Oliver de Coque: Highlife King, Egwu Ekpili Exponent, Guitarist Extraordinaire

(By Chimezie Chika) – Oliver De Coque’s Swansong: What is the Legacy of the Fabled Nigerian Guitarist? 

What Oliver de Coque started is being used in new ways, with new musical alliances, and new expressions. These experimentations are incipient, but it is clear that Oliver de Coque’s riffs are finding a second life in Afrobeats… 

The People’s Musician 

During the 1970s and 1990s, when the People’s Club of Nigeria (PCN) held sway in Nigeria’s social circles, one of the musicians who helped to popularise their activities was Oliver Sunday Akanite, known by his stage name, Oliver de Coque. There was a raft of Igbo Highlife musicians in those years—many were directly affiliated with the PCN—who sang about the famed social club and its wealthy members. Some of these musicians included Osita Osadebey, Oliver de Coque, and Morocco. 

    Oliver de Coque’s song, “People’s Club of Nigeria,” dedicated to the PCN, is perhaps the most popular of the lot. The song is typical of his style: a mixture of patterns of egwu ekpili panegyric, Highlife instrumentals, and accomplished guitar play. Oliver had learnt to play the guitar as a young man. He began making music at the age of 11 during his early years in his hometown of Ezinifite, where he would sing or play the ogene during festivals. In his teens, the local bands he followed sometimes went to hotels and tried to secure gigs. During performances, Oliver, usually the vocalist, often felt let down by the guitar players. Some years later, he met the famed Congolese guitarist, Piccolo. An immensely influential figure in the early years of Highlife in Nigeria, Piccolo had either taught or absorbed many of Nigeria’s Highlife maestros, still finding their feet in the 1950s and 1960s, into his band. During practice sessions in his band, Piccolo taught Oliver to play the guitar. 

Osita Osadebe: Maestro & Virtuoso of Highlife

(By Chimezie Chika) – What We Speak Of When We Talk About Osita Osadebe and Highlife Music 

    As a musician, Osadebe seems to have come to music fully made; in a journey through his discography, it is hard to find a bad song. 

The Pioneers 

When Stephen Osita Osadebe became a household name in the 1980s, few people outside Igboland knew his story. He had become interested in music in the early 1950s while attending secondary school in Onitsha, where he lived with his parents. In 1956, aged 20, he moved to the city of Lagos, Nigeria, to work and pursue further education. In the fledgling Lagos of the 1950s, vibrating with the rhythms of a country gradually acquiring its own distinct character, Osadebe left education and intensified his musical activities. He joined E.C. Arinze’s Empire Rhythm Orchestra and began to upgrade his musical skills. E. C. Arinze was a pioneer of Highlife in Nigeria — a contemporary of Victor Olaiya, Chris Ajilo, and Bobby Benson — and one of its early practitioners who had drawn inspiration directly from the genre’s Ghanaian originator, E. T. Mensah. 

    Empire Rhythm Orchestra, as with most Highlife bands in the 1950s and 1960s, played in hotels and nightclubs. Early in his career, Osadebe’s foray into music was met with strong opposition from his father, who believed that education was the way to go and that nothing good came out of dabbling into music. In a video interview that introduced his album, Kedu America (1996), Osadebe narrates how his father, upon learning that his son was dabbling with music, sent a message to him in Lagos, informing him that he was about to die. Osadebe quickly rushed down to Onitsha, only to find the old man reclining in his easy chair. His excuse: I will not be alive and see you while away your time in the name of music. 

Mike Ejeagha: Folklorist and Storyteller

(By Chimezie Chika) – Storyteller and Gentleman: What is the Measure of Mike Ejeagha’s Influence on Highlife Music in Nigeria? 

    Folklore rules the mythical landscape of Mike Ejeagha’s music; his lyrical calibrations are more about the prosody of folksongs and folktales; his language of the music is Igbo, and the purpose is didactic… 

Ejeagha, Storyteller 

Akuko Mike Ejeagha. Mike Ejeagha’s story. This was the Igbo phrase that trailed any indication that a person was telling tall tales (or long tales, as the case may be). In that moment of recognition, the person being told the tall tale would say, “I na-akoakuko Mike Ejeagha” (You are telling Mike Ejeagha’s kind of story). But the real Mike Ejeagha’s tales were not lies; they were mostly long-winded morality stories infused into the veins of his music to make a point. Using this technique, the singer, Mike Ejeagha, popularly identified with the prefixed sobriquet, “Gentleman,” built a legend that has gradually transitioned into common idioms in every day interactions. Akuko Mike Ejeagha. Mike Ejeagha’s story. This piece is not a tall tale — though it is Mike Ejeagaha’s story in a more literal sense — but what manner of influence would a singer have to make his musical technique widely identifiable and become part of modern Igbo idioms? 

