Entertainment
Choristers-TurnedMusic Artistes Exposed
A recent investigation has
revealed some of the top Nigerian artistes who started from the church either as singers in choir, praise leaders or drummers before moving over to secular music much later in their lives. They include the following.
Peter and Paul Okoye (P Square)
This singing duo disclosed that their mother, Josephine Okoye influenced their music career later in life. She used to be a member of a choir and when they were growing up, she took them to rehearsals and they watched her as she sang with the choir, so they got the music disposition from her.
Later she became a pastor in her ministry called “Friends of Jesus Catholic Prayer Ministry and when she started her ministry, they were her choir, her choristers.
Olubankole Wellington (Banky W)
This great entertainer and top artiste disclosed that everybody who knew him knew that he sang.
He said he started singing at an earlier stage. I was always singing in school or church choir.
Michael Collins Ajere (Don Jazzy)
In an interview, Don Jazzy made it known to the public that he started singing at the church choir.
Amanyi Oche Gabriel Terry G.)
Terry G as he is popularly known revealed that he came from a Christian background. His dad was an elder in church, while his mother was a deaconess and at one time she used to be a choir mistress. I used to go all the time to the church with my mom. I already knew how to sing, so I ended up in the choir. Quickly I started developing interest in musical, I picked up the drums, graduated to key boards and even played bass guitter”, he said.
Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo (D Banj)
The Koko master needs no introduction since the name has become a house-hold name. He said during his younger days he learnt how to play harmonica, that was where the love for music grew.
He disclosed that he joined the choir and played every instrument he could lay his hands. At any opportunity he got, he tried to express himself through music.
J-Martings
He also mentioned in an interview that he started singing at the church. “Actually my mum was a choir mistress, so I think the seven of us caught the singing bug from her. From singing, I took to playing musical instruments and got into production while I was in school in Onitsha.
Enetimi Alfred Odom (Timaya)
The ‘Ukwu’ singer who spoke on his musical journey, said he started from church before starting up as a back up for Eedris Abdukareem for three years before exploring his musical career.
Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun (Wizkid)
The dude who started his music career at a young age is not left out. He started when he was eleven years at the church and from then on, he has been in love with music. He dropped an album in church, performed in church and went from church to church for performance”, I am thankful to God for where I am now”, he stated.
Iyanya Onoyom Mbuk (Iyanya)
It was gathered that Iyanya used to sing in his church choir and was the choirmaster for the children’s choir at the age of five, he later started rapping even back than he was rapping, he was in the choir.
Oluwatobi Wande (Wandecoal)
Wandecoal like most great musicians started singing in the teenage choir in church where he was with a group member, Chuddy K. He got his breakthrough in the Nigerian Entertainment industry as a dancer. He continued improving on his vocal skill and got signed to Don Jazzy’s Mo Hits Records in 2006. He featured on D’banj’s Rundown’, ‘Funk You Up’ album and on singles like Loke, Tonosible and Why Me’
Dare Art Alade
Dare Art Alade revealed that it all started when he was about eight in the children’s choir of his church. While he was at CMS Grammer School, he led the choir, they would perform at functions, he was also a member of the choir of Cathedral Church of Christ and capped it up by studying music at University of Lagos. Some of his friends came together and they formed a singing group called “Chorde Webs”.
Aituaje Iruobe (Waje)
As a young and gifted singer, she once sang gospel tunes to the delight of the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa of the Word of Faith Church Benin. While at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, where she had a degree in social work, Waje was very much with her musical side by making sure she performed in school concerts and fellowship.
Culled from global excellence magazine.
Entertainment
Ijaw Nation Day Festival Begins, Today
All is now set for the three-day cultural event tagged, Ijaw ‘Nation Day Festival’ expected to commence today, in Lagos State.
The fiesta is organised by Miebaka Aggo, a professional cyclist and an Ijaw son who is currently based in Lagos State.
Aggo, who disclosed this to The Tide Entertainment yesterday, said that the cultural event which is organised annually, serves as a reminder of the Ijaw culture to the ijaws residing in Lagos State
’For the cultural festival is to show the Ijaws in Lagos our tradition, so they don’t forget,’ he said.
