FROM 9ICE TO OFEGE:THE RAVES THROUGH THE YEARS

9ice's music is all over the place - clubs,homes,streets,even offices;entertainment writers call him the 'rave of the moment',and that is one thing I like about music.At every point in time there is always a stand out artiste around whom the entire scene is focussed,i.e the reference point.Listening to 'Gongo Aso' blaring from the mobile CD Player of a CD hawker on my street this hot afternoon and the huge number of kids trailing him like bees and honey,my mind wanderred into the past,and with a tinge of nostalgia,I recalled some exciting 'raves' who made the Nigerian music tick at different times.

My earliest memory will be sometime in the 1970s,during an era when highlife was at its peak of popularity,but the american disco music was fast catching on the youths.A group of secondary school students from 'Gregs' (which by the way has probably created more showbiz gurus than any other school) unleashed a very American sounding album,self-titled Ofege.It was the anthem of the youths all over the country for the next couple of years.

Ofege of course reigned the same time that Fela was constructing afrobeat.Little wonder then that it was a medley of street-friendly,but radical -themed hits from Fela,such as 'alagbon close','lady',yellow fever' etc etc that blew ofege off the top.Incredibly every new Fela song seemed to achieve even greater popularity (and controversy),as the afrobeat hurricane continued,culminating in the ultra-massive 'zombie' which was followed by the sad razing of the Kalakuta 'republic'.

Sunny Okosuns then took his chance with his fiery ozzidi music.It started with 'help', then 'fire in soweto'.But Okosuns' best ever was 'papa's land' which took the whole country by storm.

The ladies have been few and far between,but I can't forget Theodora Ifudu whom I believe was Nigeria's first female superstar.She had two massive pop albums,and a real sexy and awesome stage presence.The titles of both,unfortunately have slipped off my memory for now (hmmm let's see - I guess a song titled 'the way we(or 'you') are',and something like 'gbatangua',well..!)

Then came Christy Essien,the great great actress in the immensely popular comedy ,Masquerade.Her 'seun rere' has remained an evergreen,and even when played today still moves any listener.

Oby Onyioha's 'i want to feel you love' was massive,but a hit-and -run,just like Mandy Brown-Ojugbana's 'taxi driver'.Both ladies came,saw,and.........ran away,back to onyiboland where they came from.Mandy however made a huge impression as an awesome stage performer,and I dare say that today's naija 'hip-hopresses' should watch her old tapes or see her for very useful tutorials on how they can overcome their stage timidity.

The 'elegant stallion',Onyeka Onwenu was an instant hit as a newscater on the NTA screens,and followed up with an ok debut album.It was however her next recording 'one love' that sealed her acceptance as a bonafide singer.The song is still recognisable to todays youths.

The pop music scene in the 1980s was defined by the production dexterity of Odion Iruoje,Larry Ifedioranma (late),Jake Solo (late) and the BLO trio (Berkley Jones,Laolu Akins and Otu Lemmy Jackson).Odion's big contribution was in grooming a UNN law student by name Kris Okotie.With a rare combination of good looks,intelligence,and a knock-out voice ( which many critics still maintain he did not use well),Kris' album 'i need someone' became one of the all-time best-sellers in Nigeria's recording history (thanks also to the late Haruna Ishola's innovative Phonodisk Records).The follow-up album was even more successful,with the emotionally-charged girlie song,'take it to stella'.

One of the key instrumentalists in Okotie's recordings was a talented guitarist named Felix Lebarty.He waited patiently for his turn,and no sooner had Kris abandoned music for evangelism
did Felix unleash 'loverboy'.If Kris had the upper 'aje butter' class in his palms,Lebarty was king of the ghettos.'Ngozi' and later 'Ifeoma' were legitimate ghetto anthems for years.Curiously 'ifeoma' is still played in several upscale night clubs today!

Another offshoot of the Kris Okotie era was Jide Obi,another law student who actually partnered Kris in a group at UNN.Not wanting to languish in Okotie's shadows,Jide Obi released the album Front Page News,which featured several hits such as 'tonight'.Interestingly it took about a whole year before people took notice of Front Page News,but once the album got off the mark it became real real massive.

Then reggae took over.Lemmy Jackson crafted Tera Kota's Lamentation For Sodom,which instantly became naija's first massive reggae hit.He followed with the Mandators' Crisis,Ras Kimono ,and several other successful recordings which made him the rave producer of the 1980s.

Without doubt however,Lemmy's best production (some argued though that he did very little,considering the extraordinary talent of the artiste) was Majek Fashek's Prisoner Of Concience album.The song 'send down the rain' was more massive than massive.Majek actually described the song as a special Gift from God,and I agree:Many testified that drops of rain actually fell whenever the artiste performed that song on stage!

The Majek era and its mystiques was punctuated by the coming of Sir Shina Peters and the sexually-charged Ace.The term 'rave of the moment' was first used on Shina Peters by the press.'Ijo shina' held the country spell-bound for all of four years,until an unlikely fuji artiste with an urban personae and fascinating choreography took the scene.That was Adewale Ayuba,and the music was bongue-fuji,'traditional music with modern touch'.

Remember though that Sikiru Ayinde Barrister had popularised fuji in the '80s with 'fuji reggae',while Kollington complemented with a string of club (believe it!) hits some years later.Wasiu Ayinde Marshall's 'fuji collection' and later Pasuma's 'orobokibo' were also very popular outside the strict yoruba market.

Blackky brought the 'blackky skank' and was on direct collision with Daniel Wilson's 'mr raggamuffin' for the latter part of the reggae era.Working hard to break out of the reggae grip were pop artistes like Alex O ('do it in the name of love'),Charly Boy ('nwata miss') ,Emphasis and Sweat ('television').These were the true forerunners of today's hip hop crowd.Emphasis and Junior and Pretty were even rappers.

Femi Kuti finally eatablished himself with the afrobeat hit 'wonder wonder',and followed up with an even bigger hit 'sorry sorry'.

After the long lull brought about by the folding up of the big recording companies,Kennis Music intervened,and the hip hop era as we know it today was born.The first great act were the Remedies,consisting of Eidris Abdulkareem,Eddy Montana and (the relegated) Tony Tetuila.'Sakomo' was the song.

Tetuila later turned the table on his former group when his 'omode meta n'sere' and later 'my car' established him as king.Only for a while though as Eidris soon dropped 'mr lecturer' and took the crown.

Paul Play (who seems genuinely confused on what brand of music to stick to) had the market with his father's 'mo s'ori re',but the boys from Benue had arrived Lagos and had ideas of their own.The Plantation boys should be in the Guinness Book of Records for being on top of the charts for almost two years without an album in the market!In fact by the time the album was released vitually all the songs had become archive materials.

Daddy Showkey left his more critically acclaimed friend,Daddy Fresh behind to claim a rave spot with his emotional song,Dynah',While Lagbaja tasted royal treatment for the dance spectacular,'konko below'.

Already massively popular from his time with the Plantation Boys,Tu Face Idibia's debut album was a guaranteed success.Only that 'african queen' made it the biggest album of the hip hop era.

African China stormed the ghetto with his social commentary 'crisis' and later 'mr president',while Faze,whose 'faze alone' was overshadowed by the strength of 'african queen',finally had his big pay day with 'kolomental'.P Square on their part danced their way to
fame with 'busy body' and later 'do me'.

Olu Maintain's 'yahoozee' ensured that there were more than one raves in 2007,before 9ice also latched in with 'gonso aso' to start 2008 as the rave of the moment.

Did I miss or omit anyone?Please let me know.