"SWEET MOTHER" By NICO MBARGA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mecNrIaWOA?si=6VsBoMAqOrktbQxk

Sweet mother I no go forget you
For the suffer we you suffer for me yeah
Sweet mother I no go forget you
For the suffer we you suffer for me yeah

When I dey cry my mother go carry me
She go say my pikin wetin you dey cry yo yo
Stop stop! stop stop! stop stop!
Make you no cry again oo

When i wan sleep my mother go help me
She go lie me well well for bed
She cover me cloth say make you sleep
Sleep sleep my pikin oooo

When i dey hungry my mother go run up and down
She dey find me something we i go chop
Sweet mother, sweet mother oooo

When i dey sick my mother go cry cry cry
She go say instead wey i go die make she die
She go beg God, God help me, God help me, my pikin oo

If i no sleep, my mother no go sleep
If i no chop, my mother no go chop
She no dey tire ooo
Sweet mother i no go forget dey suffer wey you suffer for me yeh yeh
Sweet mother yeeeeh, Sweet mother oh, oh oh

Sweet mother I no go forget you
For the suffer we you suffer for me yeah
Sweet mother I no go forget you
For the suffer we you suffer for me yeah

When I dey cry my mother go carry me
She go say my pikin wetin you dey cry yo yo
Stop stop! stop stop! stop stop!
Make you no cry again oo

When i wan sleep my mother go jell me
She go lie me well well for bed
She cover me cloth say make you sleep
Sleep sleep my pikin oooo

When i dey hungry my mother go run up and down
She dey find me something we i go chop
Sweet mother, sweet mother oooo

When i dey sick my mother go cry cry cry
She go say instead wey i go die make she die
She go beg God, God help me, God help me, my pikin oo

If i no sleep, my mother no go sleep
If i no chop, my mother no go chop
She no dey tire ooo
Sweet mother i no go forget dey suffer wey you suffer for me yeh yeh
Sweet mother yeeeeh, Sweet mother oh, oh oh

How many of you remember the song "Sweet mother, I no go forget you" by Nico Mbarga? "Sweet Mother" was released in 1976. A popular highlife song by the Cameroonian and Nigerian singer, Prince Nico Mbarga.
The song is a celebration of motherhood, sung in Nigerian Pidgin English. Nico Mbarga better known as Prince Nico Mbarga was born in Obubra, Cross River State, Nigeria on the 1st of January 1950. He was a highlife musician, born to a Nigerian mother and a Cameroonian father in Abakaliki, Nigeria.

Mbarga played the xylophone, conga, drums, bass guitar and electric guitar. The singer played an important role in the evolution of African music culture. After leaving music, Mbarga turned his attention to managing a four-star hotel that he owned, called: "the Sweet Mother Hotel", located in the town of Ikom in Cross River State Nigeria.

Prince Nico Mbarga was killed in a motorcycle accident on the 23rd of June 1997 in Calabar while trying to buy spare parts for his car along the ever busy Mayne Avenue Road.

Although he only recorded one significant hit: "Sweet Mother," in 1976, the song sold more than 13 million copies, and It became one of the top sellers in the history of Nigerian music. His "Sweet Mother" song went on to be recognized as Africa's anthem, and was voted Africa's favourite song by BBC readers and listeners in 2004.

The song made a mark ahead of Brenda Fassie's "Vuli Ndlela" and Fela Kuti's "Lady" Franco's "Mario" and Miriam Makeba's version of "Malaika," (a South African classic, sung by Dorothy Masuka)

Nico has paved the way for a lot of the huge african musicians who are flexing their muscles and making millions smile with their music today.

NICO MBARGA's BIGGEST HIT “Sweet Mother” SOLD MORE COPIES THAN ANY OF THE BEATLES'

His 1976 one-hit wonder “Sweet Mother” sold at least thirteen million copies across the African continent – more than The Beatles’ bestseller “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

The son of a Cameroonian father and a Nigerian mother, Nico Mbarga was born in nearby Abakaliki on April 8, 1950, but grew up in Ikom. After loving and learning to play the Congolese Rumba in Mamfe, Cameroon between 1967 and 1970, he settled in Onitsha, Nigeria where he formed his group, Rocafil Jazz, signed a contract to play every Sunday at Onitsha’s Plaza Hotel, and began to mix with stars like Stephen Osadebe and Bobby Benson. Then, in 1973 he was picked up by EMI and recorded his first hit “I No Go Marry My Papa,” about a daughter disagreeing with her parents over the choice of her husband.

Mbarga was dropped by EMI for failing to create any other commercial hits. Instead, around 1974, tired of “I love you, you love me, my baby,” he wrote “Sweet Mother.” And if “Sweet Mother” was dedicated to all mothers and the things they do for children, it was inspired by the loving sacrifices Mbarga saw his own mother, a widowed farmer, make after his father died. The lyrics began, “Sweet Mother, I no go forget you, for dey suffer wey you suffer for me.”

Mbarga sent a tape to Odion Iruoje at EMI, who remembers hearing the song for the first time and knowing that “it was the magic.” On the agreed date for recording, however, Odion had to fly to London to record at Abbey Road, and some other EMI officials told Mbarga that the song was “too childish” for them to record. Affronted, Mbarga did not come back. So it was only two years later when the small, Onitsha-based producer Rogers All Stars heard “Sweet Mother” at the Plaza Hotel, that the song found a label to release it.

Mbarga and Rocafil Jazz were completely unprepared for the popularity of “Sweet Mother.” With the money he did receive from “Sweet Mother,” Mbarga moved back to Ikom, built and managed the Sweet Mother Hotel – where he would perform every Sunday. He would go on to produce 17 albums and records after “Sweet Mother,” all with the same highlife beat and Congolese style guitar. In fact, he didn’t even rate “Sweet Mother” as one of his best songs, preferring “Simplicity” instead.

Twenty years ago the man who recorded one of the most successful songs of all time was thrown off a motorbike by a car in Calabar, Nigeria. He hit his head on the road and was rushed to the hospital, where he lay for two weeks, in and out of consciousness, but deteriorating all the time. On June 24, 1997, Prince Nico Mbarga was pronounced dead. https://narratively.com/his-biggest-hit-sold-more-copies-than-any-of-the-beatles-so-why-havent-you-heard-of-him/

Racoon:
Nostalgic tunes of old. I really rocked this piece back then and till date. It is a reminiscent of the sacrifice mothers commit for their children. God bless the woman. My other track I still love from Nico is "Wellenga."

Racoon:


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nlfpmod

Treasure17:
Our national anthem that year. The joy of motherhood.

VinnyBaba:


Which year?😏

It is still being played on Birthdays, Mother's Day celebrations,etc and Till Jesus Comes, the Song will be still be Played.

This Song is the GOAT of EverGreen songs.🙂

Risingblue008:
Apart from
African queen by 2baba
Whc musician song don last for 15yrs
None
So if i say our present musicians are singing rubbish some pple wey get epileptic hands go argue
This na old songs with endless meaning
King sunny ade
Victor uwaifo
Oliver. Etc
U can still sit and listen to these old tracks with joy and happiness
Even person wey get frog voice wan win grammy
I pray oo