It is difficult to get the exact date he took to gospel music and it is more difficult to know when he released his first album. But it is certain that his gospel songs were being used on Radio ELWA, pioneer gospel Radio Station in Igbaja, Kwara State of Nigeria in the very early 1960s. He subsequently delved into recording around the civil war period in Nigeria . Going by this historical fact, Pa Macaulay Balogun does down as the first, or one of the early recoding gospel musicians in Nigerian.

This interview was conducted by Bola Adewara with his widow, Madam Martha Omolale Balogun. In her sixties, very active and quite articulate, she was supported by her daughter Mrs. Omoyemi Ekundayo and son in-law, James Ekundayo. Except from the interview.

Meeting him
"I got to know him in 1956 as a divorcee when I was an apprentice in Lagos . In 1957, he wrote me proposing to marry me. I told him that he had had his wife and I shall find a husband, so he should leave me alone. He insisted that he was divorced and was ready to carry on with his life.

" In Lagos I was troubled by so many young men from other parts of Yoruba land who wanted to have my hands in marriage but I was determined to marry from my area Okun area in the then Kwara State now in Kogi State.

I had to leave Lagos for home where I met M. A. Balogun again. He renewed his proposal and when I found out that he was truly divorced, our affair started. We lived together for 43 years before death did us par.

Life as a singer
"I met him singing as an adult. While in school around 1946 at Mopa in Kogi State , he acknowledged the talent the Lord gave him as a singer. Giving expressions to this talent during morning devotions at school, the white men who were his teachers encouraged him by getting him an accommodation.

" When he passed out of school, he faced tremendous family challenges in continuing his studies. When it was clear to him that assistance would come from nowhere, he came to Ibadan to train as a mechanic. But finding no Joy on that job, he returned home in 1952.

"Back home in Takete Isao, out of sheer hard work, he was able to study privately and sat for his Teacher training examinations at a girls' school, Women Teachers College in Kabba. He made his papers with distinction and he qualified as a teacher.

"He soon got involved with the church and he began to coordinate the ECWA Church Choir while he worked as a teacher. He rose to become a headmaster having worked as a teacher in so schools at so many villages. He retired in 1985.

"...Radio ELWA depended on our songs to promote their programmes and we were not given a kobo for it. They always sent to us to bring our songs and we did. As at that time, money meant nothing to us. We wanted to pass message..."

Inspiration
"Nobody knew what inspired him really because we all met him singing. But we observed that when inspirations came when he was farming, he would call any of his children to peel the bark of a tree for him on which he would write the notes of the song as they come. He used the bark of a tree each time we were in the farm so as not to forget.

Relationship with ECWA Church and Radio ELWA, Igbaja.
"He started singing the songs as a member of the ECWA choir in Takete Isao then in Kwara State . But at a stage, our reputation grew beyond our immediate church such that invitations to singing competitions began to come from ECWA churches in neighbouring towns like Oro-Ago, Omuaran, Mopa, Isanlu, Ilorin, etc.

Invitations also came from Igbaja which was like the headquarter office of ECWA church. Radio ELWA, owned by the ECWA church, was also based in Igbaja so it was easy to link us.

"Radio ELWA only took advantage of our membership of ECWA church because the church owns the radio station. They used our songs by coming to the various singing competitions to record our songs. I must also add that at that time, we enjoyed it because it made us popular. My husband was also not bothered about any financial gratification because all he wanted was getting across his messages to listeners.

"We children could not challenge him because some of these things were not clear to us then because we were young. We also feared him because he was a strict disciplinarian who brooked no objections.

" It was much later in life we knew that all the relationship was exploitative. We gained nothing financial or material from Radio ELWA. Not once did they pay us a dime for using our songs. They only made us famous.

Recording
"The idea of recording came much later in 1967 when Mr. Sunday Adohun, a family friend who was working in Sokoto thought we should not limit our songs to churches alone. He gave thirty pounds (the Nigerian currency then) to our dad to record our music on vinyl for sale.

