CHRISTY ESSIEN-IGBOKWE (1960-2011)

Christy Essien-Igbokwe was born on 11th November 1960 in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria. She lost her mother at the age of 12 and lived with her mother’s friend who encouraged her singing capabilities by buying her a cassette player to record her songs.

She began her musical career in Secondary School, singing at various clubs in Aba, Abia State such as Uka Onu’s Club and Unikoko.

She played the role of Apeno, the wife of the cantankerous character Jegede Shokoya in the sensational Nigerian TV comedy ‘‘The New Masquerade’’. The role shot the young Christy to stardom as an actress. She later featured in two Nollywood movies “Flesh and Blood” and “Sacred of Womanhood’’ in the early days of Nollywood.

Nevertheless, it was in music that Christy Essien made her mark internationally. She began her music career in NTA Aba on a programme called ‘‘Now Sound’’. She released her debut album (Freedom) in 1976 at the age of 16.

She worked very hard and followed up with other albums; ‘‘Patience’’ and ‘‘Time Waits for No One’’ were both released in 1978. She released ‘‘One Understanding’’ in 1979 and ‘‘Give Me A Chance’’ followed in 1980.

By and large, her 1981 hit album, ‘‘Ever Liked My Person’’ remains her best LP till date. This album was released under London-based label, EMI International Records, which was more inclined towards promoting Nigerian pop music in Europe and America, ‘‘Ever Liked My Person’’ featured production from one of Nigeria’s top producers, Lemmy Jackson, who was touted as Nigeria’s Quincy Jones. This album sold above platinum till date and so popular was one of its hit tracks ‘‘Omo Mi Seun Rere’’ that a number of African countries have sang their own version.

Christy was reputed for composing and performing what would later be known as Akwa-Ibom state’s anthem of sorts, “Akwa-Ibom Mmi (My Akwa-Ibom)” in 1987, its year of creation.

During her music career that spanned four decades, she won several awards including International Special Achievement Award Mexico (1983), Africa Music Mother Award (1984), World Song Festival Award, Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners Lagos (1996), and National Honours Award (MFR) in 2002.

In the home front she was never found wanting. She got married to Edwin Igbokwe from Awka (Anambra State) in 1979 at age 19, a marriage blessed with four sons.

Politically, Christy Essien was very active; she was the first female president of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), an organisation she helped found in 1982.

Christy Essien-Igbokwe died on Thursday 30^th June 2011 at a Lagos hospital after a brief illness. Though she is dead her spirit will continue to live in the hearts of music lovers and her fans.

Emeka E. Okeke

NAIJA MUSIC

Naija music is a new music genre that is now widely accepted in Nigeria. The origin of this music genre cannot be traced to any particular root; however its artistes could be said to have understood hi-hop, rap, afro pop, reggae and afro gospel music very well. A typical naija song is a combination of the aforementioned music genres.

Naija music is a hi-tech music generated by computer aided musical instruments. The artiste sings in Pidgin English with some embellishments in the three major Nigerian languages (Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa).

The lyrics of naija music cut across current affairs, love affairs, ills of the society and religion.

Naija music is currently the most popular music played on the Nigerian airwaves, which include more than 100 radio stations scattered all over the 36 states and the Federal Capital City Abuja. Who say Nigeria has not come of age? Prior to the popularization of naija music in the country, music by the American, European and Caribbean artistes were ruling the airwaves.

The most popular naija music artistes include P-Square, Tu-Face, D’banj, Nigga Raw and Bracket.

Emeka E.Okeke

RECORD COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

At independence in October 1960, Nigeria had no indigenous recording company. Decca, was the only reputable recording company doing business in the country. It recorded and distributed well known highlife musicians, such as Bobby Benson, Eddy Okonta, Kula Lobito( Fela’s 1^st band) and Ebenezer Obey.

However, there was a boom in the recording business in the country immediately after the civil war in early 1970s. Two prominent foreign recording companies EMI Records and Polygram Records built big pressing plants in Lagos to cater for Nigerian artistes coming out from the civil war.

EMI Records churned out many Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s albums, which were very successful not only in Nigeria but also in Europe, America and other African countries.

EMI Records also recorded and distributed Sonny Okosun, Bongos Ikwue and The Grooves, Christie Essien and Dizzy K Falola, all of whom were big stars in the 1970s and 1980s.

On the other hand, Polygram Records recorded and promoted many Nigerian musicians including Stephen Osita Osadebe, Victor Uwifo, Voice Of The Cross (a gospel duet), Onyeka Onwenu and some other afro pop artistes. It also brought reggae music to limelight in the country by recording and promoting foremost Nigerian reggae artistes such as Ras Kimono, Ortis Wiliky, and The Mandators.

