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I have always loved good
music, and I have a very good ear for it. Already at the age of 10 I could sing
some of the songs by local artistes like the great philosopher Celestine Ukwu,
the cardinal himself, Rex Jim Lawson, the great Emperor Erasmus Jenuwari. Also
those of others like Sir Victor Uwaifo, Victor Olaiya, Zeal Onyia, and the then
doyen of Ibadan highlife scene, Eddy Okonta. I will also mention the great
songs of visiting Ghanaian musicians I was privileged to watch on the then
popular Ukonu,s club of the then Eastern Nigerian Television. Musicians like
E.T. Mensah of ‘Day by Day’ fame, King Bruce of ‘Abasi Do’ fame. Classic
highlife bands like the Uhuru Dance Band, Ramblers Dance Band. Watching these
bands play life on TV in the sixties left a great impression on me. Also
nowadays, listening to the music of that time, (for I have a large collection
of them) gives me great solace. For as a child whom the war stole his youth,
the growing up I knew and want to remember were those up to when I turned 14,
for I was forced to become an adult by the war at the age of 15. I also knew a reasonable lot then about
foreign musicians of American and European origin. Through the influence of my
elder brother, who never lacked copies of Billboard, the leading music magazine
of all time I was exposed to the music of great artistes like Nat King Cole, Duke
Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Satchimo, Elvis and a host of others.
But these were before the
war when growing up was fun, and peace reigned.
I was 14 and a third
grader at the All Saints Grammar School Umunze, a new boarding school in a
sleepy village. Although we knew all was not fine in the country at that time,
we do not have the details, as we were more involved with the daily routines of
boarding school life. But one evening, all these had to change. The schools
emergency bell rang, and we were asked to gather at the school’s assembly hall.
When the hall was called to order, our principal announced that the government
of Eastern Nigeria, considering the hostilities going on in the country had
ordered a temporary close down of all schools until further notice. For this
reason, all students must vacate the school tomorrow.
People of Eastern Nigerian
origin, especially Igbo people were fleeing from the north to the East. There
had been a pogrom in the north resulting to the death of thousands of Igbo
people. They were butchered in cold blood in a well planed attack. Many met
their death in there homes and places of work, others in the street, killed by
their fellow countrymen of Hausa tribe, with knives, arrows, guns and dagger.
The attack was code named Araba, a Hausa word meaning secession
As a youth during the war
I was exposed to a lot of things early in my life and I saw a hell of things
and went through a lot that is not suitable for my age. Being a member of the
junior red cross with a first aid certificate, I opted to work as a volunteer
rather that stay in a an unfinished building where my parents and up to a dozen
other families were taking refuge in a village in Achi near Oji river. For we
were refugees at that time, we fled for safty when Enugu fell. I worked as a volunteer
helping wounded soldiers. That was not job for a kid. The trauma level was very
high, but what can you do. People were dying everyday, they look up to you to
help them. I remember a lot of occasions I had to run behind the hospital block
where no one could notice and wail long enough to let off all the emotions
about choking me. At one time I was serving at the Iyienu hospital in Ogidi, at
that time Onitsha was under threat and it was just a few kilometres away, you
can hear gun shots and shelling explosions already. Our casualty hall was
overflowing with bodies, some dead; others fatally wounded and near dead. The
hospital wards were so filled up that we had them on the stretchers they were
brought in. The entire corridors of the hospital were filled with men groaning
and begging for help. We practically had to stride over bodies lying in stretchers
to attend to them. The doctors, oh, those brave young medical students turned
full blown doctors. They had to make do in most cases, as there was lack of
essential equipments and drugs. For us the volunteers we take instructions from
the nurse and doctors. While many bodies lie on their stretchers on the
floor, the doctors decide the most urgent cases to be given priority; cases
deemed beyond salvage are left out. It was the duty of some of us the
volunteers to give them their last comfort before they take their last breath.
I remember once I was assigned to look after dying soldiers during one of such
major offensives with high casualty. There was this heavily built guy who was
almost cut into half by shrapnel. He would look up at me and smile between
groans, he whispered to me not to worry, that he is fine, that everything will
be all right, Biafra will vanquish. I knew he was going into delirium but still
I could not keep my tears even as I am writing this.
Well, many may think that
life in Biafra was just hardship and sufferings. No, there was in the mist of
all the sufferings, arts and culture, music, and other forms of entertainment. Yes, not
just ordinary shows, but those that met the standards of that time.
Unfortunately no one documented this aspect. As an adventurous teen at that
time, my interests drove my actions. While in Biafra I had the opportunity to
watch some great performances of music and theatre. I also participated in
some. In the late sixties, the in thing was rock music, and groups like Beatles,
Rolling Stones, Monkeys, and others were the in things. Also singers like James
Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Picket and others ruled the airwave. Many bands
playing the music of these reigning artistes and groups of that time abound in
Biafra. There were bands like the Goddy Oku led Spokesmen which was formed in
Enugu before the civil war started. There was also a band called the Hykers, an
incredible band I first saw in concert at Achi in some Biafran army battalion
headquarters, I cannot remember which battalion it was, but it was based in a
secondary school opposite the Achi Joint Hospital. I watched this band do
repertoires like James Browns hit classic, Please, Please, Please, and his
other song ‘Good Loving’. That whole night I just stood transformed watching
the band, oblivious of the crowd of soldiers rocking on the dance floor,
sometimes nudging me here and there. They had this incredible vocalist. About
6ft plus tall guy, He had a way of bending over the mike for some reason I do
not know, as he blasts with a typical rock vocal voice – Oh baby go,
move, get away from me……………….
He left a great impression on me. I later got to know his name. He was called Travis Oli, I just wonder
where he could be now. ……………TO BE CONTINUED
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Authors 
Posted by Robot| 23.11.2007 16:19