By
Obododimmma Oha
It is
difficult to understand how one could think of enviable old-time Igbo highlife
music and not pay due homage to Theresa Onuoha when one mentions names like
Osita Osadebe, Mike Ejeagha, and even the handsome Bright Chimezie. It is
almost unforgivable. In those days when roads passed under the ụdara tree and
treetops belonged to the squirrel and not the vulture, was it not the golden
vioce of Theresa Onuoha that one heard singing in one’s father’s transistor radio,
“Ijere erubele, mụ n’onye ga-agba egwu?” It was not the voices of Nelly Uchendụ
and Onyeka Onwenụ, though these were great and adored much, too. It was the
voice of the undisputed queen of Igbo women’s traditional music, Theresa
Onuoha. And many around listened and drank wisdom from her voice as she sang.
Yes; Theresa sang. She sang for everyone.
But this
thing about traditional old-time music. In present-day Alaigbo, that type of
music is tagged egwu tara nchara! It
literally means music that has gathered rust (because it is not played much)!
Who told them that it has gathered rust? It is forever playing on my mind. Only
few music shops care to sell such and many see it as blocking their way to
selling cut-and-nail hip-hop albums. But the old generation remembers it and
prefers playing it. So, you can insert Theresa Onuoha in that egwu tara nchara category. She is loved
and perfect there.
In discussing
her music, where does one begin? Is it the fact that she is the main figure in
Igbo women’s traditional music? Is it that she sings about gender, too, but not
that women are oppressed in the Igbo
society? Is it that she theorises nwokeness, not as an oppressive force, but as
an enviable idea of masculinity? Is it that it the voice of a woman singing but
the hips and legs of men dancing for her? Is it her royal costumes? There are many entries
to a rich and rewarding discussion on Theresa Onuoha.
Is it really
proper to call her music egwu tara nchara
when the issues it brings up are very relevant to contemporary times? Let us
classify her music as egwu tara nchara in
respect of time and timing. But we know that she is evergreen and forever
dispenses rich insight to those who listen with their minds, not just their
ears.
That songbird
of Igbo women’s traditional music helps me to remember. When I was only a
child, my mother would be working in her garden and would be singing Theresa
Onuoha. I listened. The women of our village would be working in the farms or
weeding them and they would be singing the songs of the woman of Unubi. Theresa’s
songs were on every lips, except the lips of the pretentious!
I know that
the men of our village are singing Theresa Onuoha, too. Although they did not
vocalize it, I knew they were singing her. In fact, if some had the chance,
they would have tried to woo her and to marry her, promising her heavens and
kingdoms!
The
undisputed queen of Igbo women’s traditional music deserves to be celebrated.
My blog celebrates her!
Let us be
sincere: I am one of those many men of our village who admire her. The voice of
the queen also sings for us. Her voice sing and men are dancing happily. They
have not lost their heads. Their dance steps are properly guided by her voice.
Comments