According to the dictionary, a film composer creates the musical score that accompanies a film, which is called the film score. Unlike the actors and actresses, film composers are rarely known by the public, however, without them, the movies are not complete. They have been the ones putting extra sauce and ingredients into the scenes, sequence, and the general film.
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In the Nollywood industry, film composers have played an integral role in shaping the way we see film. They have been in charge of creating the soundtrack, giving the movie a feel that resonates with the audience. The last ten years have seen remarkable progress with movies like Jagun Jagun’, King of Boy, Brotherhood, Battle on Buka Street, and Anikulapo’ all taking indelible marks.
These are five film composers who have shaped the Nigerian movie industry.
Tolu Obanro: Long before his star shot to the stratosphere with ‘Jagun Jagun’, Tolu Obanro already had over a decade of experience in the Nigerian music industry. He holds the record for the highest-grossing film of all time and the highest-grossing sum of films in Nigeria. From providing the soundtrack to Saheed Balogun’s ‘Fun fun’ and terrestrial films like ‘Aralola’ to working on Originals like Gangs of Lagos, House of Secrets, and more. Tolu Obanro has also worked on ‘Mikolo’, Hey You, His Excellency, King of Boys, Charge and Bail, King of Thieves, Man of God, The Man for the Job, and many more. During the shooting of ‘Jagun Jagun’, Tolu Obanro was on set to record some of the sounds. In a conversation with Pulse TV, he said “So, it involves being on set to feel the sound and create from the generic sounds also doing the extra work to record foleys (the reproduction of everyday sound effects) and sound effects (SFX), basically everything you can see on-screen, He is also the re-recording engineer, which required recording most of the things that would be used to overdub or in other languages. Winner of the Nigerians Achievers Award 2022, Tolu Obanro was nominated 3(three times) for the Best Soundtrack category at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) in 2023. He is also the film composer for the highest-grossing movie of all time in Nigeria, Battle on Buka Street, 2022.
Bayo Adepetun: The Chief Executive Officer of Midvision Limited is an astute businessman and a consummate professional with many years of practice in the movie industry. The veteran sound designer, composer, audio engineer, music producer and doctor currently living and working in Lagos. In the last two decades, Midvision delivered commercials for top Nigerian global brands as well as musical scoring for blockbusters like The Wedding Party 1 & 2, King of Boys, Chief Daddy, The Wait, New Money, and Unintentional, among others. The company has produced over 7000 radio jingles/ commercials in different Nigerian languages. The Nigeria and United Kingdom-trained medical doctor has seamlessly transcended arts and medicine.
Kulanen Ikyo: Born in Benue State, Kulanen Ikyo made his debut as a film composer on the historical film, October 1 by Kunle Afolayan, ever since then, he has not stopped. His credit bank keeps getting bigger. The graduate of Physics from the University of Jos, Plateau State has worked on Road to Yesterday (2015), Henna (2015), The CEO (2016), Okafor’s Law (2016), Lionheart (2018), If I Am President (2018), 4th Republic (2019), ‘Oloture’ (2019), Blood Sisters (2022) and many more. In the year 2015, Kulane Ikyo won the best sound editor award at the 2015 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards for the movie on October 1.
Kolade Kayode Morakinyo: On his Instagram account, the film composer was specific about the type of movies he does, serious films only, he says. No doubt, the Federal University of Technology, Akure graduate doesn’t involve himself in frivolity. His intimidating film credits are difficult to ignore. From the cinema blockbuster Omo Ghetto: The Saga to Dead Zone, Here Love Lies and so on, Kolade Morakinyo is here to make his mark in the Nigerian movie industry.
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Ava Momoh: Since 2007, Ava Momoh has been fully involved in film composition in movies in Nigeria. In the course of his work, Ava Momoh has worked with some of the finest movie directors in Nigeria. The list goes from Paul Obazele, Chico Ejiro, Ikechukwu Onyeka, Jimi Odunmosu, Okey Oku, Emem Isong, Victor Sanchez Aghahowa, James Omokwe, and Tolu Ajayi.
He has scored movies, documentaries as well and commercials and had his work on EbonyLife TV (DSTV), Ndani, Mnet, Africa Magic, and various other media outlets both here and abroad. His works have been screened in film festivals around the world.
Ava Momoh’s extraordinary perspicuity in film music composition, passion, dedication, strong work ethic, and attention to detail are what define him as one of the Nigerian sought-after film composers.
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