An Igbo entrepreneur Chief G.A.D. Tabansi saw a great opportunity in the recording business and set up the first indigenous record company in Nigeria ‘Tabansi Records’. It was a formidable record company in the 1970s and 1980s that recorded and brought many artistes to limelight including Bony  Mark, Felix Liberty, Jide Obi and Majek Fashek.

Other indigenous recording companies sprang up in quick succession in the 1970s; these include Rogers All Stars, Melody Records, Olumo Records and Polydor Records. They all made great impact in the 1970s and 1980s recording big artistes like Chris Okotie, Nico Mbarga, Chris Mba, King Sunny Ade, Oliver De Quoque and Captain Muddy Ibe.

Unfortunately, by the late 1980s, the economic fortunes of these recording companies have started to dwindle occasioned by the structural adjustment programme introduced by the military leadership in the mid 1980s, coupled with the high rate of piracy made possible by the importation of hi-tech record/cassette duplicating equipments from the Asian countries.

By early 1990s, the expatriate recording companies such as EMI Records, Polygram Records and CBS Records sold their pressing plants and left the country for other economic viable countries such as South Africa and Kenya.

However, indigenous investors that bought these record companies tried to no avail to maintain the standards set by their former owners. By 1990s, Polygram Records has metamorphosed into Premier Music, EMI Records was renamed Ivory Music while CBS Records became Sony Music.

Nevertheless, these companies recorded many artistes who made waves in the 1990s including Shina Peters, Daniel Wilson and Blacky.

Today the dice is cast; piracy has continued to affect the business of making genuine records in Nigeria. The economy is bad, and corruption has continued to increase. Most of the record companies that boosted the music industry in the 1970s and 1980s have become moribund. What is in vogue now is label owning, most artistes now have their own labels to distribute their records. However, the network of private labels are usually not wide, and so record making and selling is mostly limited to the area an artiste is able to cover here in Nigeria.

Emeka E. Okeke.

         

    

10 WAYS TO ORGANIZE A FORMIDABLE CHURCH CHOIR

1. Determine whether your church needs a large or small choir. Small choir usually comprises between 20 to 40 members and can be very effective in a small or medium sized church, while a large choir is made up of between 60 to 100 members, which is ideal for a large church congregation. Mass choir is only good for out door activities.
2. Don't be sentimental in choosing your choristers, the best way to choose choristers is to organise a general audition where you can identify and select the best talents.
3. Group the singers in four different parts according to the tonal range of their voices. A standard choir has four distinct parts(soprano,alto,tenor and bass). Usually women sing soprano and alto, while men sing tenor and bass.
4.  Groom the singers on how to inerprete and sing solfa notation, which is the standard method of rehearsing polyphonic music.
5.  Appoint part leaders for the four parts to help in the interpretation of solfa notation. They can also serve as assistant choirmasters.
6.  Practice makes perfect. Make sure the choir practices for 2 to 3 hours at least 3 days in a week, which must include Saturday evening to enable you be in perfect tune against Sunday morning renditions.
7.  Give priority to discipline and be very strict about this from the begining. Penalize late comers and suspend any member that fails to come to practice for 3 consecutive times.
8.  Make sure the instrumentalists such as the organists and the percutionists rehearse with the choir, at least on Saturday evenings to avoid embarrasment, which many choirmasters encounter on Sunday mornings due to lackadasical attitude of some instrumentalists that claim to know it all.
9.  Promote love amongs the choir members by encouraging exchange of visits and liesure trips such as picnic.
10. Set a day apart in every month when the members of the choir could have a regular meeting to deliberate on the affairs of the choir.

Emeka E.Okeke
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HIP HOP MUSIC IN NIGERIA