"Our dad had earlier discussed recording his songs with some white men in ECWA church in Jos. When nothing came out of that, one of our friends advised us to move to Lagos. In Lagos, we met with challenges and opposition from some members of the church who insisted that if we wanted to record, it has to be through Radio ELWA.

"Let me emphasize again that we did not go into any agreement with Radio ELWA at anytime on our music. The radio station only depended on our songs to promote their programmes and we were not given a kobo for it. They always sent to us to bring our songs and we did. As at that time, money meant nothing to us. We wanted to pass message."

"Our contributions to the church and Radio ELWA did not end there. In fact, our father composed so many songs in the ECWA hymnbook. At his death, he had written so many songs, which nobody knew the tune he had for them.

"In Lagos , where we met with one Rev. Jonah Oni at the ECWA church in challenge, Mushin . But we were shocked when he said one of the white men in Jos said they should not assist us except we were ready to record our songs through Radio ELWA. Baba Balogun then said as long as no white gave him his talent, he would independently pursue recording of his songs. "Rev. Oni then contacted I. K. Dairo, then a juju musician in Lagos. He invited us to his studio where he listened to our songs.

He was impressed and promised to sign us on and would pay us five shillings. He then invited us to do the agreement before a lawyer. But our dad would have nothing to do with the law. He said that his gift was from God and he was using it for God. He would therefore not seal any agreement with a lawyer but with bible. This turned out to be very naïve of him.

"The agreement was sealed with the bible but it was a thing we regret today because I.K. Dairo did not pay us a kobo for our first album E lo si gbogbo aye. We financed the songs ourselves. Our entire journey from Takete to Lagos, we financed. We received no help either from ELWA or I.K Dairo. Our dad went with the deal because he believed he was doing this for God and he would not abandon it.

"When we released our second album, Atipo ati Alejo ni mo je laye and I. K. Dairo still did not pay him a kobo, our dad then said he would stop working with him. He reported the matter to a commissioner in Lagos State and Baba Fakeye of the Cherubim and Seraphim church. They all called I.K. Dairo to pay but he refused.

"I don't want to speak any further on this issue because I.K. Dairo is dead, and in no place to respond to this. But the Lord knows we are speaking the truth. We children could not do anything then because we feared our dad and whatever he said then was final. You should hardly antagonize him on any issue. He did his things his own way.

"After those two records, we stopped recording for so many years. Somehow, I.K. Dairo's music venture too noose dived and before it collapsed, he relinquished the business to his brother who became Ogunsola Record. This new man later traced us to Takete Isao. He wanted the relationship to continue, he asked our dad to release again, promising to pay well.

"... He died of stroke in 2000. The initial health problem began in 1989 at Takete and because he was to be given two injections every week at Isanlu..."

	"After the revival had ended and everybody gone, the organisers left us, the band boys and the rented instruments to our fate. We were not given a kobo for performing for seven days at the revival! When I approached my dad, he said we should not bother for not being paid. He promised to pay the band boys and for the rented instruments when he got home. We had no vehicle or money to convey ourselves away from there. I became angry and approached the pastor of the church on how to move out of the venue. The man said they have no bus and there was nothing he could do. I was perplexed.

(Mrs. Tayo Esan, his daughter speaks) Another example of his lackadaisical attitude to money was in 1992, at Ibadan when we were invited to perform for seven days at Church Revival in Apata Ibadan. We were to open the revival and close it.

I was working at a place almost 15 kilometres to the venue. It was very difficult for me but because of him and our interest, I would rush to the venue after close of work everyday for seven days.