    Born in 1930 at Imezi Owa in Ezeagu Local Government Area in Enugu, Mike Ejeagha, grew up in Coal Camp in the city of Enugu. His mother was an accomplished folk dancer and singer. After basic education, he started his musical career in the late 1940s, but it was not until the 1960s that people began to the notice his guitar-rendered folksongs. Growing up in Coal Camp, he had come into close contact with the street music of the time.

Celestine Ukwu and His Musical Philosophy

(By Chimezie Chika) – Celestine Ukwu’s Musical Philosophy: Is This the Sweet Spot of Highlife? 

    Among the older generation, there is a reverence for the music of Celestine Ukwu, the young man from Abor, who coloured the 1960s and ‘70s with the mellow power of his music… 

The Early Years and the ‘60s 

Celestine Ukwu’s hometown of Abor, in Udi Local Government, Enugu state, Nigeria, which is located on the old road to Nsukka, is only 22 miles away from the city of Enugu by car. Perhaps it is this closeness to the city (and the open world) that influenced Ukwu’s early wanderings and observations about life. Born in the year 1940, in the days when the blackened coal miners of the Iva Valley Coal Mine—tired from the day’s work in the dark tunnels—emerged unto the last grey light of the day and flooded the bars along railways and roads of Enugu, seeking drinks, evening small talk, and mellow music. The sound of the banter and evening music must have thrilled the young Celestine Ukwu. Uwamgbede music is often a feature of Igbo social life; it is not surprising, then, that early Highlife musicians incorporated it into their music. 

    Ukwu was born into a musical family. His father was a music performer, often playing Igede, Okpa and Ode. His mother was the lead vocalist and dancer in a local women’s Egwu Amala musical group. His grandparents were eminent folk music performers, and his grandfather played the ekwe odo (xylophone) during the Igodo Odo festival in Abor.

Oke Ite: Fraud in the Name of the Gods

(By Fr. George Adimike) - ‘Oke Ite’ Charm: Fraud in the Name of the Gods

     With the ‘oke ite’ phenomenon, an unimaginable fraud goes on in many cultures in Nigeria in the name of the gods. Under the pretext of cultural revival and the renaissance of the traditional religion, fetish ritualists masquerade as ministers of the local deities and exploit their clients with false claims to power. They invented the fetishistic ritual pot of charm (oke ite), a concoction generally prepared with human parts, animals and herbs gathered in a mud pot, as a panacea to all challenges and as a key to unlocking key to great fortune. But in effect, these charlatans are doing a great disservice to Nigerian cultures and traditional religions with evil practises that are neither good culture nor good religion. Though by conceptual origin ‘oke ite’ is exclusively Igbo, in reality, the practice is also found in other cultures of Nigeria. If true lovers of African culture do not rise to say NO to the destruction of our rich cultural values and expressions, African culture will be corrupted by these fetishistic practices and ritual killings. African culture is not, and cannot be, about ritual killings; the ‘oke ite’ ritual is only a corruption of culture and a fraud. 

     Even in their crudest groping and religious expression, the African traditional religions served the religious needs of our forebears and satisfied their thirst for meaning and quest for God. In those years, many Africans who practised the African traditional religions (ATR) worshipped and served God through the mediation of local deities and localised gods to the best of their religious awareness and convictions.

Yahoo Boys on Rampage

(By Fr. George Adimike) – Yahoo Boys on Rampage: The Youth and Internet Scam 

     The inordinate lust for wealth, fame and power, which is driving the youth crazy nowadays, has reached an alarming stage that silence has become complicity. That the get-rich-quick syndrome is corrupting the youth and dealing a death blow to the noble values on which society is constructed, is no longer news. It is observable that the importance attached to material wealth is one of the major factors. This exaggerated value induces the youth into despicable acts such as gruesome killings, swindling, bizarre lifestyles and fetishistic rituals. It also robs the people of the consciousness of the proper dignity of labour. The hitherto respect for education and drive for knowledge suffer in result. The people caught in this malaise throw money with callous abandon and spend it as if ‘tomorrow no dey’. Quick money through fraudulent means is so widespread that it challenges genuine growth and progress. Mahatma Gandhi was right when he enlisted wealth without work as one of the seven social sins. It corrupts and attacks society at its foundation. 

     The situation bespeaks surrender to the allurement of the goddess of mammon, by which a sector of society idolises money as a measure of success and greatness. Sadly, the effect of this celebration of noonday robbery and daylight fetishism is already telling on society. Without a doubt, the current nightmarish situation is difficult to abate because wealth and power are gripping.