According to him, the fiesta will feature cultural displays such as masquerades, Ijaw dance performances, boat regatta and traditional wrestling, arts and crafts displays and musical performance.
Meanwhile, preparations are ongoing to host a traditional sports festival this year end in Bayelsa Sate or Rivers State of the Niger Delta region.
‘“The traditional sports festival will be held in Niger Delta this year end or early next year. It is a big budget,” he explained.
He mentioned that the organisers are hopeful of sponsorship from companies and well-meaning individuals in the region.
Sports to be contested for include
1. Wrestling
2. Swimming
3. Canoeing
4. Draft
5. Aquathlon(run, swim, run respectively)
6. Triathlon (bike, swim, run)
“However, 5 and 6 are borrowed Olympic sports that favour our region because we can swim, but the major sports to expect are wrestling, swimming and canoeing,” he said.
Nancy Briggs
Entertainment
Life And Times Of Goddy Oku
“In his book, ‘The Wings’, drummer-turned-guitarist, Manford Best, wrote extensively and glowingly of the pivotal role Goddy played in his music career, in the face of his (Manford’s) natural challenge”
On Friday, January 19, 2024, Chief Tony Okoroji, the Chairman of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Uche Emeka Paul, Sir Angus Power Nwangwu and other members of COSON were in Ukpo, Dunukofia Local Government Area, Anambra State to pay the last respects of COSON to Engr Goddy Ogomegbunam Oku. Describing Oku as an “iconic musician…long-term motivator of the music industry…leader of the Hygrades, proprietor of Godiac Studios…a great man and a true genius”, Chief Okoroji draped the casket with the flag of COSON. To perform this rite of passage, Okoroji flew in from Lagos, Paul flew in from Abuja, Nwangwu drove in from Enugu and other members arrived from various states reflecting the esteemed regards Goddy Oku commanded in the COSON family. My experience with Goddy Oku and those of others as contained in the following dirge epitomise the essence of Okoroji’s graveside oration. Goddy was really a “long-term motivator of the music industry”.
During the Nigerian civil war, my family took refuge in Umuchima, down the valley at the outskirts of Orlu, Imo State. One evening, my father returned from Orlu with a message from my friend, Emeka Ifejika, that Biafra Army Officers Training School (BAOTS) was setting up a pop band and they were searching for a bass guitarist. Goodness gracious!!! I was the bassist of The Hardnuts, my defunct teenage band in Port Harcourt; so, I saw it as the opportunity to avoid conscription, which had intensified at the time. Very early the next morning, I sneaked through the back into the sprawling scenic compound of Bishop Shanaham College, Orlu, which housed BAOTS and, as God would have it, I met Goddy Oku. For three hours, he drilled me on bass guitar playing, basic chord progressions and eventually accepted me as bassist/vocalist of the proposed band. An identity card and a “Pass” were quickly prepared to enable me return to Umuchima the next day, pick up my personal effects and report for duty.
With Dona Dyke (Donatus Nwadike) on drums and Goddy on lead guitar/vocals, we became The Silhouettes, a power trio that played side-by-side Sunny Nwamama of “Umunwanyi ji ukwu achodi” fame. That was at a time Jimi Hendrix Experience, James Gang, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Cream, Grand Funk Railroad and other Power Trios were hip in Europe and America but hadn’t emerged in the West African music scene; so, our ensemble was peculiar or odd, if you prefer.
One day, Warrant Officer Murphy introduced a young man by name Justus Nnakwe (JU-Xperience) to Goddy and appealed that he (Justus) should be taught an instrument. Within two weeks, Goddy drilled Justus and transformed him from a complete neophyte to a rhythm guitarist. Eventually, JU had his first outing and The Silhouettes morphed into a four-some at an event for the Commandant of BAOTS, Colonel Tim Onwuatuegwu. Thereafter, Goddy groomed a singer whose entry gave the band a greater body and earthy sound. At the end of the civil war, I returned home to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, cofounded The Blackstones Band in January 1970 and chased the stars until 1972 when societal and family pressure leashed me back to school in the United States where I consistently earned pocket change thru playing guitar; the trade in which Goddy Oku groomed and gowned me.
