Excellent work Naptu2. I have been listening to some such as Dora Ifudu and i cannot believe she is Nigerian due to the quality of the music;The way we are is motown standard. So many great Nigerian singers and bands over the years however we cannot find information on most of them and there are no books or documetaries. It is sad that many of them have died and we have lost primary source of what could have been great books/documentaries or even biopics. I remember first hearing about william onyeabor in a great documentary i found on YouTube done by a foreign company and his music was great.I remember i first knew Tunji Oyelana when i heard his song in the Tunde Kelani movie Magun. Some of the others on the list i only know because my dad used to play them when i was younger.
I used to follow combandrazor blog back in the day to learn more about old Nigerian music and it was amazing till he stopped posting. I wish someone can take up that challenge to document that era properly before we loose the primary sources and those who were alive during that era.I dont know how many Nigerian songs from the 50s and below made this list due to this same problem. Great work once again.
I've never seen a song terribly underrated like that song.
I feel people who give out all these Grammy and them shitty awards should contact sensible people in each country to know what songs they give awards to.
My baby say, my baby say... U carry Grammy give am
Pretty good list. It would be good if you could create this as a 250 Top Nigeria Greatest Songs playlistbon Deezer and are the link. I'd certainly listen to such a playlist, but though you may not get all the songs online.
Personally though I'd exclude most of the music from 200 to 250, except for Asa. Most of the PSquare, Burna, Wizzy, Olamide etc music has no meaning except for street Boys. The older generation of music from 200 below, one could distinctly hear the lyrics and appreciate what was being said. Too much of music today is just senseless words for the sake of rhyming.
I've never seen a song terribly underrated like that song.
I feel people who give out all these Grammy and them shitty awards should contact sensible people in each country to know what songs they give awards to.
My baby say, my baby say... U carry Grammy give am
Make sure you go through the list properly before saying that somebody is not on it, because most times they are already on the list. For example, Fuji Garbage is on the list.
Lyoncrescent: Excellent work Naptu2. I have been listening to some such as Dora Ifudu and i cannot believe she is Nigerian due to the quality of the music;The way we are is motown standard. So many great Nigerian singers and bands over the years however we cannot find information on most of them and there are no books or documetaries. It is sad that many of them have died and we have lost primary source of what could have been great books/documentaries or even biopics. I remember first hearing about william onyeabor in a great documentary i found on YouTube done by a foreign company and his music was great.I remember i first knew Tunji Oyelana when i heard his song in the Tunde Kelani movie Magun. Some of the others on the list i only know because my dad used to play them when i was younger.
I used to follow combandrazor blog back in the day to learn more about old Nigerian music and it was amazing till he stopped posting. I wish someone can take up that challenge to document that era properly before we loose the primary sources and those who were alive during that era.I dont know how many Nigerian songs from the 50s and below made this list due to this same problem. Great work once again.
Thank you.
I remember when William Onyeabor's song, When The Going is Good was a hit in Nigeria, but I never imagined that he had such a huge fanbase in Europe. I can't remember if it was on the BBC World Service or on YouTube that I discovered how popular he was in Europe.
Tunji Oyelana acted in a very popular sitcom in the early 1980s. It was called Sura di Tailor and the theme song was adapted from a song that he did with Wole Soyinka in the 1970s (Soyinka wrote the lyrics). The song was titled, I Love My Country and DJ Cuppy covered it a few years ago. Here is the original (sorry, the record skips a few times).
The NTA's Vera Ifudu interviews Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo and Waziri Ibrahim after a meeting of the progressives in Enugu.
The progressives were trying to form an alliance to challenge President Shehu Shagari in the 1979 election (it didn't work). Aminu Kano was not at the meeting.
Dr Azikiwe came in a W116 S Class Mercedes Benz, Chief Awolowo came in a W100 Mercedes Benz Grand Grosser limousine and Waziri Ibrahim came in a Peugeot 504.
naptu2: You see, he wasn't only a great musician and singer (as you can tell from Mother and Child), he was also a great producer.
She worked at the NTA in the early 1980s and she approached him to produce her album and he did. I think it was recorded in London, but I can't remember for sure.
naptu2: The moment I fell in love with Onyeka Onwenu.
I had the Everly Brothers version of this song (I believe that's the original) and I absolutely loved it. So, for anyone to make a cover version of the song that is as good as the original. . .that person must be really special.
So the NTA showed a competition that was staged in the UK (c1981) and an unknown Nigerian performed this song. I was blown away. In fact, I think I prefer the tempo and beat of Onyeka's version. That was Onyeka's first hit.
Unfortunately her version is not online (God bless Classic FM for playing it once in a while). Here's the Everly Brothers' version.
naptu2: There was a video clip that caught my attention in 1981 or 1982. It was of an incredibly beautiful young Nigerian woman in the UK. I think she had just won some kind of award and then she gave a performance. She sang the Everly Brothers' song, "Walk Right Back". It was beautiful. That video was shown many times on NTA 2 Channel 5 in 1982/1983. I have been looking for that video on YouTube since 2008.
I already loved the Everly Brothers and it was some feat for someone to perform that song and for me to like it without comparing it to the original. We had the Everly Brothers' album and it was one of my favourites. The album sleeve was very colourful. It was made up of little cartoon strips that represented each song on the album. I loved every song on that album. I loved "Bird Dog" because there was someone that I knew that was named Charlie and we used that song to tease him. (Now I'm tempted to do and Everly Brothers sweep).
Anyway, that was the first video of Onyeka Onwenu that I ever saw. I still haven't been able to find her version of "Walk Right Back" on the internet, but this song (below) was from the same album. (You can clearly hear Sunny Okosun's influence in the horns).
This was the first song by Onyeka Onwenu that I ever heard. I wish I could find the exact video that was on heavy rotation on NTA2 Channel 5 in 1982.
We had the original album that contained this song. That album is one of my favourite albums. It had hit after hit after hit and the album sleeve was filled with cartoons. I absolutely loved that original version by the Everly Brothers, so I thought that it would be difficult for anybody to cover the song in a way that I would like it. Onyeka Onwenu succeeded. I also love this version.
The original video from 1982 showed Onyeka performing this song at an event in the UK. She was very pretty.
I am still in pain. I absolutely love the Obi of Trumpet and I was very happy when this song was used as the theme song of Shoppers' Guide.
Femi Robinson had been the Village Headmaster from 1972 till 1983. He began a new show after leaving the Village Headmaster. That show was called Shoppers' Guide.
They sent reporters to all the major markets in Lagos to find out the prices of foodstuff and other commodities and then they listed all the prices (along with the names of the market) on the show. It was shown at 9am on Saturday morning, so you could find out the prices before going for your Saturday shopping. The show was sponsored by Lanre Badmus (car care products) and Dimaps Batteries. It was aired in 1984-1987.
This song was the theme song of the show and it was great waking up on Saturday mornings to listen to it.
I was very happy when I discovered that the video was on YouTube and then one day I went to YouTube and discovered that it had vanished. Unfortunately it is still not back on YouTube many years later.
naptu2: I guess I can console myself with this, since I can't find Otanjele.
This was the way that I watched the great man decades ago. There were many of these, what I call "Band Stand Shows" on Saturday and Sunday afternoons back in the day and that's where I usually watched him.
Unfortunately the tape had deteriorated before it was digitised and so the colour is gone and the picture is no longer stable, but you can see the Obi of Trumpet, Eddy Okonta, performing.
Pa Campbell Ambrose was the first person to sing no 18. ENI RI NKAN HE in 1957 before Chief Ebenezer Obey subsequently released a Cover. I think Pa Campbell deserves a Credit from Chief Commander.
