How I taught keyboardist unforgettable lesson for mocking my blindness – Music producer, Ajibola

Ogun State keyboardist Olatunji Ajibola, who lost his sight at age 10, has built a multi-decade career as a musician, producer and singer despite widespread skepticism and outright discrimination. Speaking with Punch Nigeria, the 42-year-old recalled his self-taught journey from childhood drummer to respected keyboardist, producer and vocalist, and explained how his total blindness shaped his approach to music and life.

Ajibola grew up in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and attended the School for the Blind on Ajao Road, Surulere, Lagos—Pacelli School for the Blind—before proceeding to King’s College, Lagos. He began drumming at five, switched to self-taught keyboard after losing his sight at 10 due to progressive eye injury, and later added music production, singing and studio direction to his repertoire. His uncle, comedian Adebayo Ajibola—better known as Holy Malam—earned the childhood nickname “drum god” and fueled his early passion for rhythm.

“I started learning the keyboard by myself because there was no teacher at Pacelli,” Ajibola said. “Most people at home had never lived with a blind person before, so they didn’t know what I could do.” He credits heightened listening skills and tactile memory with compensating for his lack of vision, allowing him to navigate multiple keyboards, set complex patches, and produce layered tracks without visual cues.

His career has not been free of barriers. In one memorable incident, a church sound operator dismissed him as a “beggar” looking for a keyboard to play. Ajibola responded by memorizing the adapter’s location, silently locking the keyboard with a password, then disabling it with a well-placed kick. When the keyboard rebooted, it demanded the password—only Ajibola could unlock it. “Bros, abeg shift, the beggar wants to play,” he told the stunned operator, restoring functionality with a single button press. The lesson left a lasting impression on the man and underscored Ajibola’s insistence that disability does not define capability.

Ajibola distinguishes his total blindness from partial sight, arguing that relying on other senses sharpens musical perception. He has worked with a small circle of churches and studios that recognize his skill rather than his impairment. His production credits include live rigs on compact keyboards that sound like full orchestral setups, a feat he attributes to precise ear training and muscle memory. He teaches keyboard students who can see, noting that many struggle to play by ear alone unless they watch his hands.

“For me, blindness is in the mind,” he said. “People think they see more than I do, but sometimes they run the wrong way while I move with confidence.” His studio in Lagos produces commercial jingles, church anthems and Afro-fusion tracks, while he continues to perform as a session musician and frontman. Ajibola insists his greatest tool is not a substitute for sight but an expanded palette of sensory input—sound, touch, intuition—that lets him reinterpret music without visual anchors.

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