Nollywood and Spiritism: Telling Unique African Stories

(By Femi Odugbemi) – Spiritism And Nollywood 

    AFRICAN cinema, particularly Nollywood, has gained international recognition for its vibrant storytelling and unique representation of African culture. One question that frequently emerges is the portrayal of spiritism and spirituality, which plays a significant role in the continent’s diverse cultural heritage. These representations often face challenges in being understood and appreciated by international audiences, who often mistakenly view them as fetish practices rather than essential elements of the African worldview. 

     Spiritism, or the belief in the presence of spirits and their influence on daily life, is deeply rooted in various African cultures. It encompasses diverse practices such as ancestor veneration, divination, and ritual ceremonies. Spirituality serves as a means of connecting with our ancestors, understanding the natural world, and seeking guidance in personal and communal matters. So incorporating spiritism into our storytelling captures the richness and complexity of our cultural heritage, portraying a worldview that is vastly different from Western norms. We have the power to reclaim the narrative surrounding spiritism and position it as a strength of our storytelling. By emphasizing the cultural significance and philosophical underpinnings of these spiritual practices, we can highlight their essential role in our ancient civilization.

Of Onyeka Nwelue and Phantom Cancel Culture

(By James Yeku) - On The Uses of African Literature: Onyeka Nwelue and a Phantom Cancel Culture Mob

    Prologue: I found it intriguing when Onyeka Nwelue, a fine writer who is always quick to declare he dropped out of university, began to use “Dr” in front of his name a year or two ago. It was fascinating because, based on professional etiquette and the stipulations of some awarding universities, it’s not common to flaunt an honorary doctorate. But when you consistently claim to teach for free at Oxford as a Professor of African Studies, as Onyeka told the satirist Dr. Damages last December, it invites more scrutiny! So I began to pay attention to him as part of my own current reflections on social media controversies, censorship, and scandals in the African literary community. When the Cherwell article came out, I considered writing about it and later did for The Lagos Review. This essay offers my sense of things, showing how relations of use and using inform a pattern of appropriating the literary/online prestige of Soyinka, Nwapa, and Pa Ikhide for the attention economy. As Soyinka remarks, the stakes of the Nwelue story go beyond Onyeka. They get at the heart of our unending fascination with Western institutions and their politics of valuation. Though long, the piece is posted here if anyone is interested in how many in our community use other people and their social capital. 

Africa, Christianity, and Proselytization: A Response

(By Onyemaechi Ogbunwezeh) - This is my response to Obinna Chinweokwu on a debate we were having on a thread on the evil of proselytizing. 

    He is for it and I am on the other side. 

    To one of the points he raised, I responded as follows; 

    The major problem with you; and indoctrinated folks like you in debates, is the swiftness to pretend that history does not matter because, it shows that the religion that was indoctrinated into you; was a vehicle of cultural, political and epistemic imperialism, to which you are still a victim. 

    And for you to denigrate history and attempt an atrocious whitewashing of it; so that people would forget, where this rain started to beat us; is really in bad taste. 

     History is so important even in the academy that you cannot submit an academic dissertation that does not have a literature review, in any serious university. 

     But for someone like you to denigrate the consultation of history; means that history is not kind to the position you peddle. 

     And in this instance; you sound like all that is wrong with Nigerian education; which has denigrated history to our chagrin and discomfiture. 

     I thank God that we still have Achebe to forever remind us, that those who do not know where the rain started to beat them, would never know where it stops. 

Okposalebo: Of Famed Palm-Wine and Braggart Drinkers

“It had happened on the festival day that as Obika and Ofoedu drank with the three men at the market place, one of the men had thrown a challenge to them. The conversation had turned on the amount of palm-wine a good drinker could take without losing knowledge of himself. 

     'It all depends on the palm-tree and the tapper,’ said one of the men. 

     ‘Yes,’ agreed his friend, Maduka. ‘It depends on the tree and the man who taps it,’ 

     ‘That is not so. It depends on the man who drinks. You may bring any tree in Umuaro and any tapper,’ said Ofoedu, ‘and I shall still drink my bellyful and go home with clear eyes.’ 

     Obika agreed with his friend. ‘It is true that some trees are stronger than others and some tappers are better than others, but a good drinker will defeat them both.’ 

     ‘Have you heard of the palm-tree in my village which they call Okposalebo?’ Obika and Ofoedu said no. 

     ‘Anyone who has not heard of Okposalebo and yet claims to be a good drinker deceives himself.’ 

     ‘What Maduka says is very true,’ said one of the others. ’The wine from this tree is never sold in the market, and no one can drink three hornfuls and still know his way home.’ 

