I WAS at an intellectual forum in Ghana recently where an animated discussion raged about trumpeter-band leaders of highlife across Ghana and Nigeria. The names of Emmanuel Tetteh Mensah, Eddie Quansah, Victor Olaiya, Chief Bill Friday, King Kenny tone, Sammy Obbot, Charles Iwegbue, Rex Jim Lawson, Eddie Okonta, Roy Chicago, Agu Noris and more were touted with the preponderance of trumpet players from Nigeria ' without the mention of Zeal Onyia.What the discussants held against Onyia was that he was never really a band leader in the visibly active sense of the word. But when I told the forum about the singles and albums he later recorded, he was immediately accepted into the hall of fame of trumpeter band leaders.Strictly speaking, there is no way a roll call of trumpeters would be done in West Africa without the mention of Zeal Onyia whose trumpet was a dominating force. He was acknowledged as the 'hep cat' of the instrument in Africa by Louis Armstrong when he visited Nigeria in 1960. This was at the airport upon his arrival as Zeal blew the horn to welcome him. Armstrong's assessment was based on the tonality, strength and technique of Zeal's trumpet.Since the demise of Zeal Onyia, it has been pretty difficult to fill the vacuum he left behind, not only as a trumpeter of high repute but also as a crusader of modern African popular music.Proficient in the execution of highlife, jazz as well as classical music, Zeal, whose customary instrument was the trumpet, made his mark as a thoroughly accomplished musician.One of the pioneers of highlife, Zeal joined the Bobby Benson Jam Session as early as 1949 when Bobby Benson's Theatrical outfit with Cassandra, the wife he brought home from Europe, was about to transform into a full fledged musical outfit.As perhaps the most powerful trumpeter in the Bobby Benson Jam Session, he was attracted to E.T. Mensah's Tempos Band where he had a short stint in Ghana before teaming up with altosaxophone player, Spike Ayanko, to form the Melody Aces. This was in 1955 where, together with saxophonist, Baby Face Paul Isamade and Apollos Fiberesima, they took the Melody Aces to a high musical level.Some of the finest soloist in those days were found among such early saxophonists as Sammy Lartey; Ayanko himself, who broke away from E.T. Mensah's Tempos Band, together with Rex Ofosu Martey; Baby Face Paul, who established a powerful solo tradition with the Bobby Benson Orchestra, among others.But Zeal was perhaps the first to call really stretch out on the trumpet, moving from one chorus to the other and hitting top 'G' on the high octave. It was with the Melody Aces that he first held one single note for as long as three to five minutes without help from any such plug-in or technological devices, which in fact were not in existence in the 1950s.This feat can be heard in some of the hits recorded at the time with the Melody Aces, among them Mensu, Abongo, Lorry. And the song on which he is known to have sustained the note for minutes on the trumpet is Vicky Yem Ofun, one of his early recorded materials, as a leader.Zeal did not keep a regular band of his own as such, but he was a major source of influence to the young, up-and-coming trumpeters of that period including Harry James, Marco Bazz, Kendy Adex, Crosadale Juba and many others.Zeal introduced a good sense of harmony, which he imbibed from the culture of Ghanaian highlife into Nigerian highlife. In 1961 for instance, he exhibited this feat with a hand he set up mainly for studio recording. He enlisted Stephen Osita Osadebe into this aggregation as vocalist because Osadebe's singing ability had already been rested and established at Central Hotel, Yaba, Lagos, where, under the leadership of trumpet player, Eric Onugha, he had settled into a residency. With Osadebe as vocalist, Zeal recorded two highlife hits in Igbo titled Wabu Ifenkiti and Oyim Lotan on single play, Decca NWA 5035.These two songs served as models and reference in terms of harmonic progressions, rhythm and arrangement ' all of which inspired and propelled the singing voice of Osadebe and made him known beyond the restrictive environment of night club setting. It was this inspiration from Zeal that encouraged him to go his separate way form the Sound Makers that put him on the path of stardom with One pound no balance.Zeal also made a deliberate effort to revive highlife on return from Germany in the 1970s after the music had experienced a decline. He recorded Zeal Anata, a vigorously rhythmic sound for Tabansi Records. He also recorded another album in 1981 for Philips, tiled Zeal's Messages. Zeal revitalised some of the memorable hits he recorded with Melody Aces of Ghana in the 1950s.Dressed with new lyrics, the music came out beautifully, especially as he had some of the finest instrumentalists such as saxophonist, Etim Udo, on the session to share solos with him on trumpet. But like the previous album, Zeal's Messages did not make any noticeable impact.Some critics blamed the inability of these albums to make the desired impact on the lack of cultural consciousness on the part of the record buying public, who had developed a profound taste for foreign music. Others put the failure of the music down to cultural evolution and the fact that Zeal's interpretation still followed the conventional style of the old school instead of identifying the music with the dynamic nature of our musical culture. The latter school of thought is likely probability.Zeal was a fine jazz musician with trumpet in the mainstream mould. One of the foundation members of the Jazz Preachers formed in 1963 as a response to Fela Ransome-Kuti's quintet of that period, he was a fine soloist with a good sense of rhythm. At first, the Jazz Preachers existed as an all star group and featured the likes of Chris Ajilo on tenor saxophone; Art Alade on piano; Ayo Vaughan, one of the greatest bass players in West Africa; and Bayo Martins on drums. Even when it eventually came under the leadership of Art Alade, Zeal still found time to play the trumpet with the band.One of Zeal's most outstanding qualities is the fact that he did not allow his classical music background in later years to influence him to the point of abandoning African music like most of his predecessors. He studied music in Germany, the home of great composers such as Beethoven, Bach and Handel, but rather than allow this orientation to change his love for highlife and African music, the knowledge fortified his melodic inventiveness in terms of writing highlife songs such as Zeal Anata, Nata Na so so, among others.He took a job as Controller of Music with Voice of Nigeria (VON) where he gave the projection and promotion of African music a big boost. Notwithstanding, Zeal was also on hand to add his trumpet voice to classical music whenever he was invited to do so. For instance, he was a major soloist at the concert held in honour of Christopher Oyesiku to celebrate his birthday a few years before Zeal's passage.Zeal did not lead a band of his own, but his contribution to the music industry in West Africa is by far more profound than that of band leadership. His trumpet was forceful, more exciting, more powerful than any other.
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