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Talks About His Life & Music
King Sunday Ade is 77 but he does not look it one bit. He also does not behave like somebody who will be 80 in just a few years.
He still dances on stage. He also still jumps up and down on stage with his band boys. And he has not stopped entertaining and thrilling guests at many Owambe parties. He still performs back to back across the South West.
A few days ago, he performed for members of the Table Tennis Section at the Lagos Country Club, in Ikeja GRA and he gave a scintillating performance which many are still talking about.
He will also be performing at the forthcoming New Year party of the same club. And he says he is fit and ready to entertain the 1,000 guests party, which all the members are looking forward to.
How does KSA does it? How has he continued to be relevant? Where does he get the strength from? Does he jog? Does he go to the GYM?
Does he still eat pounded yam as an Ondo man?
These and many questions were the questions City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE and Head of CityPeople TV SUNDAY ADIGUN asked him a few days ago, during an interview we had with him, after his show. He had played for good 8 hours non-stop and we wanted to know the secrets of KSA’s energy.
After the show he gave members of the Table Tennis Section, we followed him to a private Lounge within the club, where for the next 1 hour we grilled the King of World Beats.
We noticed that he no longer plays his Guitar again like before. We also noticed that he has a lot of drummers who play a lot of drums. We noticed a lot of new things in his performance and we asked for his explanations.
We had a good time with him and by the time we finished the interview at about 11pm that night, KSA told us he was still going to meet with his Band Boy to review the show.
He was still ready to see more people who were waiting to see him.
Enjoy his interview below.
Congratulations on a great performance. How do you manage to do this everyday, back to back?
I don’t know how. It is God. It can only be God. I thank him for that.
What God has already perfected your plans, what you need to do is to just thank him. Nobody can know how one year is going to be. You know when we finished last year, we were happy. We were praising him. now we have entered a new year, we are now begging God that, since we have seen 2024, let us see 2025. Mine is that I always to ask God fore more direction. But I will not do anything contrary to thanking God.
We just watched your performance on stage and we noticed that there is a lot of drums in your music now, than other instruments especially, the Guitar?
No. It’s not new new. It has always been there, even we have had to reduced it because before, you will see Konga, you will see shekere, you will see Bata, you will see Akoko, you will see Saxophone, you will see double keyboard, you will see 3-4 guitars, so we reduced everything.
We noticed that you don’t play Guitar any longer on stage. You do more of dancing and singing. Do you miss playing guitar?
Do I miss it? Yes, I miss it by way of not hanging it on my neck which I have done for many years but we are still living together, its in my bedroom, it’s in my living room, so we are still living together.
Sir, I noticed that your stage performance is like second to none, how do you do it?
It is the same thing with you too Seye, because when you came into the fold of the news media, if I ask you now that how do you do it with City People? And this is because you did not relent your effort in making it great always. When it changed into colours, we saw the multi colours       Because you have already been there. Whether you have more money or not you still pray to God.
You love doing that, you have the passion, you have the passion from your soul for that newspaper, that’s why you make yourself easy going, that’s your style.
Sir, do you still do rehearsals like before?
Yes, we do rehearsals. Even when we are going on the road we do rehearsals. The idea started in the early 80’s, when I had a big bus that could contain many people, we had a placard, we had cardboard, we normally write as if we were in the classroom. Then in the studio, we had micro phones, what we played last was the effect of rehearsal, so it is part of everyday activities to rehearse.
Every time we have a show, sometimes people do not know when we sound check. When we come early, we go for sound check and after the sound check, we do rehearse before people start coming. So, doing rehearsals is more or less like something we do with passion. We can’t do anything without rehearsals, but now it is like we can’t have the practice like those days, when you could have it in your house, back of your house, parlour but now, even members of the band, what they are doing now, is to record.
We also noticed that once you are on the stage, you are a different person entirely, especially, when you begin to sing?
When I’m off the stage, you are my fan, you are my friend, I am your friend but when I’m on the stage, I will be keen awaiting your questions. It is like you are an Examiner, I am the one taking the examination at that moment. It is not an interview. In interview you will ask me questions and I will answer. Since we’ve been sitting down here now, the first three Questions you asked me now are about what you saw tonight.
So, the moment I saw you there, I did my best not to fail.
Sir, how do you prepare for your shows, when you have a show like tomorrow
, do you plan for it or is it when you get to the venue that you will know the kind of songs you will sing?
It’s the show that will give me a guideline. For instance, the show we had yesterday was a Concert. The moment I know what I’m going to play, we plan it, even to the kind of instrument we would take down there, the kind of stage, the kind of uniform we have to wear, how do we get to the place, so it is something we have to plan.
I also noticed that, you still dance vigorously. How do you cope?
I didn’t even dance a lot today. They didn’t allow me to dance today, because first of all the stage was very small and I noticed that the carpet was very slippery, so I have to be careful, because if something happens, that is the best news for you, so we have to avoid that.
Sir, what do you do to keep fit? You have always been very slim.
I don’t normally do much, maybe because I feel that I inherited it from my mother, my mother was a dancer and she was a good one and she was very slim and tiny, either her or my father…. so, in this case, I do nothing. I believe that when you sing and you dance, those are the best exercises. Now I don’t do any other thing, since about two years ago, to this time, in my compound, I did few exercises but now I don’t, even do them again. Then I started playing golf, I had to play golf …..…I am still coming back to exercises.
Do you still eat pounded yam (Iyan) sir?
No, I’m not a fan of Iyan anymore. I’m a fan of eba now, I love eba, it is easier to make and it is a solid food and it is the mother of garri, so if I don’t take the mother, I will take the son. Eba is the mother, garri is the son.
