MUSIC AND ME

Sitting today, my mind raced back to mid-2002 which was officially the first year of uni. I call it the first year because we had previously gone through the famed Pre-Degree Science Programme at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).  That academic programme was a foundational one through which aspiring students gained admission at the time. It was a way of bypassing the Almighty Unified Matriculation Examination (UME), now known as UTME, and it helped many of us give the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) the middle finger back then.

Those were days when many of my friends starting from Wale and the many others that we were more or less a crew – Loko, Femi, Oyo, Oye, Segzy, Popeson, Sola, Piro, and the list goes on and on, were leaving home for the first time. Having previously had my first three years of secondary school at Olivet Heights Oyo, leaving home was not so strange in its entirety despite returning to Ibadan and becoming a day student while I sojourned at the great Wesley College of Science, an institution of as much value as history.

This post already started with some digressions! Blame me not, it is me talking with my writing. Wale, my bosom friend of over three decades and four years serenaded us with Born To Do It, Craig David’s hit album that ruled the airwaves in the early 2000s. Let me already raise my hand and say I am not so much of a music person. Despite this obvious fact, there are songs that I know because the people around me got to listen to them a lot.

That was when Nigerian hip-hop was fast gaining ground. Talk of Plantashun Boiz which had the trio of 2face, Black Face and Faze; Remedies (Eedris, Tony Montana and Eddy); Olu and Tolu Maintain; Artquake and the others who were becoming very popular and accepted. Along with these guys, my people listened to Nelly and Ashanti, JaRule and Ashanti, Missy Elliot and others of their ilk. Wale Ajala was a massive Shaggy fan so much so that we used it to differentiate him from my other Wale. He became Wale Shaggy while Wale was either Wale or Nackson, a tag he has had since his secondary school days. In fact, Peter preferred to call him Nackson back then.

The non-conformist me however did not tow their line. I was hooked on Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey’s philosophical songs and ensured that I bought different volumes of his Evergreen Songs. For all the love Wale had for hip-hop and other genres, he was a massive Orlando Owoh fan too. For me, it was mostly Ebenezer Obey or Sunny, and both of those were in the absence of anything from my fav, Lagbaja!

I was so much in love with Lagbaja that I could sing all the tracks in the We and Me album. To make it sweeter, tracks like Konko Below, Nothing for You and Tokunbo were trending everywhere in South West Nigeria, and even as far as Port Harcourt. During my Industrial Training in Port Harcourt in 2006, I picked up the Africano album along with other albums like Westlife Bootleg and Styl Plus’ reigning album at the time whose title I cannot remember now.

Being a Church boy, I have always had access to lots of faith-based music. However, rap and very fast music are not really my thing. It has never been, it may never be! With Nifemi’s interest in music after we watched High School Musical in 2008, he started listening to Mali Music and some other guys and tried to influence me. Still, those were not my kind of songs, they were too fast and I preferred something with a slower tempo. I would play Donnie McClurkin, Mary Mary and Cece Winans whose ‘I Promise’ was played on my wedding day as we had the nuptial dance.

These days, I still love my old Obey songs and interestingly, K1’s trending E Maa Yonu Simi is my ringing tune these days while my second line has Arsenal’s North London Forever rings out when you call my other line. My taste in music is weird like that. I can be loving one not-so-popular musician when everyone is singing the praises of a trending musician. For instance, Ayob played me Black Magic in 2014 and I got hooked on him so much so that if I want to do something creative and it seems like it is not flowing, I simply start playing the album and it arouses me till there is a dampness at the source of my creativity.

I do not listen to Black Magic again these days, I hardly listen to much music these days really. Music can be therapeutic but for me, writing is more therapeutic and it replaces music but I get to find my music per time. Right now, Elizavocat and her songs are doing it for me. The way she serenades me while I drive is something I cannot quite explain yet.

However, if you see Lagbaja anywhere, tell him I will still come after him because he did not let me have the chance to visit Motherlan’. The last two albums still sit pretty in my car and I have them ripped on my PC, hoping I won’t get charged for piracy sha.

If you see me listening to some music that you are not used to, just know that it is what is reigning and meeting my musical needs at that time. It may change to another song or album tomorrow. Now someone says this guy is not a child of God again. No vex ehn, I don’t have a playlist. I just listen to what works for me.

Tomorrow, we meet again.

FROM TARABA WITH LOVE – NCCF and Other Stories

As Lanre and the other Batch A guys were leaving, new guys were needed to keep the Christian Corpers Fellowship going. Being in Kwambai meant I was mostly not attending the fellowship at any given time so getting invited on the Wednesday afternoon by Tall Lanre (as we called Lanre Amoo) did not mean anything to me. Little did I know that my plans to just ‘do my thing’ and not get too attached to any activity had been thrown out of the window.

