GENTLEMAN MIKE EJEAGHA @ 93
The Evangelist News Edition, April, 14, 2023. By Emeka Obasi
There is every reason to celebrate Highlife maestro, Mike Ejeagha, the man who turns folklore and proverbs to sweet music, maintains his integrity and leaves listeners filled with much respect for culture. At 93, wisdom is still flowing from his fountain.
Ejeagha is different. Each of his tracks comes with lyrics that teach about life. He does not just sit down to toss his guitar around without passing a message. Music is the food of love, you will love folklore, folktales and freedom of choice through what comes out as ‘ akuko n’egwu ( story through music).
At the end of the Civil War, those of us from the Eastern part of the country needed to get back to live. Without money and infrastructure, the easiest way to keep hope alive was through sports and music. Football blended with Highlife and Pop.
Enugu Rangers emerged from the ashes of defeat to assume leadership in soccer. They won the Amachree Cup in 1971 and went international same year. The Flying Antelopes became the country’s first double champions in 1974 and by 1976 became the first to win the Challenge Cup three times consecutively. That record still stands.
East Central State Academicals were Manuwa/ Adebajo Cup champions in 1971. East Central State Spartans went away with the soccer gold medal of the First National Sports Festival in 1973. They retained it two years later at Lagos ’75.
In music, Stephen Osita Osadebe, Celestine Ukwu, Peacocks and the Oriental Brothers were part of the healing process. Pop groups emerged from all corners. Bob Miga and his Strangers, Jake Solo, Harry Mosco chose Funkees, Apostles, Founders 15, Aktions and Lasbrey Ojukwu’s Semicolon, all flourished.
I had special interest in what I would tag Grassroots Highlife. This genre went deeper to appeal to the soul. From Enugwu Ukwu, there was Christopher Okonkwo Asah, better known as Seven Seven. In Oburugo Mgbuisii near Ohaji , Uzoma Odimara led the way. He chose to dress like a woman and adopted ‘Area Scatter’ as stage name.
Celestine Obiakor and Douglas Chukwueke, also known as Ederi and his Olariche International band sang in Owere dialect. They were not as deep but the story telling angle was not lost.
The greatest of them all, Mike Ejeagha, from Imezi Owa, Ezeagu used the guitar so effectively to deliver his messages. As you were enjoying the strings, the lyrics sank in so easily. He took Igbo folklore to a higher altitude.
What came out of his music helped to shape the society. Ejeagha was not singing about back and front, his sound was not vulgar, father, mother and the children could gather in one corner of the house to enjoy music. There was no need for parental control.
Ejeagha was a good teacher. There was so much to learn from his performance which he called akuko n’egwu. Take the track ”Omekagu,’ for instance. A king loved his second son more than the heir and did everything possible to show it. The elders spoke against that.
On a certain day, the king sent his beloved son about town on a special horse as a sign that he was King – in – Waiting. The first son, a good flutist, was saddened by the show. He went into lamentations using his flute. The horseman fell off and lay unconscious.
When news got to the king that his anointed was on the way to the Land of No Return, he was shaken. The elders advised him to go apologise to his son. With that done, the flute was sounded again and the half dead rose. The king was the wiser.
Tracks like Onye Ori Utaba ( the snuff thief), and Uwa Mgbede Ka Nma are as popular. Ejeagha would always back his admonitions with Nnamu gwaram ( my father told me). In other words, he was reminding the society of the role of the father in a child’s upbringing.
When Ejeagha celebrated 91 on April 4, 2021, a special mass was held in his Abakpa Nike, Enugu home. Social Communications Director of the Enugu Catholic Diocese, Father Benjamin Achi was humbled when the Gentleman stood up to welcome him. Be
Father Achi said : ” Gentleman Mike Ejeagha, I love to address you this way and I said I would ask you, why in all the titles that many Igbo men love to take, you chose Gentleman. Many men of your calibre would prefer Chief, Sir, Doctor etc.
The priest threw a verbal bomb. “There are people who go by the name Your Excellency, and I sometimes do not like to address them by Excellency because some of them are not even good, not to talk of being Excellent.”
Ejeagha’s mother was a good dancer but his love for music germinated at Coal Camp, Enugu. He lived in the same compound with one Moses ‘ Moscow’ Aduba , a guitarist who always entertained people with a friend, Cyprian Uzochiawa.
By 1950, Ejeagha had formed the Merry Makers band. That effort led to recognition when he was made a presenter at Nigeria Broadcasting Service. In 1960, his first single, Ofu Nwaa Anaa ( the only child is gone) was released.
****@Saturday Vanguard
