Alhaji Akeem Olatoye Adisa Ajagunjeun popularly known as Uncle Toye Ajagun by his fans and contemporaries is one of the leading Juju Musicians who is still waxing strong till date. He made waves in the 70’s with his monstrous hit Magbe Magbe which was released under TYC record label in 1976.
Even though he is an Egba man he chose permanent residency in Ibadan where he has been living in the past 50 years since his relocation from Lagos.
During my visit recently to his house in Ibadan he shared memories of growing up in Ibadan and how Reverend Idowu Animasawun ( Apola King)* has been instrumental to his musical growth and how they both left Lagos in 1970 and chose Ibadan as their permanent base to delight Juju music lovers.
Years ago it was a general norm whereby some Juju musicians used their music to generate yabbis amongst themselves thereby causing different *controversies* so that they can have increased *album sales* . For Uncle Toye Ajagun he chose the path of using his music to *preach peace and love* among his fans and contemporaries. A good example was the song he sang in 1976 to broker peace between two heavy juju musicians.
In 1964 he featured as a conga player in one of J.O Araba’s Evergreen song titled Artificial which talked about excessive use of wigs by women in that era.
His contribution to Yinka Ayefele’s formative years also stood him out as a great mentor and should be acknowledged. Uncle Toye Ajagun changed Yinka Ayefele’s surname Fele to Ayefele after asking Yinka his preference between Inufele or Ayefele.
It is an undisputable fact that Uncle Toye Ajagun is one of the original forebearers of authentic Juju music . With over 14 albums to his credit this Juju music giant like others of his generation deserves all the accolades for their contribution to the music industry. He will be 77 years old on *March 5, 2022.