Lets switch to Afro-Hi. Afro-Hi is a combination of afrobeat and highlife and the originator of this is Orlando Julius.
I really seriously love this song.
naptu2: This song reminds me of good times, but it also confuses me. It was released several times (I think the first time was in the US), so the date below is just one of the years in which it was released. A video was made several years after the audio was released.
I can't find my old post about this, so I'll try and recreate it from memory.
I watched an interview that Sir Victor Uwaifo gave a long time ago and he explained what happened.
He was a graphic artist at the NTS (now NTA) in 1966 and sometimes his work day ended very late in the night. He formed the habit of going to the Bar Beach (which was nearby) after work to play his guitar. He would sometimes see members of white garment churches who came to pray at the beach.
He stayed very late at the beach this particular night in 1966 and everybody else had left. He noticed that the waves kept getting closer and closer and he had to move his camp bed back, so that it wouldn't be taken over by the water. Then he suddenly saw a figure, surrounded by bright light. He screamed, but the figure said, "Guitar Boy. If you see Mammy Water, never ever you run away"; and the figure suddenly disappeared.
Everything comes together in this video. She has already been mentioned on this thread, but that is in relation to a non-highlife song. Here she is singing a highlife song and it is. . .on the Bala Miller Show.
naptu2: I decided to try my luck and search for the video of Kris Okotie's appearance on the Bala Miller Show. Unfortunately I can't find it (though Bala Miller did mention Kris Okotie in this video below).
I want you to watch Kris Okotie's appearance, because I want you to see what he wore. I can't even remember what he said, but I can never forget what he wore.
Anyway, this is a superstar just before she became a superstar. This is Veno Marioghae's appearance on the Bala Miller Show, but the year is 1984, so this is just before she became incredibly famous, so she's not singing "Nigeria Go Survive" here. She's singing another song.
naptu2: I can't believe that I forgot to post this absolutely awesome video on this thread.
From Kaduna, it's the Bala Miller Show (Wel-come every-body!).
Steve Rhodes, Bala Miller and Gloria Rhodes (backed by Bala Miller's band and some members of Steve Rhodes' band) perform a medley of highlife songs including
naptu2: The opening sequence was actually in two parts. Everybody will remember the second part, but most might not remember the first part.
1st part.
We see him walk out of a building and get into a white S Class Mercedes Benz (W116). We follow him as he drives to NTA Kaduna, gets out of the car and goes into the building (the opening credits were rolling all through the journey and the band is playing a dramatic jazz tune).
2nd part.
He is on stage in the studio. The spotlight is on him and his band is behind him, in the darkness.
He talks about that day's show, the guests that will be on the show, the theme of the show and some of the songs that they are going to play. He sings or drags out the last word of every sentence and the band punctuates his sentences.
It's slowly building up to the moment that everybody is waiting for. Then it starts:
"Wel-come ev-er-y body (Band: dadada dadadumdum Dadadada dadadumdum)
For you and you and you and you Ati iwo na!
(Band: dadada dadadumdum Dadadada dadadumdum)
For you and you and you and you Handekenya!
The Bala Miller Show.
I wish I could find a video of the episode in which he interviewed Kris Okotie (c1982)
naptu2: Aha! Remember what I said about smoking being normal back in the day. Notice that he lit up as soon as he began driving.
This is the intro to the Bala Miller Show (from 1983). It shows him coming out of his house and getting into a Mercedes Benz SL (R107). He liights up as soon as he drives out of the garage. Then he drives to NTA Kaduna and we see him go into the building. We also see that the guest for that week is Yvonne Maha.
Then it switches to the studio where he does his usual intro to the show.
Wel-come Ev-er-y Body!
naptu2: This is the origin of the Bala Miller Show signature tune.
This song was a huge hit for Bala Miller and the Musical Pirameeds of Africa in the 1970s. He decided to use it as the signature tune of his TV show in the 1980s.
"Wait a minute", you might say. "That's not Bala Miller!"
Well, Bala Miller isn't the one singing. That's a member of the band called Abdullahi. Bala Miller is at the back (to the left), conducting the band.
Bala Miller and the Musical Pirameeds of Africa - Ikon Allah (performed on the Bala Miller Show in 1984).
ShaqFu: Yvonne Maha. Men. All the while I've been watching this video, I've never paid any attention to the guest rather Bala Miller's singing because it always made me laugh. Chai. Yvonne Maha, fine babe dat year.
Music/Radio › Re: Nigerian Highlife Songs Of The 1940s-1980s by naptu2(op): 12:48pm On Oct 14, 2022
