LET’S LOOK AT THE ORIENTAL BROTHERS INTERNATIONAL BAND 

LET’S LOOK AT THE ORIENTAL BROTHERS INTERNATIONAL BAND

By Sampson Uhuegbu

The time was 1:28pm, Nigerian time, when the Statesman’s Entertainment Editor arrived Imerienwe town, located about eighteen kilometers, South East of Owerri, the capital of Imo State.

The man – Kabaka, ushered his august visitor into his living room. Though looking casual and awry, pretending perhaps; he was not expecting any visitor at that time of the day, not minding that he answered the entertainment editor’s call earlier for the visit. May be, because the sun was in its meridian splendor.

Seeing the memorable photographs and some of his awards hanging strategically inside the village kind of living room gave the entertainment editor the confidence that he was in the right place. After some minutes silence, looking at each other, he suddenly changed, when he was told purpose of the visit. After taking sometime to persuade him, he adjusted his seat, ready to go down memory lane and it was not disappointing anyway, the entertainment editor, having written story on Dr. (Sir) Warrior, Christogonus Ezebuiro Obinna and the passion of his children – Uche and Ajuzieogu.

Godwin Kabaka Opara is less celebrated as a genius. He lives like every other villager, struggling to make ends meet. Looking at him very close, you will observe, in fact, nothing differentiated this man of golden guitar and priceless awards winner from his kinsmen.

– How do you relate, or rather how do your people here see you?

“My people here mock me whenever we are joking, but they don’t know that I am not in their class”. “I am now a farmer”. If I don’t have any show to cover, I retire to my farm to make ends meet.

For Kabaka, things are not working out as expected in the village. He lamented the emergence of bongo musicians in the South East, blaming them for the low patronage of standard highlife music in the region.

According to him, while they are charging about N150,000 to perform at any social gathering such as wedding ceremonies, funerals, naming ceremonies and birthday parties, among others, the bongo musicians would accept as low as N50,000 to perform at such functions. More so, lack of sponsorship is also affecting the visibility of the veteran highlife musicians in the South East. Quite unlike their contemporaries in the South West.

Kabaka said, surviving in an environment, where the government doesn’t appreciate their heroes, is as difficult as living. The highlife icon said that in as much as he is not ready to switchover to bongo music, there is imperative need for the governors of the South East states to do well to accord respect and recognition to those musicians that, through their music, helped to restore hope to the Igbos after the devastating civil war that ruined millions of lives in the region.

Going down memory lane, Kabaka refuted Ferdinand Dansatch Opara’s claims that he was the brain behind the setting up of the famous Oriental Brothers International Band in the 70s.

Dansatch, who later became the leader of the band after Kabaka’s exit had once claimed in one of his interviews that he was the founder of the Oriental Brothers which first performed at Biaduo’s Hotel, called Ambima in Enugu between 1971 and 1972.

He maintained that, while the group suffered major setbacks in Enugu, with some of its members dripping at some point, Kabaka came out to replace one of their guitarists by name, Awoma, alongside Sir Warrior. Refuting the claim further, Kabaka said the group which started as an in-house band at Easy Going Hotels in Owerri owned by Chief James “Ewele” Azubuike, was his brain child.

He emphasized that he was the one who invited Christogonus Ezebuiro Obinna, popularly known as Sir Warrior, the group’s vocal powerhouse, after he founded the band. Later, they were joined by Ferdinand Dansatch Emeka Opara, Livinus Akwilla Alaribe and Fred Ahumaraeze – aka Ichita.

The group, he said, moved to Kano at some point, in search of sponsorship. They later relocated to Lagos, where they met and struck recording deals with Afrodisa and the Decca Record Company, while playing at a few hangdouts.

“I founded the Oriental Brothers International Band, and brought in Sir Warrior. Then, we were playing at Easy Going Hotels in Owerri before we moved to Kano and later Lagos in search of sponsorship”.

The music legend recalled why he walked out of the group in 1977, to set up his own band, the Kabaka International Guitar Band, saying it was as a result of unresolved differences among the band members.

“We recorded about 15 albums before we fell apart. My walking out of the group really affected its performance. The reason I left the group was because there were unresolved disagreements among us. In order to allow peace to reign, I decided to leave the group to establish my own band, Kabaka International Band.