Fiokee Wants You to Know He’s More Than a Guitarist

“At some point, it was very hard to get these artists,” says Fiokee, speaking about the growth he’s undertaken between both projects. “They don’t want you to leave that guitar. It’s just like the way we are now in this government. They don’t want us to grow. They want us to remain in that spot. Anything that will make you grow past that level, they don’t like it. You become a threat to them. Artists are like VVIP; producers are VIP; then instrumentalists are like regulars. So for you to get from VIP to VVIP, you have to pass some bouncers, so the security around them feel like, ‘what are you coming to do in our territory?’ You know, that kind of mentality.”

What differentiated Fiokee, he says, was his brand value. His ‘oh my God, it’s Fiokee’ tag was necessitated due to the number of credits he didn’t get, but eventually, the tag took life of its own and artists would become the ones to demand it on their songs. “Sometimes you have to force this thing on people,” he explains. “From there, I now said, ‘how many times will I be chasing artists?’”

On Beyond A Guitarist, the singing is mostly handled by Fiokee. Over 11 songs, he tightly controls the execution. Even where he taps distinct acts within the African scene to complement his vision, he’s the obvious catalyst. On “No Way (Remix),” he and Johnny Drille create a rainy-day song for lovers, balmy and affectionate in its simplicity.

“Fine Girl Today” is the emotive and commercial centerpiece of the album. A solo performance, its perspective honors the dreamy-eyed lover, whose definition of beauty is centrally supplied by the one they’ve called theirs. “Have you seen a fine girl today?” he asks on the hook, retaining all the drama, but with technique to work with. Spyro and Raybekah each deliver memorable showings on “Iz Hawt” and “Pozi” respectively, especially the latter, whose lucent vocals underline her seamless chemistry with Fiokee. She also appears on “Turn It Up,” the party-nodding closer suffused with crowd vocals.

Even though evolving into a lead singer was necessary, Fiokee admits that the guitar remains his first love. “I’ve been playing for 24 years now,” he says with a smile. “I’m just adding voice so it would be easier for me to actually be playing to my song and my vocals as well. If the time comes for me to sing on stage, give me microphone, I go run am. I go still play guitar as well,” he says.

So where did it begin for Fiokee? It was the serene landscape of Akwa Ibom, a state in Southern Nigeria, where he attended the Episcopal Methodist Church with his mother and learned vocal techniques. He learned melody through singing in indigenous languages like Igbo and Yoruba, pairing their sonic qualities with the notes of a guitar: do re mi… “Before I could play instruments, I was able to actually translate the notes,” he says.

When he left his mother’s church because of its “long services,” he went to another where there was a stronger youth presence. There he joined the music team and considering there weren’t many instruments, he picked up the percussion which he played across several drums. In 1999 — apparently, the sweet-faced Ifiok ‘Fiokee’ Effanga is 42 — he graduated from high school and moved to another city, where he worked as a sales boy.

The shop he worked in sold expensive children’s toys and business was slow on most days, so Fiokee needed something to burn the hours. He remembered he had an ear for music and sought an instrument. Buying a guitar or keyboard was out of the question, as it was quite steep for his earnings then, and so he rented a guitar for 700 naira which was about $32 at the time (Fiokee has a razor-sharp memory). A taxi man who was repairing his car saw him with the guitar, and its green color attracted him. When the taxi man played it, Fiokee wondered, ‘Is this the same guitar I mime with?’

The man was a guitarist, and he charged him 2,600 naira (about $119 at the time) to learn — more than his two months salary. The man was surprised his student could identify notes by ear, which was something he couldn’t. Within two months, Fiokee had learned everything that he needed to be a guitarist and he even taught the man music theory about a year later.

Close to where he worked, terminal workers at Ibeno would come to a restaurant in Eket to eat, and were quite acquainted with him: the young boy with a guitar. Some of them gave him books.

When Fiokee entered the Nigerian pop scene, he was quite experienced already. In 2008 he’d won the Star Quest (a musical reality show) as part of the group called Diamonds, but his big break came from playing the guitars on D’banj’s “Scapegoat.” He would later be called upon by Shizzi and Davido to evoke something similar, and that resulted in “Gobe,” one of the star’s most resonant hits. From then came Emperor Geezy, who paired him with the ascendant Kizz Daniel, and Fiokee’s sensuous guitar illuminated tracks like “Woju” and “Good Times”.

Upon Simi’s transition from a gospel to pop, “Tiff” served the bridge function. And who better than Fiokee, who understood both worlds, to bring the desired electricity to life? From there till Simisola, Fiokee supplied all the live guitars: a sensational fact, given how prominent those notes were in forming the album’s classic quality. He also played the guitars on Adekunle Gold’s sterling debut album Gold, starting from “Orente” and “Pick Up”.

Other songs, which Fiokee contributed to, include: “Duro” and “Wash” by Tekno; “Make Am” by Patoranking; “Away” and “Applaudise” by Iyanya; “Like” by Reekado Banks, which featured him and Tiwa Savage; “Kissing” and “Oh My Gosh” by Yemi Alade.

Fiokee understands the depth of his influence. He’s not shy about saying that his work opens more doors for other guitarists, “because not everyone can afford Fiokee.” So if you need the Fiokee effect, another guitarist has to come in. More than a few guitarists have also come up to him revealing his influence on their craft, something which gives him immense satisfaction.

“I am one of the reasons why Afrobeats is recognized globally,” he says near the end of our conversation. “You know why? I am the color and spice of Afrobeats. If you remove my guitar from those songs I mentioned to you, they will be so naked and empty. And for every food, if there is no maggi (cube seasoning) and salt and pepper, that food no go sweet nah. I’m the king of melodies. I’m the pioneer of modern Afrobeats guitar players. Now I’m adding vocals to it.”