I am celebrated more outside Nigeria—Orlando Julius

Legendary Nigerian saxophonist and pioneer of Afro soul and Afrobeat music, Orlando Julius who is currently on a musical tour of the United States, recently took a swipe at his over five decades sojourn in the nation's music industry, lamenting that he has rarely been celebrated in the country.

Orlando expressed this deep concern while in a chat with Nollywood Spy.com, before he jetted out to America, last month. The veteran saxophonist lamented that unlike his contemporaries, he has rarely been celebrated in the country.

“It's very unfortunate that I have been celebrated more outside the shores of Nigeria. I am the last of Nigeria's titans in the highlife music genre. But I am less celebrated at home than I am celebrated outside the country,”he bemoaned.

Orlando Julius remains one of the surviving higlife musicians in the country today. He began his musical career in the 50s, but he made his first major impact in 19966, with his album Super Afro Soul. He started receiving global acclamation few years back with the series of reissues of his old songs. In America, pundits believed that Orlando's work had a significant impact on the development of soul music in that country, having spent a great deal of time in there working with artists like Lamont Dozier, Hugh Masakela, and The Crusaders.