A REGULAR feature which characterised the flourishing Nigerian music scene of the '60s to the '80s was the release of new songs by various artistes to celebrate festivals like Christmas and new year. It was a tradition. Some of the artists are still around, but the recording companies are no more. Times have changed; and so also the mood of the record-buying public. The sociological implications are many and varied; and may continue to live with us a long time.But, as if to relive and re-enact this memorable cultural experience in some form or the other, Premier Music, the custodian of the finest of vintage highlife, has rolled back the years down to the '60s and '70s for the music's all time veterans and legends in a new package deal; an intervention that is bound to protect and preserve the music.The role call includes Stephen Osita Osadebe, Mike Ejiagha, Celestine Ukwu, Rex Jim Lawson, Victor Olaiya, Victor Uwaifo, Paulson Kalu, and Wura Fadaka. From these legends, classics of varying collections and dimensions have been reissued into solid packages that are as attractive as the sound quality itself.Stephen Osita Osadebe opens this package with the ever popular Osondi Owendi, a song which marked a watershed in his musical career. Quite different from his usual palm wine-oriented melodies, Osondi Owendi, takes the form of call-and-response in an unusual setting. Instead of pitching the lead voice against a group-vocal harmony session, the arrangement is anchored on the bass guitar which is intensely emphasised, enough to play the role of the human voice.Mike Ejiagha, a philosophical songwriter sings and plays Onye uri Ubata. Performing in guitar band setting, he emerged on the scene in the '70's when conventional highlife was almost absent and became popular because he had something new to say. Celestine Ukwu's Igede is reflected with a lot of brilliance. A great musician, he will continue to be remembered for the innovation he introduced to highlife. He had previously recorded Ijenu in the '60s, but emerged on the Lagos scene in 1970, immediately after Nigerian civil War to compete with Afrobeat music. His formula for success was the adoption of various patterns and dimension, which lent some variety to his performance. Instead of adopting the same melodic progressions, he employed the call-and-response technique in some cases, while using straight forward vocal lines to interpret his songs on others. In some others, like Igede, he beefed up the rhythm section with percussion. In all, his progressions and melodic structure were unpredictable. These traits can be found in Igede and Osondu having been profusely manifested in this CD of highlife classics.Rex Jim Lawson's Bere bote is included in this showcase. Again, here is highlife music at its best in that it has deviated from the conventional pattern of his predecessors of the '50s and begins to identify strictly with the cultural tenets of Nigeria's musical heritage.To put highlife music in its perspective in Nigeria, it can safely be said that while Victor Olaiya dominated the decade of the '50s, Rex Lawson ruled that of the '60s and Celestine Ukwu took over in the '70s.Bere bote is a typical Red Lawson performance, where excellence is demonstrated in all the departments of the music ' from vocal delivery to orchestral arrangement and rhythmic concept. The musical brilliance of Bere bote is attested to by the quality of Rex Jim Lawson's voice, which explores all the nuances of the tune, observing all the compositional attributes of this song. If any highlife band was said to be perfectly in tune in those highlife days of the '60s, it was the one led by Rex Lawson. If any Nigerian highlife band ever soared with the harmonic brilliance associated with Ghanaian highlife, it was Rex Lawson's. He also has Anate reissued in this package with composition and performance in the native blues structure and idiom.Victor Olaiya's Omopupa, a love song composed and performed in the '50s is very well reissued here while Victor Uwaifo's Joromi also makes an appearance in its original setting.Joromi is currently being used to promote a popular product on national television and I do hope that Uwaifo is enjoying royalties from this promotional use. But even if he does not, the gesture is ample proof that this song which was a monumental hit for Uwaifo in the '60s is still enjoying some measure of popularity today.A very creative musician, Uwaifo who had been exposed to all forms of music, including conventional highlife as sideman with a mentor like E.C. Arinze, broke new grounds with Akwete, a highlife variant steeped in the culture of Edo people. Still kicking, alive and ever ready to perform, Uwaifo is a great composer, singer and guitarist.Paulson Kalu has two songs in this news package ' original compositions such as Okwudili and Ogwu Onyirika watu. Like Mike Ejiagha, he appeared on the scene of the '70s with a guitar-dominated band for which he wrote and sang, exploiting folklores and social commentaries.Bringing back the memory of Wura Fadaka, the group, is a beautiful and effective way of reinvigorating the urban sound of Lagos which used to be synonymous with the late Biddy Wright. This authentic sound of Lagos has a whole new package, which contains all the group's hit songs such as Silololo, Gbogbowala Leko, Sanmari Adugbo among others. But Sanmari Adugbo as part of this set of classics obviously is a tip of the iceberg and a foretaste of what you are going to find in the two CDs that exclusively reissue their repertoire of 16 songs.Taken from To the Roots and Nostalgia, two albums, the songs help to paint the picture of Lagos in cultural terms, depicting this busy, heavily populated city as the undisputed music centre of Nigeria.All told, this package is an admixture of Nigerian highlife from the 1930s to the 1970s. In the process of taking you down memory lane, the story of highlife has been told in vivid terms ' with Wura Fadaka's dimension reminding us of Irewolede Denge and Tunde King, two notable veterans who began this highlife journey in the 1930s ' in Lagos.
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