By Dr. Ṣeun Sèdẹ̀ Williams
Within the Nigerian music industry, few artists have endeavoured to bring their community’s voice into the national arts scene as distinctly as Joshua Mihẹmide Kutọn. Better known as Dainty Joe, Kutọn was born in 1954 into the Misinayin Compound of Jẹgba Quarters in Badagry. His roots within the Ogu ethnic nationality, a Gbe-speaking people whose language, Gungbe, has historically been in the shadows of the Yoruba-dominated soundscape of Lagos and southwestern Nigeria.
As guitarist and bandleader of the Dainty Joe & His Fancy Brothers Band, Kutọn plied his trade as a Juju artist, the vibrant guitar-driven genre that defined Nigeria’s popular sounds especially during the 1970s and 80s. Where the most celebrated names within the space built their careers primarily in Yoruba, Dainty Joe chose a different path, composing and performing his tracks in Gun language, bringing his mother tongue directly into the mainstream art form.
That conscious choice really mattered. Badagry’s Ogu community has long occupied a marginalised position within Nigeria’s cultural life; its language and musical traditions—from Kaka, Akọhun and Gangbẹ genres to Ajogan, Masẹ and Satọ performances—sustained mostly within the community itself with little outward projection. By recording in Gun and placing his works within an internationally circulating genre, Dainty Joe did something few of his contemporaries attempted. He gave an under-represented Nigerian language a place on the vinyl, in the same rotations as the country’s biggest juju acts. His craft was supported by notable personalities of the time, including Chief Afọlabi James (who would later be enthroned as the Ahọlu of Kwẹmẹ Kingdom), Chief Gboṣe Zannu, Chief S. A. Oyerinde, and Chief Bọlarinwa Abioro (renowned music executive of African Songs Ltd. and TYC Records).
Joining Joshua Mihẹmide Kutọn in His Fancy Brothers Band were drummer Hunsa Toyọn, bass guitarist Ajọsẹ Minapọn, Joseph Kutọn and Zacco Joshua who played the Bongos and maracas respectively, as well as a few other talented acts. The group produced one long-play record in 1976 under Hasbunalau Record Company. The band decidedly kept its track titles in Gun language including: Odẹ Dagbe Wẹ Mi Joro Na Ho [‘We Want to Offer Benediction’], Gbẹtọ Mafa Na Gbẹtọ [‘Man Makes Life Difficult for His Fellow Man’], Hana Wẹ Hodẹ De [‘Hannah Said A Prayer’], Manọ Gboathọ Tho Gbẹtọ Go [‘Do Not Be Trusting in Humans’], Mausin Azọn Koro [‘God’s Works Are Enormous’], and Jesu Gigonọ Sẹvi [‘Almighty Jesus’].
Today, Dainty Joe’s catalogue stands as much more than a nostalgic artifact for collectors of vintage African music. It is as well a documented, audible record of Ogu identity asserting itself within Nigeria’s popular culture at a moment when few platforms existed for that to happen. Decades after his stint, Dainty Joe’s music remains a point of pride for the Nigerian Ogu person, wherever he may be, a fine proof that a local voice, singing in a local tongue, could boldly hold its own within the national creative space, even if at the cost of going mainstream.
Revisiting Dainty Joe today is worthwhile both as a case in music history, collective memory and material culture. It is equally a fine reminder that Nigeria’s popular canon has always been broader, and more linguistically diverse than what currently obtains.
Listen to Side 1 of Dainty Joe’s album here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXRDCyA1tFU.
𝑫𝒓. Ṣ𝒆𝒖𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒅ẹ 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑶𝒈𝒖 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑫𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏
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