Topsticks : I don't want to be the only Female Drummer in Nigeria

Tope Odebiyi - Topsticks

“I don’t want to be the only female drummer in Nigeria”

Usually considered a man’s thing, Temitope Odebiyi is breaking the ceiling in the world of drumming. Touted as Nigeria’s number one female drummer, Odebiyi is also the leader of Top-Sticks, an all-female band which she formed. She tells JOE AGBRO JR. her story.

BEING told Temitope Odebiyi as a professional drummer is not convincing enough for a first timer. Skinny, with ordinary looks and without any outward rebellious streak like tattoos, piercing, weird hair styles usually favoured by many artistes. And perhaps, the big oddity might be her sex  she is female. All belie the fact that she is dexterous drummer.

“People have seen me and said, ‘Is this the thing that finished drumming?’ You don’t even look like the person that just played that drum. Then, there are some gathering where you have instrumentalists around and they’re like, ‘is it because she is a lady?’ But I don’t give a damn. I go there and do my thing and leave.”

Traditionally, drumming has been regarded as a man’s world, hence, Odebiyi, who is more popularly known as Top-Sticks, turns head. It becomes crazier to realise that she is also the founder and leader of an all-female band also named Top-Sticks. And she has literarily been drumming all her life.

Born 20-something years ago in Ibadan, Oyo State, to a businessman father and a nurse mother, there was little doubt that she would be music-inclined.

“My parents tell me that as I was growing up, they knew there was a musical side of me,” said the third born in a family of three girls and a boy that hails from Iragbiji, Osun State. “Even when they are bathing me, everything is drum, including their head, my spoon, even water. Anything I beat is drum.

“My father bought me a small talking drum then,” she said.

Her love for music, particularly the drums made it just normal that she was in the band throughout her primary school days at Jekobosi Nursery and Primary School, Ibadan. This continued while she attended St. Theresa’s College and Queens College, both in Ibadan.

It was however, after secondary school that she started playing the Trap Drum set – the five and seven piece drum set. According to her, the first time she played the Drum set in church, Victory Church, Ibadan, it felt natural. Her church drummer was amazed and asked if she was a drummer.

Odebiyi replied; “No, I don’t even know what I am playing.”

She however, started playing drums in the teen church.

Not too long after, the main drummer had to go school and Odebiyi started playing in the main church. There, her proficiency on the drums started becoming recognised. The fact that she was female must have added to her allure. In 1995, a friend invited her to do a drum display at a show he was organising. She had never done such a thing and was jittery. She sought advice from her church drummer who told her to just “combine some of her rudiments.” She did and got a rousing applause after her performance. Odebiyi said that the incident not only buoyed her confidence, it attracted her more exposure from other churches.

“I started getting different invitations,” she said, of requests from churches to play for them. All of sudden, drumming seemed a profession she was getting paid.

“They would ask me to come over and we would negotiate. Then, I get another better offer, I move there.”

The invitations even started coming from outside Ibadan. Even, when she got admission to study History and Diplomatic Studies at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, her skills preceded her.

“The first Sunday that I was in school, I had to play in a church,” she said. “In school then, I was shuttling like three or four Fellowships because I was needed everywhere.”

In 2008, she made it to Star Quest, the reality television show for young musicians.

“It was a very wonderful experience because it gave me more exposure, especially to the secular world outside the gospel environment I grew up in. I was able to mingle more with people of the entertainment industry.”

After Star Quest, Odebiyi got an MTN scholarship to study for Music Diploma for two years at MUSON in Lagos. She had wanted to study music and actually got admission to do just that at The Polytechnic Ibadan. But her dad was not hearing of that.

“I felt disturbed,” She said, recalling that period. “I even went to report him to my pastor that they should talk to him.”

That didn’t work. Less than a year after, her father got a form for her to study for a Diploma in Law from Olabisi Onabanjo University. She then got into a degree course in History and Diplomatic Studies at the university through direct entry.

“I am grateful he made that decision for me because it didn’t make any difference to me,” she said, in retrospect of her dad’s decision. “I prefer having that knowledge and exposure I have with History. At the end of the day, I was still able to study Music at MUSON School of Music. I also studied at Peter King College of Music. So the knowledge of four years, I still got it at those two schools I went to.”