Goddy mentored numerous artists in his days; the list is virtually endless. Sonny Okosuns, John Kerry, Nelly Uchendu, Panam Percy Paul, Chris Okotie, Felix Liberty, Felarday, Clement Amaechi and a host of others. Kenny Koburn (KK) once reminisced on how he broke bounds in high school to watch The Blackstones perform at Golf Course Hotel, Owerri in the early 1970s. Enamored by the performance of the bassist of the band, KK said he dropped out of school and headed to Enugu where he was tutored to play bass guitar by Goddy Oku. Subsequently, KK co-founded Founders Fifteen of Port Harcourt. In his book, ‘The Wings’, drummer-turned-guitarist, Manford Best, wrote extensively and glowingly of the pivotal role Goddy played in his music career, in the face of his (Manford’s) natural challenge. Before his demise, Prof Frank Onyezili (Frank Zilly of The Fractions) narrated to me the crucial role Goddy played in his music career before he returned to school. Goddy it was who played the classical guitar interlude in “Igede” by Celestine Ukwu. Arguably, “Igede” stands out as the first instrumental music in the Highlife genre and one of the most memorable songs of Celestine Ukwu.
Over the years, Goddy and I maintained contact and I visited him periodically. We even planned that he’d do one week with me in Port Harcourt and we’d embark on a musical pilgrimage to Abak, Akwa Ibom State to visit Emmanuel Ntia of Solo Hit fame, but that didn’t come to fruition. However, when JU came home in April 2021, I hopped into Enugu on the 13th and the three of us spent one night of reminiscences. We put two mattresses on the floor in Goddy’s parlor and played guitar and talked all night. We relived our collective experiences and walked through the engagements we played during the civil war. It was a memorable night.
JU Xperience, Goddy and
The next morning, April 14, 2021, we took a group photograph without realising that that would be the last time we’d see each other. First, JU sailed to the great beyond in far away China and now Goddy is gone; a rather grim reminder of my sitting at the “Departure Lounge of Life”.
May the creative soul of Godfrey Ogomegbunam Oku rest in the Bosom of God, Amen.
Jason Osai
Entertainment
TB Joshua:This Is Why Victims Do Not Speak Up -Seun Kuti
Seun Kuti has weighed in on the ongoing controversy regarding late Nigerian Prophet, TB Joshua, and states that the vilification of victims is why they do not speak up.
Seun Kuti does not believe that all people who do good things are completely good people.
“I don’t care if he took your family to space, you aren’t everybody,” he said.
The Tide Entertainment reports that the singer aired his views on the issue on Wednesday, charging “religious people” to “do better.”
“Eyin Elebi. Once person someone shares money and rice for people, he is a good person automatically,” he said.
”When this man was alive, he was sooo powerful that his criminal negligence, according to state coroner in Lagos led to the death of 84 people and he didn’t spend one second in police station and you want some young women to come and do what?! When Timis wife came out, you all turned a married woman to a prostitute like magic! That’ is why victims do not speak up!! E du Betta, religious people!!”
Going further, he slammed people who defend the late prophet on the grounds that he helped them one way or another, stressing that the experience of some is not the experience of all people.
In his words, “I don’t care if he took your family to space, and he was good to you, you are not everybody! Because a politician helped one person he would prove to the world that the man is a ‘good person!’ News flash- YOU ARE NOT EVERYBODY!!!”
The late prophet and his church have become the subject of controversy after a three part documentary produced by the BBC, highlighted the negative experiences of ex-Synagogue Church of all Nations members, who called the church “a cult”. Some women also accused TB Joshua of rape, forced abortions, child abuse and overall abuse. These claims have become a topic of discourse ever since with some siding with the church and others choosing to believe the victims.
However, the church has denied all the allegations.
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