By Henry Obetta

The Hakeem Shitta Photo and Cultural Archive (HSPCA) has described the late Nigerian musical icon, late Elder Steve Rhodes, as an artistic revolutionary, who greatly impacted the music firmament.

Esther Oladimeji, Curator, HSPCA, while speaking on the legacy of the late icon,who would have been 100 years old on April 8, said Rhodes left great imprints as a musician.

Rhodes (1926-2008), was a broadcaster and musician who founded the Steve Rhodes Orchestra and managed the late Afrobeats maestro, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Rhodes was into highlife genre,and as a musician and broadcaster, he played a significant role in popularising highlife music in Nigeria through his orchestra.

“Steve Rhodes was an icon who did so much for highlife and music generally.He was a great musician, musicologist ,conductor and prolific producer.

“He founded the Steve Rhodes Orchestra in 1970, which metamorphosed to Steve Rhodes Voices, an ensemble that performed the music of the Black diaspora across multiple languages,including Yoruba,Ibo, Hausa,Edo, Tiv, Xhosa, Caribbean, Zulu, English, and Portuguese.

“He was a fantastic entertainer,active across stage, radio, and television,” Oladimeji said.

Oladimeji said the archive hold an extensive record of his life and work in the 1990s and would make the archived materials public on his birthday, through a documentary screening, to celebrate the late icon.

“At HSPACA, the Hakeem Shitta Photo and Cultural Archive, we hold an extensive documented record of his life and work in the 1990s.

“Over 400 photographs taken by Hakeem Shitta, alongside years of coverage in Arts Illustrated Weekly—the Lagos arts publication published by Hakeem Shitta and preserved by Smithsonian institution in Washinghton.

“When we realised this milestone (Rhodes’ post humus birthday) was approaching, we felt a responsibility to bring that material to the public, not just to mark tne occasion, but to make that record visible in a way people can engage with. So, we are doing this documentary screening on his birthday,” she said.

She said the screening would feature documented performances, concerts, photocalls, cultural gatherings and Rhodes’ personal moments with some of Nigeria’s prominent figures.

She said the archive documents him conversing with prominent figures like Wole Soyinka, late Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, Chief Michael Ibru, Richard Mofe-Damijo and others.

According to her,alongside the photographs, the archive hold multiple issues of Arts Illustrated Weekly that featured him, including a cover story for his 70th birthday in 1996, a cover story for the Steve Rhodes Voices 20th anniversary in 1991, concerts advertisements, reviews, interviews and others not widely accessible elsewhere.

She said the documentary screening would go alongside with tributes from those who were influenced by the work and personality of Rhodes.

Oladimeji said the documentary screening would inspire many Nigerians and open the eyes of the youths and young artistes to the legacy of Rhodes and his work.

“There is a generation of Nigerians who have limited access to what was built before them, not because it didn’t exist, but because it wasn’t always preserved or made accessible.

“Elder Steve Rhodes is one example of someone whose work is extensively documented in our archive and presented through this project.

“When young artists see what he built, the standards he held, the people he worked with, it gives them a reference point.

“It connects them to a tradition that is already theirs. That is part of what HSPACA is trying to do, to preserve this history and make it accessible in a meaningful way. Generations coming can put a face to the composer of “Onidodo oni moyinmoyin”, she said.