Her experience during Star Quest nudged the idea of an all-female band again. She had formed an all-female band while at OOU, but members of the band separated after school.

“The Bassist was in Port-Harcourt. The keyboardist said she wants to go into fashion.”

But she met a lady, Chinaso, her present pianist, was introduced to the guitarist, and Odebiyi said she and the bassist, Blessing, found each other. So far, the band has performed in different occasions – MUSON Festival, Creative Jazz Drummers Festival, corporate events, churches and other secular occasions – in different parts of the country.

“Although, we’re not all there, we believe the sky is our starting point.”

But how does it feel running a band?

Though Odebiyi describes it as tough and expensive as there are no regular gigs, she offers her secret-team spirit.

“One major thing to do to keep your band is to make them happy,” she said. “If you have a big show, let everybody smile home. If the show is small, be as open and honest as you can. What actually kills bands is the challenge of money  when they suspect non-transparency. It hurts them that when this band was growing, we were all here and now that things are coming in, you’re still giving us the same change. People just want to quit and say, ‘let me look for something better to do with my life.’”

Recently, she was dubbed number one female drummer in Africa, a claim she doesn’t refute.

“Based on research and what they can see, I can put my chest up and say it is true. I’ve met a lot of female drummers. We have quite a lot of them that are really good and some are really aspiring to get to that height. But in terms of display of skill and dexterity and the kind of popularity and exposure, I’ve not really been able to pinpoint one that can actually stand out more than Top-Sticks. It’s not to say that I’m praising myself or being humble I’ve not seen. The closest I’ve seen is a lady called Dotrup. She’s very good but she’s not really pursuing the drumming career as it were because she’s a banker.”

But some people have said she is not that good. Odebiyi takes both views but is not bothered. She believes that as a female doing what is largely considered a man’s role makes her stand out.

“Let them go on hyping me,” she says of detractors.

Interested in passing on her talents to others, she’s the music coach of Ruach School of music, a music school under the Breath of Life Ministries, the church she started attending five years ago. “I don’t want to be the only female drummer in Nigeria. The fact that God has given me the grace to be number one, it shows that I already have something that makes  me unique and stand out. Now, I want to be able to bring other people. So that when you get to that age that you’re not able to drum actively again, Nigerian community would not be bereft of female drummers. We will still have people that would keep the work going and everybody can say that TopSticks influenced me. That makes me happy.”

Odebiyi is also grateful to the church for giving her a platform. The church also sponsored the shooting the video of her first song Omo Eniyan which is on Youtube and senior pastor Samson Jedafe wrote her second song Iye Iwo and the drum aspect is played to herald his weekly television programme. She is also appreciative of her parents, siblings, Mr Edi Lawani, owner of Showbiz Network and Odia Ofeimun, a poet and author for being there for her through the years.

Apart from excelling in music, Top-Sticks is always interested in pursuing her academics to Phd level. Despite being involved with music, Odebiyi did her Masters in History and Strategic Studies at the University of Lagos. But she is not yet done as she desires to further to Phd level.

“I believe there is room for multi-tasking. Why limit my mind when I can do more than one thing.”

And meeting legendary Nigerian musician Bongos Ikwe cemented her decision to pursue her talents.

“The man is multi-talented much more than the music,” she said.

“He is into so many other things. He was telling me that he is into real estate. He was telling me of roads he constructed for government and so many other things he does. That really challenged me.”

“For my mentor to do it, I think I can even do better,” she said. “I’m looking for one more thing to add.”

But excelling in a man’s world has its challenges, one being coping with advances from the menfolk especially for a single lady. And Odebiyi has her code for differentiating genuine male admirers from others with ulterior motives. “When I meet you and you come to appreciate me  I love the way you play and I begin to discuss with you, I begin to tell where you’re heading. So instantly, I get official with you so as to break that bridge.”

While Odebiyi is still a struggling drummer, she foresees a great future.

“In five years’ time, I see myself becoming an international icon, representing my country all over the world, representing women, being a role model to women.”

She hopes to drum her way to the top.