Finding Terry Apala
As the creator of a sub-genre, Terry Apala's path hasn't been straightforward. With the release of his debut album around the corner, he is ready to take us on a new journey.
It was confusing trying to locate Terry Apala. His interview with Naija Times was scheduled to take place in Lekki Phase 2 Gardens on an unusually hot day during the rainy season. Even the weather wasn’t going according to plan.
After a few calls to his camp, I was escorted to where he was, a journey that stretched the length of the estate.
When Terry Apala saw me, he quickly ushered me into his bedroom where we immediately started the interview. He does not have time to waste and for good reason.
His debut album ‘Aare’ (a Yoruba title which means leader, president and according to Terry, “your excellency”), was scheduled to drop in 2020 but the pandemic happened. Even without COVID-19, his album should have dropped before.
When we met a week earlier, Terry Apala played me a few tracks on Aare and hurriedly told me other details about the album and talked to me about the grind and sweat of an independent artist.
While speaking to him, I felt a sense of urgency, an eagerness to showcase his stuff.
“My album is 90% ready. I’m about to mix and master it. The concept behind the album is for me to reintroduce the Fuji Apala sound” he says quickly. Fuji Apala is his fusion of two distinct genres that couldn’t be any further apart.
Apala music originated from the South-West region in Nigeria during the 1930s. Legends like the late Ayinla Omowura and the late Haruna Ishola popularized Apala during their heydays. As a genre, apala is notorious for its difficulty to master.
Trap, is a subgenre of rap music that originated in the Southern part of the United States of America and became ubiquitous during the first decade of the millennium eclipsing the Mecca of Hip-Hop, New York.
On paper, Apala and Fuji shouldn’t work but it does, and Terry Apala is the sorcerer who came up with the elixir. His breakout single, the 2016 ‘Champagne Shower’ is proof that he found the Holy Grail.
Produced by hitmaker Sess, ‘Champagne Shower’ surprised listeners. It was gritty, guttural, schizophrenic, and wickedly innovative. The single was a runaway hit. “When I recorded ‘Champagne Shower’, I already knew it was going to be a hit. Sess said it was going to be a hit also. Two weeks after we dropped the song it was everywhere. The song took off” recalls Terry Apala.
It helped him score notable nominations at the Headies and the NEA. For someone whose style hinges on unpredictability, Terry Apala’s story was about to take a familiar turn after his energetic entrance into the music game.
After a few more follow-up singles, he amicably ended his contract with his record label.
Terry Apala opens up about the aftermath and striking solo, a journey that has frustrated many. “(In) 2018 when I left my record label I was so depressed. I was so angry.” He further says “I was so depressed. I started seeing myself as an artist that could no longer sing. I thought I was not doing the right genre (but) my manager told me that everything is all about time.”
The Apala Fusion singer went through the blues dealing with a music industry that is quick to turn its back on acts no longer signed to a label. Terry Apala reveals that his fans have been his support system, believing in him and always looking out for him.
By the turn of the year, the funk and blues had left him and he was ready to push further. The melancholy transformed into an understanding of how the game works. “In 2019, I got used to the (music) system”, says Terry Apala.
That same year he collaborated with producer Major Bangz on the EP titled ‘Major Vibes’.
Terry Alexander Ejeh hails from Isoko, Delta state and grew up in Lagos. He naturally gravitated towards the sounds of Haruna Ishola and Ayinla Omowura that boomed from the transistor radio owned by an old man down the street.
“I started by mimicking a popular Apala tone. Back then my mum used to wonder why I chose to sing Apala songs rather than songs from our state of origin. She wondered why her son would be doing Yoruba music and why not music from where he is from” says Terry Apala.
The fascination for Apala would grow from a childhood fascination into the core strength of his musical ability in 2007 when “Musiliu Ishola (Haruna Ishola’s son) dropped his ‘Soyoyo’ album which was a big and successful album.”
The album made such an impression on him that he would perform covers of the album at street carnivals. Despite Terry Apala’s reverence of Musiliu Ishola, he wouldn’t get to meet his idol until time and chance favoured him.
“In 2015 I was shooting a music video in Ibadan and I saw a woman wearing gele and beads. The director saw her and decided to use her in the video. Fortunately, this woman happened to be Musiliu Ishola’s sister.
“When the director approached her and said my name she was shocked because back then no one was known for doing apala music other than Musiliu Ishola. When she met me she spoke to me in Yoruba. She asked me where I learnt Apala music from because as an artist under this genre you are meant to meet the owner of the genre and ask for permission.
“She connected me to Ishola on the phone and told him about me. He was curious about me after hearing my name and wanted to speak to me. We started talking and he was curious to know how I learnt the genre. He told me to come and meet him in Ijebu.
“I finally went after a month or two after the call with Ozedikus. Musiliu Ishola asked me which part of Ijebu land do I come from. When I told him I’m not Yoruba he was astonished. He told me ‘just for the fact that you are not Yoruba, I give you the permission to do Apala’” narrates Terry Apala on the fortuitous encounter.
Christened as the new-gen Apala star, Terry went to the world with his new sound.
After the twists and turns of the music game, Terry Apala is set for his first major showing. The first single from his debut album is titled ‘Kamba’, an Amapiano influenced record.
The music industry might have been confusing for Terry Apala in the beginning but now he believes he has a grip on it. His confidence in his sound has also grown.
With an album that features GRAMMY winner Burna Boy, Afro B, Kida Kudz, D’banj, Psycho YP, Ladipoe, he is confident that Aare will stand out as one of the best albums of the year.
If all goes according to plan, it won’t be hard to find or locate Terry Apala in the scheme of things anymore.