It seems that most beautiful things in our country are better queued up in the line of “the good old days” because of the speed with which most these things are fading away, mostly into permanent oblivion. What am I talking about this time around, it is about the Enugu state music sector, which used to compete strongly with that of Lagos State, which is known to be the headquarters of the country’s music industry.
How suddenly Enugu State lost its glory and enviable status within a short period of time is really worrisome; falling from grace to grass. What really happened, and who should be held responsible? Sometimes, when I look back at those days when it was like Enugu state was fast displacing Lagos State as the center of music artistry, and looking at the situation of things now, I’m instantly left deeply heartbroken.
Do you know there was a time when most of the music stars in the country has one history or relationship with Enugu state? These include one of the greatest musicians to ever come out of Africa, the person of Innocent Idibia, popularly known as 2Baba, who started his musical career back then as a student of the famous Institute Of Technology and Management, IMT, Enugu state. The list is endless, not exaggeration!
Back then, the boasts of hundreds of music stars, such as Flavour with his track “Na’Abania”, Mr. Raw, Slowdog, J Martins, Dekumsy and his Kerruzo All Stars that includes Greg Melody, Vampee, others. Then we have JT Boys with their hit track “Ogwu Azu”, Poliano with his Qualify Doctor, Dontum with his Putu-Putu na ofe, TJ with Ukwu, Wizzyboy with several hit tracks like Owu Sagi, One Plus One, Fine Baby, Fotojenik, Screen Saver, others. We have Desperate Chicks, Hype MC, Ransom, Assorted, Pincode, Nani Boi, Sym 19, Brackets, Sele Bobo, Resonance with Chinwe Ike, and others. Though Phyno wasn’t a known figure in the industry back then, but he was already in the industry in the state those days.
Surprisingly, none of them had less than two hit tracks then, and all of them were based in Enugu state. In fact, Enugu state was like a music battle ground where everyone was struggling to converge. Shows were being organized weekly, sold out shows for that matter, songs topping charts in and outside the State. Most of these artists have back to back shows across the country and even outside, because of the quality of the music being made in the state.
Radio stations like Cosmo FM and then Governor Sullivan Chime played important roles in lifting the state’s music sector. There’s hardly any weekend that there won’t be one music event or the other in the state, everywhere was just bubbling with life as a result of the musical activities in the state. Governor Sullivan Chime was a darling to the industry as well, constantly providing government support to the industry, including the famous and annual “Road Block Musical concert” in the state, which brings together music artists from across the country to converge in the state.
But immediately the governor left and the shutting down of Cosmo FM, it seems there left with that glory as everything about the music sector in the state collapsed. And since then till date, music life died in the state and no one is actually giving a serious attention to that, and many people have been lamenting about it, yet all fell on deaf ears. Funny enough, subsequent regimes in the state fail to understand how much revenue there are losing as a result, and equally the jobs it was creating for the youths still doesn’t matter to them.
Music sector is a big sector, go ask the Lagos State government about that, and you will be shocked at how much the sector/industry is generating for the state. Well, I wish our various state governments can actually queue into this once again, especially the Enugu state government. Though the current regime brought back the Road Block Musical concert last year, and we pray they continue doing it, while equally giving the industry the needed support to recreate what Enugu state used to be known for when it comes to music activities.
(Written by guest writer Okwor Maxwell Onyeka, author of How Love Conquered The World, Conquering The Needles War Surrounding Feminism Ideology, Forbidden Son, Vengeance of The Spirit, and others) onyekaondeck@gmail.com
(Photo credit: Google)