By Azuka Jebose Molokwu
In Nigeria,” music is life and life is one ensemble, an encore of undying applause, very whimsical. The predominant means of expressions are oral and aural. Music is the heartbeat of Nigeria’s various cultures and traditions. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with no fewer than 150 million souls, the rhythm applauds, praises, mocks, jests, loves, celebrates, eulogises and sanctions.
It does not escape being a dirge. Various forums and reasons present music innately in Nigeria as a living part of daily life. Social engagements, chieftaincies, enthronements, births, burials and marriages, births are platforms in the architecture of our musical expressions. Music gives spirituality to religious expressions and makes culture out of civilisation.
One of the most profound and celebrated music genres in Nigeria is highlife music. Highlife music found its origin and residence within Western Africa at the beginning of the 20th century. This music genre, for more than a century, marinated itself in everyday cultures and traditions, expressions and interpretations of our diverse rich cultures that celebrates life, living and exits.
By close of 19th century, the continent of Africa was recovering from the scatter of its pan Africanist administration and cultures: as a result of the great partition of nation states in the continent, necessitated by the industrial revolution that changed the global economic patterns and dependency.
African, especially, West African sea ports suddenly became the beautiful bride of the then super economies of the world, seeking Africa’s rich natural and cheap human resources to rebuild their economies truncated by the industrial revolution.
As early as 1900, major seaports in West African hemisphere, especially Gold Coast ( Ghana), were active with ships, sailors and seamen, docking at the shores or bays, to unload nothing but entertainment, music, good life and load Africa’s enriched natural resources, human labor, back West, to recharge their economies batteries battered by inflation and depression.
The ships had brass bands to entertain their senior staff throughout their travels and periods on seas and lands. Most weekends by the shores were party scenes with live bands; heavily featured Brazilian, Cuban, Caribbean and Mexican bands. The common denomination of the bands were their wind instruments such as fugal horns, horns, trombone, saxophones, clarinets, kongas and drums which provided solid interlock for jazzy feelings.
West African workers were invited and or encouraged to attend such fun gatherings with their friends and families. These were new music, new experience and high life for them by the waterfronts of the Atlantic Ocean and the great rivers Nile and Niger.
The sailor-musicians were influenced by the early classical jazz which steamed aromas of the rhythms of slave trade and hard labour field chants, calls and responses- groups, labouring at various cotton plantation farms. The early classical jazz, especially, Theolenus Monk, rooted its foundation in early Negro spiritual acapella.
The shipyard workers took their music imaginations to the streets, homes and as the years went, West African musicians began to experiment on the heavy steel and saxophone driven music they were exposed to by sailor musicians, docking at the bays or banks of the rivers and the Atlantic ocean. Gold Coast, was one of the earliest transformers of this new swing music, interlaced with riffs from the Caribbean, South America and the United States.
Ghana went further with its experiment, interwoven the great Ghanaian fresh and scintillating beats to what they heard from the sailors. Ghana privileged us Osibisa band, formed in 1945 and quickly transitioned into one of the greatest funk jazz bands with solid highlife background; The Ramblers Band, Joe Mensah and E.T Mensah.
Nigeria followed Ghana, saturating the party scenes with dozes of the new music, thanks to early performances by such great highlife musicians as Roy Chicago, E.C Arinze, Segun Bucknor, ( Afro Highlife), Jonny Haastrup ( Funk Highlife), Fela Anikulakpo Kuti; Fela’s early music were highlife patent: check his OLOLUFEMI and BUY AFRICA songs.
Dr. Victor Olaiya, Orlando Owoh, O.J Ekemode, Segun Bucknor, Chris Ajilo, Osita Osadebe, Bobby Benson, Bala Miller, Art Alade, Charles Iwegbu, Eddy Okonta and Tunde Knightingale. These musicians churned out hits with a new swing groove called high life and for decades, they dominated the Nigerian and Ghana music scenes.
The sixties heralded new wave of masters of highlife music. They came with souls across Nigeria. Rex Lawson, Celestine Ukwu, Sir Victor Uwaifo, Aigbe Lebarty and Fatai Rolling Dollar. Every decade blessed us with broods of highlife musicians, that sailed into the next decade.
The seventies produced Bongos Ikwe, Paulson Kalu, Nelly Uchendu, Christy Essien Igbokwe, Sonny Okosuns, Tony Grey, Pogos Limited, Ikenga Superstars, Oliver De Coque, Osayemore Joseph, Perry Ernest( He was heavily influenced by funk and highlife) and Oriental Brothers.
In later days of the decade, some of these musicians plagiarized psychedelic funk, influenced pattern of music, powered by their traditional folkloric music and messages.
Eastern Nigeria created its highlife music empire mid-fifties decade; Chief Osita Osadebe, the little man from across the great river Niger, merged traditional folkloric sounds of the river raffs with this horns and guitar driven music. He borrowed heavy riffs, driving each song in the vernacular Igbo wagon, packed with philosophical proverbs of the people. He had audience.
He knew what they wanted. He assembled the right musicians, polished the rhythms and set them off, unleashing hits after hits on a people, desperately seeking music and message. As Nigeria recovered from the civil war, a new group sprouted from the east and mesmerized Nigeria’s music scene with a musical collaboration.
The group, Ikenga Superstars. Their debut, ‘Ikenga In London’, became popular in mainstream Nigeria, especially, the eastern Nigeria. It was needed to comfort East from the Biafra sad saga. Years later, leader of the Ikenga pack, Dan Satch, left Ikenga to form The Oriental Brothers Band. Dan Satch, from late 70s through late 1980s, blanketed Eastern Nigeria with his music.
He became a superstar, employed several show stomping rituals at his live concerts which fired up his album sales. Oliver De Coque and Prince Nico Mbaga were other Eastern Nigerian based musicians that had monumental hits with their kinds of highlife genre. Prince Nico Mbaga in 1977, released an evergreen music, ‘Sweet Mother’. To this day, ‘Sweet Mother’, sold more than 10 million copies and remains one of the highly sought after highlife music classics.
Chief Osita Osadebe retained his place as the icon of High life music in Nigeria. He became a major factor in traditional highlife music , rooted in the East. Eastern Nigeria became the center spread of this great West African Music that debuted in Ghana, at the beginning of 20th century.
The uniqueness of this music genre was in performance, vocal deliveries and messages, that were distinct in the traditions and customs of the East. Chief Osita Osadebe and Celestine Ukwu, were the front runners of highlife, intertwined the music with enchanting Igbo philosophical sayings.
Later years, other young musicians such as Oliver De Coque, Dan Satch, the frontman for Oriental Brothers Band, entered the scene to celebrate and recognize successful individuals in society. The shift from philosophical music to “praise singing highlife”, quickly caught the attention of Eastern fame and fortune seekers through music.
These famous musicians became endorsers of movers and shakers in the society. Still, the new Age high lifers could not displace the love of Chief Osita Osadebe. He was a dominant and respected music maker among his people. He was the oracle of highlife music. He retained that respect until he died in 2007.
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