The Good Old Days

Screenshot from YouTube 

Some people find it strange and do not take me seriously when I tell them my preference for music. I love Country music for the sound, melody, and story behind each music. The Coward of the County by Kenny Rogers is an all time favorite story. Every country music tells a story, sometimes sad but many times beautiful love stories. I will pick a beautiful story any day over obscenity and some of the senseless music being made these days.

When I am not playing Gospel, I am playing Country, another option  is music from my past, the kind I grew up with; that I can sing along to like, "Super Woman," "Been Around the World," All of Boys II Men, Jodeci, Whitney Houston, Maria Carey, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Lionel Richie, Paul Simon, Arrested Development, After Seven (brothers of Baby face) and many other good ones out there. When I hear "Ifeoma Ifeoma Ifeoma, I want to marry you, give me your love," it takes me to another level and I just think of the good old days of Felix Liberty and when Chris Okotie was living out his true calling and Jide Obi was still in his true elements. I still play Patty Obasi and will never forget how his song, "O ga adi ka Olu Ebube" got me through a tough period in my final year in University. I wish he was alive today to see how well that particular song is doing in the Christian world. 

Talk about one Nigerian musician who crossed borders and blazed through ethnicity to penetrate the hearts of most Nigerians, Sir Shina Peters, legendary! we sang his songs word for word and even learned to dance, bending down like the Yorubas. Nigeria was once a good place and it will be good again we pray.

Not a lot of people know that I was featured in music videos a few times, once as a little girl facilitated by Uncle Dickson of blessed memory who was a popular voice on the radio in those days in Enugu because of his popular radio show called "Tombo Connection." He was Beatrice's tenant and he said I was a bold and vibrant child and so would be a good character in a music video that tried to depict "Andrew wan check out, Nigeria must survive." Over three decades later, Andrews are still checking out en masse from Nigeria. In that video, I danced along three other kids taunting a Michael Jackson wannabe who was attempting g to check out of Nigeria. The song was titled "Checking Out" Did they see the future?

It was a random day in my newly married sister's beautiful home on Adelabu street in Surulere Lagos when I walked in from the salon to see bright lights in the living room. I couldn't immediately tell that a music video was being shot till i walked into the video. I looked a lot older than my age in heavy curls and as I walked in, and the man in jerry curls that I later came to know as Chris Mba looked at me and had a big smile on his face.

He looked at me and said that I just had to be in his video, he immediately wrote a script for me to act as one of two ladies spending a rich man's money. My brother-in-law "Dee Kru" of blessed memory allowed his friend Chris to use his bar in his living room and my other brother-in-law played the rich man. Talk about a budget video. I was briefed on my role and I swung into action happy to have an interesting story for my friends when I got back to my boarding school from my holiday in Lagos. That song was titled "Money" Chris Mba passed on recently and his death brought back those beautiful memories especiallyof his hit song, "Baby don't cry." May his soul rest in peace. Amen.

In my Music class in Secondary School, we always quoted what a Music prodigy said, "If Music be the food of life, then play on." Music is indeed the food of life and I wonder how life would have been without music.I do not listen to rap except Bobby Brown's, Millie Vannili's, and Tupac's. The raps these days are filled with gibberish. 

Nigerian music artistes are doing great even beyond the shores of Nigeria and that makes me very proud. I don't usually play Naija vibes when I am on the road but when I hear Naija beats at a party I almost cannot stop dancing.

I love music and sometimes I even make my own music which reminds me of the music I made with my baby brother when we were in primary school. We would usually put our mouths close to the standing fan in our bedroom and because of how it made us sound that gave us the feel of a studio, we decided to forge our own song.  Our song titled Tuesday, had one word, Tuesday. I would go first and sing Tu Tu Tu Tuesday, and my brother would respond Tuesday. We were obsessed then with the song titled, "I Don't Like Monday" and that made us title our own song Tuesday.

I still create my own songs to speak to whatever situation I am in be it a happy one or a sad one. I have a song for my weeks and I already know what this week's song will be. "I Can See Clearly Now the Rain Has Gone" 

Do you have a song for your week? Whatever your song is, may it give you all the strength that you will need.

Who remembers Yvonne Maha? Oh my goodness, I wanted to be her so much, I wonder where she is now. Do you remember Musical Youth? Give me your unconditional love, the kind of love i deserve, the kind i want to return! 

Those were indeed the good old days.