It was time for the excos to step down and new ones appointed. Names were being called and welcomed to the front of the school classroom where the fellowship held every Tuesday then. Out of the blues, I heard my name announced as Transport and Organizing Secretary. It was a shock! I was asking why and how I was qualified to be an exco member having never attended fellowship before. However, like many things that have happened in my short life so far, I took it in my stride and was determined to give a hundred percent (or more if need be).

It was shortly after that NCCF thing that a new set of Corpers arrived to replace the outgone Batch A. I still did not really have friends among my Batch. Just like I was welcomed by Lanre and Lanre, I also went to Executive Inn to see who I would help, preferably a Ladokite like me. Yes, there were LAUTECH boys! Tunde Ariyo and Tosin Lalla, and then there was Kola Oluboyede. I remember very well that Tunde and Tosin came to pass the night in my place and while Tunde was posted to Aunty Christy School, possibly to replace Adeola Annis, Tosin was posted to Bete, one of the villages in the interior.

Through Tunde, I met Anmak Gupiyem and Kola also came into the picture. There was one Lekan Seriki that was also posted to Sikas to replace Femi, and there was Dorothy who replaced Gloria. Lekan did not stay for long though, he relocated to Abuja. Myself and the trio of Tunde, Kola and Anmak enjoyed our Saturday mornings. Although Anmak lived in Gidan Bawa Tati (Bawa Tati’s house) with a family friend, he still came around most weekends, and worked with Tunde at Aunty Christy. We would sit outside and sing different songs while waiting for our Saturday breakfast to be done.

2Phat and 9ice’s hit song Bere Mi was the major song then. We would remix the song and put in 9ice’s opening ‘hmm hmm’ lines in Photocopy, while Tunde tapped on the strings of his guitar which he sent me to buy from Wukari with his first ‘allawee’. If any of my guys are reading now, they would be singing this to themselves. Sometimes, Tosin would come in to add to the fun and regale us with Tales from Bete.

With all of our fun life, we combined NCCF and I attended programs in Wukari, where I was reunited with Francis and Wyclef, Rural Rugged Evangelism outreaches in Lufu, a Takum Local Government and Ande-Ussa, a village in Ussa Local Government. While I was scared before these outreaches, I thoroughly enjoyed them. Our means of transportation was pick-up trucks that were nicknamed muje-muje (the Hausa way of pronouncing ‘let’s go-let’s go’).

AT NCCF with the likes of Gladys Kachiro, our Music Director, now a school owner and Mommy G.O in Kafanchan; Jide Odeyale, our Papa who is a Chartered Secretary and Deacon with the RCCG these days, we started a praise and worship programme that was named Wonders of Worship (WOW). We held two editions before I departed Takum. Me and my brothers (Kola, Tunde and Anmak) also did our ministration, a spoken word poetry along with the song ‘Everybody Testifies You are Good’. I still have the CD recording of that programme.

Oh, and there were emotional attachments *wink wink*. Amara came with Batch A and we hit it off instantly but I was hamstrung by my office at the NCCF. Although I was with someone then, who was in another state, I would have fallen for the ‘nearest is dearest’ mantra if NCCF did not come to my rescue. As an NCCF exco, you are not allowed to get into a relationship if you are not in one already so I adhered to it strictly, especially knowing what happened with the guy who held the office before me. You wan know? Aproko no go finish you!

The house I later lived in was in Coal Tar 2, mostly pronounced ‘Quarter 2’. In the neighbourhood was the Tsokwa household where their shop served us. In there was Kesunga, a friendly young lady. We still interact occasionally. Warkuya was K’s friend, and is also a friend on social media these days.

In Takum market, Mama G was my plug for everything reasonable. I met her through Lanre and she took us as her sons. At a time, I would just get to the market and sit with her while she got those that would sell all the things I wanted to me. There was a good-looking lady that was always offering assistance too. I hear her sonorous “Corper, good afternoon. What do you need today?” as I type. I was in contact with Mama G till sometime in 2011 when my phone packed up and I lost many contacts.

Not to forget that there was this Igbo kitchen where Eve and her sister held sway. Days when we wanted a change in menu, we visited in the evenings for well-cooked Igbo delicacy. Those are days whose memory I cherish till tomorrow.

One year in Taraba state, with most of them spent in Takum and Kwambai is one I remain grateful for. Now this is me being honest. That period gave me another outlook about life; something different from what I have known and grew up with. It helped me to understand other people and see things from their perspective. It helped me to impact lives in my little way.

As Tinyangrimam Danladi, one of my students, read my status and responded this morning, I felt a wave of nostalgia. I would love to visit that part of the country again but the insecurity these days mean one cannot do these things easily again. Can I travel at night from Gboko to Takum through Katsina-Ala again? Can I as much as travel through the towns of Anyangba, Ankpa and Okene again easily? Does the present situation make it logical to go on a trip around the country like one could do before?

Tinyang says “no, not now sir”, and I agree with her.

Tomorrow, we close the Taraba chapter and continue the marathon.

Thanks for staying with me on this journey.