous wéré performance groups emerged within Muslim communities in and around the cities of Ibadan, Lagos, and Ilorin. These early performers drew great inspiration from Yoruba sakara music, featuring the sakara drum (without the violin-like goje often played with an accompanying fiddle). Notable Lagos-based wéré performers during the early independence years include Sikiru Omo Abiba, Ajadi Ganiyu, Ayinde Muniru Mayegun (General Captain), Ajadi Bashiru, Sikiru Onishemo, Kawu Aminu, Jibowu Barrister, Ayinde Fatayi, Kasali Alani, Saka Olayigbade, Ayinla Yekinni, and Bashiru Abinuwaye.
As various styles evolved, some performers played mouth organs () between wéré interludes within their compositions. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister was the lead singer and composer of the popular wéré group, Jibowu Barrister, under the leadership of Alhaji Jibowu Barrister. During the 1960s, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, Kollington Ayinla and other young wéré groups rocked Lagos and its environs.
The advancement from wéré music to fuji music marked a profound transformation within Yoruba musical traditions. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ayinde Barrister began to innovate on the foundational elements of wéré music by integrating influences from diverse genres such as apala, juju and afrobeat, resulting in the introduction of a modernized approach to both instrumentation and performance. The amalgamation of traditional and contemporary elements gave rise to fuji music. Popularizers of wéré music, who played a pivotal role in its early development, adapted their musical practices to foster and popularize fuji music, effectively bridging traditional Yoruba sounds with a contemporary audience.
In one of Barrister's early albums, chiding and educating critics who dubbed fújì a "local music," Sikiru Ayinde Barrister described fújì music as a combination of music consisting of sákárà, Apala, jùjú, Aró, Afrobeat, gudugudu, and some elements of highlife. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister played a significant role in popularizing fújì music by introducing it to international audiences. In the 1970s, he began touring across Europe, with a notable presence in England, and continued to the United States throughout the 1980s.
Between 1970 and throughout the 1980s, other fújì musicians included Fatai Adio, Saura Alhaji, Student Fuji, Rahimi Ayinde (Bokote), Ramoni Akanni, Love Azeez, Waidi Akangbe, Sikiru Olawoyin, Agbada Owo, Iyanda Sawaba, Ejire Shadua, Wahabi Ilori, Wasiu Ayinde Marshall (K1 De Ultimate), Suleiman Adigun, Sakaniyau Ejire, and Wasiu Ayinla.
While male musicians dominated fuji, reflecting fuji ’s origins in wéré music, women artists developed Islamic and interchangeably wákà fuji. Islamic is a popular name for the genre of women’s fújì-related music, particularly in and around the city of Ilorin, while wákà is a more general pan-Yoruba term for the Muslim women’s genre. It emerged in the late 1950s and was originally performed by women vocalists for Islamic events such as weddings and celebrations for pilgrims returning from Mecca. In the 1980s, professional Muslim women vocalists fronted their own fújì bands. While the themes and aesthetics of Islamic were more closely related to Muslim morality than fújì, there was a significant overlap between wákà fuji and traditional fújì.
In the early 1970s, Alhaji Kolington Ayinla (Baba Alatika) emerged as a prominent fuji performer and rival to Sikiru Ayinde Barrister. Wasiu Ayinde Marshall (K1 De Ultimate), who had been a protégé of Barrister, began to gain recognition in the late 1980s and 1990s with Talazo Fuji. Adewale Ayuba, introduced Bonsue Fuji which resonated with a wide audience. Abass Akande Obesere integrated slang into his fuji songs which contributed to the genre's evolution.
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