"After the revival had ended and everybody gone, the organisers even left us, the band boys and the rented instruments to our fate. We were not given a kobo for performing for seven days at the revival. When I approached my dad, he said we should not bother for not being paid. He promised to pay the band boys and for the rented instruments when he got home. We had no vehicle or money to convey ourselves away from there. I became angry and approached the pastor of the church on how to move out of the venue. The man said they have no bus and there was nothing he could do. I was perplexed.
(Read more stories on this experience TayoEsan)

That was when the man opened up that he had called our dad before the commencement of the revival to ask for our charges but our dad said he was doing it for God. He chided me that why do we allow our dad to run his ministry like that, in a world where other gospel acts would ask for big money?

" At the end of the day, the pastor gave me N200.00 with which we moved out. Since that day, I resolved to become the secretary of our band. Anybody who wanted our services would have to see me and negotiate. This was the situation until I was transferred to Benin and the old situation returned.

"There were so many of such instances of this. When we were tired of this, most especially with the royalties paid by the marketer, we told him we would collect the albums from the marketer and find another person.

It became a legal issue but when we found out that the lawyer was dishonest, the pastor of our church intervened and the marketer agreed to be paying royalties. But all he brought has been peanuts like N2, 500, N3, 000 in every three to four months! Never has he brought N4, 000 in any four months.

Singing Bird of Jesus
"He started with the church choir at Takete Isao, then in Kwara State . All his children were members of the choir immediately they could talk and sing. The first album was released by him using the church choir. But it gradually became a family affair because individual members of the choir went on their own ways as they progress in life but we, the six children remained with him and so continued the music with him. He never forced us but we took relish to participate.

"Since his death in the year 2000, the group intended to continue. We became inactive because of various discouragements such as remembering what our Dad went through at the hands of marketers.

(Mrs Esan speaks) The biggest discouragement I had after his death came from a highly placed functionary of the ECWA in Ibadan .

"We had thought that since he became very popular with the ECWA Church , we still need the church for invitations to performance so that the world would know that the band has not died with the leader. I caused a letter to be written to some of the churches but I was told to speak with Pastor…. (Names withheld) a functionary in ECWA circles in Ibadan before I could distribute the letter.

To my surprise, the pastor said I could only distribute the letter if we promise him that we were not going to be begging for alms from the churches. That was his exact word. I was shattered. We? Begging from alms in churches?

"Even when our dad was alive, he lived well. Never did he begged any church for anything, though we given he took. Nut he never begged. This statement, more that anything else from Pastor…(name withheld) discouraged us tremendously. That was how Takete Voices became silent.

"Our dad was comfortable for the better part of his life. So he was not really bothered about financial gains. But when he came to settle in Ibadan and he saw the opportunities talents bring, he became sad that he had been so cheated. He realized that he was a potential millionaire, but deprived by machinations of men. He was sad.

Instrumentation
"Truly, he saw so many western instruments, which he could introduce into his music but he refused because he wanted to be unique. In fact, he reduced the volume of the output of instruments because he wanted his listeners to hear the message clearly. He was not really interested in dance or entertainment.

"When we were to record at Afrodisia, we were to use the Hawaii guitar. It distorted our orientation so much that we had to remove it later. The Takete Voices has been known with its style and so we renamed so.

Death
"He died of stroke in 2000. The initial health problem began in 1989 at Takete and because he was to be given two injections every week at Isanlu, a bigger town with better health facility, we had to move there so as to avoid the challenges and pains of incessant travelling to and from Takete.

"While on his sick, we received a spiritual message from a man who traced us from Abeokuta to Isanlu. He said God sent him to inform us that Baba should move ahead in spite of his ill health. He said the Lord told him not to settle down in Isanlu.

We began to weep, asking God what to do and where to go. We had three options: Ibadan, Kano and Minna. Then the Lord said Ibadan and in 1990, he left for Ibadan while I stayed behind in Isanlu to harvest our crops.

"On getting to Ibadan, he jumped into farming again. Someday, someone came from Ibadan to call me that our dad sent for me. I wondered why because we fixed a later time for my joining him in Ibadan . On getting to Ibadan , I found out that he had suffered stroke. I however give glory to God that he was healed of it before death came.

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