May 31/07
The Highlife Turntable Vol. 4
Today we have a fourth guest post by dedicated Benn loxo listener and contributor, ubulujaja:
A lot has been made about the fact Chief Stephen Osadebe was mentored by Zeal Onyia, so I thought I would contribute two tracks from his Philips LP titled Zeals Message to give you an idea of where Osadebe learned his craft and what a first class highlife trumpeter sounded like.
Zeal Onyia was a Nigerian trumpeter with impeccable credentials. In 1953 he went to Ghana and played with ET Mensah in the Tempos Band before moving on to the Spike Anyankor’s Rhythm Band. He came back to Nigeria and along with Bobby Benson, Eddie Okonta and Victor Olaiya became one of the great trumpeters of the golden era of highlife in the 60′s and early 70′s.
While he was probably widely recorded or a sideman in other bands, I have only seen a few of his solo recordings including a track on the Night and Day compilation HighLife HighUp’s, a Tabanasi release titled Zeal Rides Again, a few 45′s and 2 78 recordings on a web site dedicated to Zeal Onyia.
The first song is titled Egbe Ne Lueli and is a good example of the raw energy in a classic highlife song, with vocals followed by alternating horns and percussion solos. The drumming on this tracks is particularly tight and there is a great horn blast by Zeal Onyia midway through the song. The rhythmic chorus makes the 2nd track more afro-beat in nature, but the thready horn solo at the beginning became an signature introduction for highlife musicians and was used to great effect by Charles Iwegbue in his classic song, Ejelunor.
Zeal Onyia – Egbe Ne Lueli
Zeal Onyia – Idegbani
Your email is broken, I need to reach you via email, pls.
The e-mail link was fixed a couple days ago. You can reach me at: letters@mattgy.net
Matt and ubulujaja,
really great stuff, thanks for this. One question – what year is the onyiah record you posted the tracks from? – for me it was unexpectedly “modern” sounding.
and you are right, the drum breaks on Egbe Ne Lueli are fantastic
The year of the record was 1976, the picture was from the Kit Kat Club and was taken in the late 50′s. I also should say that the comment I made about the thready horn solo was not meant to imply Zeal created the technique, its just I noticed that intro to a lot of highlife songs and the best example of what it was can be seen in the Iwegbue song. Glad you liked the music…..
Fantastic !
How is it possible to find more of that great musician.
Many Thanks !
ubulujaja,
you mentioned the Charles Iwegbue song, Ejelunor – care to post that one? I’ve only heard his great decca 10″ – Lagos Highlife and the songs that were reissued on the Original Music compilation “Azagas and Archibogs”. More information on him, though, is hard to come by with the exception of the occasional very beat-up Lps showing up on Ebay.
zim – I don’t handle the posting, but you can contact me at inbeatswetrust@gmail.com and I can send the MP3 over.
Greetings from New Zealand!
I play trombone and after some overseas work in Abuja Nigeria where I got to play in local Highlife/Afrobeat band there (Baba2010), I have started a group here in Wellington, New Zealand. We play a mix of some Highlife, some old Jamaican ska and some funky jazz. Lots of horns, drums and a solid rhythm section. I love Highlife music, especially Rex Lawson, but also a lot of the other “evergreens”…Chief Stephen, Viktor Olaiya, Joe Mensah, etc.
If you or anyone can help me get the lyrics and music for some of the old Highlife classics I would be HUGELY grateful!!
Some of the songs we are playing and for which we really need the lyrics (and music if anyone has written it out) are:
Ka-Anyi Jikota Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe
Bosoe Joe Mensah
Bone Biara So Wo Akatua African Brothers / Nana Kwame Ampadu
Omo Pupa Victor Abimbola Olaiya
Binu Binu Orlando Julius
Bere Bote Rex Lawson
Akaso Inyingi Rex Lawson
Aye Muba Udeaja Rex Lawson
So Ala Temen Rex Lawson
Abari Biya Rex Lawson
Tamuno Bo Ibroma Rex Lawson
Sawalé Rex Lawson
Love Me Adure Rex Lawson
Ibi Na Bo Rex Lawson
Cheers,
Jonathan Dunn
Wellington, NZ
I’ve always been curious if there were any musical notations for these types of african songs and haven’t been able to find them. Have you been able to find any?
I have the music to most of those songs. If you hit me at inbeatswetrust@gmail.com we can see if there is any music i can pass along.
Hello again.
I sent you an email about the Highlife music and lyrics. As I said in the email, we are mostly working out the music “by ear” off of CDs, and in some cases we have written out some arrangements. But it’d be great to see someone else’s music for the tunes I mentioned. I am really keen to get the lyrics. Those are harder to work out from the CDs. we have one member who knows Yoruba, but only a couple of the tunes listed are in Yoruba.
Well, I appreciate anything you (or others) might be able to provide us for lyrics and music.
Cheers,
Jonathan
[...] reading one of the entries on Benn Loxo, a comment from Jonathan – one of Benn Loxo readers in New Zealand – caught my eye. The man has started a live band in his country playing several African music : “I have [...]
Hello Jonathan-in-Wellington, most of the songs on your list are sung in the Ibo language (Nigeria) or Ashanti (Ghana). Just get out a grab the first Nigerian (or Ghanian) on the streets. He might help you. For those interested in old school high-life music, check out Nigerian writer Cyprian Ekwensi’s ‘People of the City’ (published in 1954) which chronicles the life of a trumpeter/crime reporter in 1950s Lagos. He was definitely inspired by those great high-life horn men. It will definitely help in the appreciation of that great music. There’s a free online version of that novel here:
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=654296
This is page 1:
CHAPTER ONE
Most girls in the famous West African city (which shall be
nameless) knew the address Twenty Molomo Street, for there
lived a most colourful and eligible young bachelor, by name
Amusa Sango.
In addition to being crime reporter for the West African
Sensation, Sango in his spare time led a dance band that played
the calypsos and the konkomas in the only way that delighted the
hearts of the city women. Husbands who lived near the All
Language Club knew with deep irritation how their wives
would, on hearing Sango’s music, drop their knitting or sewing
and wiggle their hips, shoulders and breasts, sighing with the
nostalgia of musty nights years ago, when lovers’ eyes were
warm on their faces. Nights that could now, with a home and
family, be no more. While those who as yet had found no man
would twist their hips alluringly before admiring eyes, temptÂ
ing, tantalizing . . . promising much but giving little, basking in
the vanity of being desired.
Of women Sango could have had his pick, from the silk-clad
ones who wore lipstick in the European manner and smelled of
scent in the warm air to the more ample, less sophisticated ones
in the big-sleeved velvet blouses that feminized a woman.
Yet Sango’s one desire in this city was peace and the desire
to forge ahead. No one would believe this, knowing the kind
of life he led: that beneath his gay exterior lay a nature serious
and determined to carve for itself a place of renown in this
city of opportunities…