     ’This Okposalebo is a very old tree. It is called Disperser of a Kindred because two brothers would fight like strangers after drinking two hornfuls of its wine.’

Unoka: Self-Indulgent Fellow, Rapturous Artist, and Wretched Farmer

“[Okonkwo’s] fame rested on solid personal achievements. … [Okonkwo] had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had had no patience with is father. 

     Unoka, for that was his father’s name, had died ten years ago. In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow. If any money came his way, and it seldom did, he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine, called round his neighbours and made merry. He always said that whenever he saw a dead man’s mouth he saw the folly of not eating what one had in one’s lifetime. Unoka was, of course, a debtor, and he owed every neighbour some money, from a few cowries to quite substantial amounts. 

     He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop. He wore a haggard and mournful look except when he was drinking or playing on his flute. He was very good on his flute, and his happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village musicians brought down their instruments, hung above the fireplace. Unoka would play with them, his face beaming with blessedness and peace. Sometimes another village would as Unoka’s band and their dancing egwugwu to come and stay with them and teach them their tunes. They would go to such hosts for as long as three or four markets, making music and feasting. Unoka loved the good fare and the good fellowship… 

     Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure.

Peter Obi Embraces Nollywood Affiliation

(By Kelvin Okojie) – Obi Accepts ... ‘Nollywood Actor’ Title 

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has accepted the Nollywood actor title … given to him by Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai of Kaduna State. 

    Reacting to questions on his plans for the country and sharing his experience during his nationwide tour canvassing for votes, the former Anambra State governor, who appeared as a guest of Arise TV on Sunday, said that he felt honoured to be referred to as a Nollywood actor. 

Change the Narrative: Open Letter to Nollywood

(By Adeolu Adefarasin) – An Open Letter to Nollywood 

To the industry I love dearly, 

    Now more than ever, I believe Nollywood is on the precipice of greatness, the eyes of the world are facing you and you have a great opportunity to speak, to be seen and to be heard. For far longer than I have been an active member of this valued industry, many before me have dreamt of the day that the reach and influence of Nollywood would go far and wide. I know there is so much to be proud of. 

    In the same breath, I am aware that with such great influence comes a weighty responsibility that cannot be ignored. Amongst the many lessons of 2022, I have learned that it is harder to speak truth to power when you seek the help that power can offer. So, at this moment, I lay down my personal aspirations and hopes for what I believe is the greater good, not just of the industry but the many people it influences. 

    As Nigerians, we have not always been set the best example, not by our elders, not by our leaders – political or otherwise, and not even by our peers. In the midst of that, we managed, for a long time, to maintain hope and a sense of moral integrity – two things I believe are waning under the pressure of present circumstances and the everyday realities of most Nigerians. I believe it is your responsibility to restore hope and a moral core to the masses,

Nollywood: More Screens, More Money

(By Usoro Glory Esther) – More Screens, More Money for Nollywood 

The entertainment industry, particularly Nollywood, which is regarded as one of the fastest-growing industries in the country, is facing slow growth in cinema screen investment. 

    The success of blockbuster films showing during the holiday season was limited as cinemas were unable to show the movies to a wider audience due to the low number of screens in the country. 

    This led to low ticket sales for some movies, as well as a slowing of such movies’ publicity and the ability of producers and directors to make sufficient profits. 

    According to a report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in late 2021, the number of cinema screens in Africa is 1,653, which is one screen per 781,402 in population coverage, compared to the United States, which has a total of 44,111 cinemas, translating into 7,503 per screen. 

    Nigeria, Africa’s largest country, and Nollywood, the world’s second-largest movie industry, has 251 screens compared to the United States, which has over 40,000 screens, China has over 34,000, and Japan has over 5,000. 

Impact of Streaming Platforms on Nollywood

(By Tofarati Ige) - How streaming platforms are redefining Nollywood with million-dollar investments 

The movie industry has apparently grown over the years, but it has largely been through the huff and puff of individual efforts. Though the lack of a viable structure is one of the heaviest albatross around the neck of the industry, it is hard to deny that by sheer dint of hard work, persistence and ingenuity, Nigerian filmmakers have, over the years, built a vibrant creative ecosystem that has churned out several woks; albeit under excoriating conditions. 

    However, with the world even now more of a global village than it used to be, the country’s movie industry is gradually opening up to international investors and audiences; just like many stakeholders had hoped and prayed for. 

    The presence of global video streaming platforms in the country has undoubtedly raised the stakes, and is contributing to the growth of Nollywood. Indeed, it is a new and exciting vista of boundless possibilities.