Hip hop music genre has gained tremendous popularity in Nigeria since the mid 1990s when Weird M C brazed the trail with a hit single and video "Allen Avenue" which made waves in the city of Lagos. She was followed by Zackee Azdee who released some hip hop hits. A group of three young boys called "The Remedies" then came up with a hip hop hit single titled "Shade" which made wave in Lagos and the whole of South Eastern Nigeria. They actually popularised the use of local dialet to embellish hip hop music.
"The Plantashion Boyz" then entered the scene in the late 1990s and took hip hop music to the next level by incorporating even more local dialets and piegeon English and local slangs in thier songs, which appealed to the youths. Their debut album titled "Plantashion Boyz" was a hit. The hit track of the album was "Plantashion Boyz" which was actually a remix of Bonny M's 1980s hit "Plantation Boy"
At the dawn of the new millenium many other hip hop groups emerged and saturated the air waves with hip hop songs, which some journalists have termed "Niaja Music" These groups include a duo called the "P-Square" and the "Styl Plus".
By this time some members of the older hip hop groups have gone solo churning out hit songs. Idris Abdulkareem,a former member of the "Remedies" released a solo album 'Nigeria Jagajaga" which was successful. Tu Face,a former member of the "Plantashion Boyz" started a very successful solo career and recorded many hits including "African Queen" and "For Instance". He had a very versatile and up and doing promoter and record company, Kenis Music, who popularised him and made him an international figure, winning many international and local awards.
P-Square's 2007 album "Do Me" was s monster hit so also was Timaya, a Port Harcourt based hip hop artiste who took the Nigerian music scene by a storm with his debut album "True Story" The other hip hop artistes that are currently making waves in Nigeria include J Martins, D Banj, Nigga Raw, Duncan Mighty, Terry G, Brackets, Dee Bee, Olu Maintain, 9ice, D J Zeez, e t c.  

GOSPEL HIGHLIFE

www.emeksmusic.com
Gospel highlife is a music genre which has become very popular in Nigeria and some parts of West Africa. Gospel highlife is simply gospel lyrics backed by highlife rhythm. Since the early 1990s the popularity of highlife music has continued to dwindle. The taste of music lovers in Nigeria is shifting to gospel music. Some brilliant musicians have seen this gap and are currently filling it. Some recording artistes have recreated and transformed highlife music which hitherto carried a social message and most times praise singing of prominent and rich people in the society to gospel music.
Felix Ndukwe and Jude Ezeji brazed the trail and successfully replaced original highlife message with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ while still maintaining the highlife rhythm. Voice Of The Cross,a popular gospel duet in Nigeria in the early 1990s released an album which they recorded in the United States of America and specifically titled it ''Gospel Highlife-Voice Of The Cross In USA'' This album made waves in Nigeria and spread to some parts of West Africa like a wild fire.
Many other musicians switched over to gospel highlife,even Late Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe a highlife maestro in Nigeria did an exclusive gospel album titled 'Jesus Bu Onye Ndu' in 2001. Numerous other artistes are currently making contributions to the growing gospel highlife music.These include Gozie Okeke, Paul Nwokocha, Osita Muolokwu and Mach Philips.
Some artistes have gone the extra mile of remixing popular old school highlife songs and substituting the original lyrics with newly composed gospel lyrics.
Gospel highlife has come to stay in Nigeria and West Africa.

Emeka E.Okeke

MANU DIBANGO(Originator of Makossa Music)

Manu Dibango was born in Douala,Cameroun in 1934 to a devout chiristian parents who did not want him to be involved with music other than church music. At age 15 his parents sent him to study in France to become either a lawyer or a doctor,which were the most sought after professions as at then.
However,contrary to his parents expectations and wishes he did a four years classical piano course and also learned the saxophone for two years before he launched out to play music professionally. He started in Rennes,east of France,from where he went to Brussels in Belgium to play music at clubs.
At the dawn of the Zairean independence in 1961,Manu Dibango left Brussels for Zaire where he continued his music career and did some records with top musicians at that time,such as the group called African Jazz led by the late Kabasele.
It was Manu's two years sojourn in Zaire that really brought him to limelight in the whole of Africa and parts of Europe,especially France and Belgium. The numerous singles he recorded together with the African Jazz were released in Belgium through a record company called Decca,and that really gave him the opportunity of being heard all over Africa.
When Manu Dibango went back to Paris he continued to experiment with the Congo music and recorded some albums with some Congolese musicians with whom he played when he was in Zaire. These albums were very successful. Then came the biggest achievement of Manu in the music world,the development of the Makossa Music.
According to Manu Dibango as quoted by the African Music No. 20 March/April 1984 Edition "Makossa started in Cameroun little by little,with two or three influences with the Nigerian highlife,because we are very close,and also with Central African music,which you can call Congo music. So the melting,the melange,of that made makossa come and develop its own way.
Perhaps one of the most popular Manu Dibango's albums is the 'Soul Makossa' released in 1972,which according to him was the first international African hit which made him travel a lot. He spent two years in New York playing with good musicians he had always dreamed to meet,like Tony Williams,Buster Williams,Frank West,The Brecker Brothers(African Music No. 20, March/April 1984 Edition).
In 1983 Manu released another chart-buster album 'Waka Juju' which increased his popularity not only in Africa but in the major cities of America and Europe. There is no doubt that this highly energetic and skillful saxophonist and singer whose trade mark is clean shaved and shinning head has done Africa proud in the world of music as the originator of makossa music.

Emeka E. Okeke.