A few years after the Nigeria-Biafra war, the Igbo people who lost that 30 month gruesome war, almost lost their identity also, in Nigeria. But out of the blues came a rag tag high life musical group known as ORIENTAL BROTHERS INTERNATIONAL that restored that identity. Recently,, CHUKS EHIRIM, traced the leader and founder of that group, Chief Ferdinand Dan Satch Chukwuemeka Opara, to his village in Oguama Nguru, in Aboh Mbaise, Imo State, where he got him to tell the whole story of the band.
Q=Gould you tell us the original story of the band,ORIENTAL BROTHERS INTERNATIONAL, how it all started?
ANS=My brother. I think I have gotten tired of telling this story.What gets me angry mostly is, if I continue to talk about how we formed the Oriental Brothers Band, how we made Ndigbo proud and gave them identity especially after the Nigerian civil war,dose anybody remember us? You have to come to my house. You have seen where I live. You know how long we were in active musical industry or how long we played music, do we have anything to show for our labour?
Is there anything the government has done for us? We brought out the name of Owerri, in one of our songs we said, “we have come back to Owerri land, to put it proper shape. We also did another song in witch we advised every Igbo person to come back so that collectively we could put Igbo land in proper shape. Yet in this Igbo land, all those who are rich are enjoying their wealth themselves alone. But this band, from the start, after the end of the civil war, when we suffered a great deal before we were able to get a recording contract till today, dose anybody look in our way?
If there is any big national event in the country, the government will invite big time Yoruba musician and pay them millions of Naira.Nobody remembers us. They are perhaps waiting for when all of us are dead and then they will start saying, “here are the legends of the Oriental Brothers International Band.
Q =That is the reason we are here, to know how you are feeling?
ANS= Well, I am tired of talking. We have been talking but nobody remembers us. Nobody deems it fit to say, since we engage some other bands in functions and pay them N3million, N4million, or N5million, let us get this Oriental Brothers Band to play. If the Federal Government engages us the way they have been engaging others, we will get some money and renovate my house. You can see that this house I am living in is collapsing. So why do you want me to be talking every time of how we formed the band. Is there any of them who dose not know? The President dose he not know of the band?
The President knows about Oriental Brothers, how, immediately after the civil war, we started the band, moving about suffering, till we came out with the first record and that record made everybody happy. No government in Nigeria has ever remembered us or given us money. They gave udorji award which gave so much money to the civil servants in the mid 70s, for which we did the song, IHEOMA.[leenumu, lee motor cycle], they shared their money, they did not give us any.
What we are now witnessing is that different people are playing our songs. This person is playing Griental, the other person is playing Oriental.All the musicians in Imo and Anambra States are playing Oriental Brothers brand of music. There is no piracy control, no nothing. What type of government is this? What do you want me to say, don’t they know that we are oriental brothers? I am the founder of Oriental Brothers, Dan SatchEmekaOpara. Other members of my band, those who are still alive, are still around. Ichita and Warrior, those ones are now late. We are still playing. We are still playing with members of the group. But nobody is controlling the piracy business.
The piracy law says that nobody should be playing any other person’s number, even in public. But provided money is involved, if you hire a musician now to play for you, he will play Oliver de Coque, he will Oriental, Osadebe, Jimmy Cliff and what have you. That is not the way. Our Nigerian government is not controlling anything for us.
Q= You people were young men when the war ended. Could you tell us how you people started?
Ans- Ok, I will tell you. I will be brief. I don’t have to be elaborate in explaining it because if we have to go into details, it will be too lengthy.Oriental Brothers International Band, I am Chief Ferdinand Dan SatchChukwuemekaOpara,I am the founder of Oriental Brothers. I founded the band with my four other brothers. But before then, just immediately after the Nigeria- Biafra civil war, I went back to mechanic work. There was a band that was formed that time, called Eastern Mysteries and that band was led by one Obiako and John Ikediala was their vocalist.
And the vocalist in a band is not the owner of the band. Somebody can form a band and employ a vocalist and some other members. So that my brother, John Ikediala who was the vocalist of Eastern Mysteries, they travelled to Enugu and quarrels ensued. Eastern Mysteries started having problems and due to the fact that I was a musician, having played in some other bands before going to learn work as a mechanic, I was in the workshop, Alex Driving and Mechanic School, located at 44 Mbaise Road in those days, the wife of this my brother, John Ikediala, came and called me.
She said that “you are a musician, come and see that they want to kill your brother in the Eastern Mysteries”. I said what, why do they want to kill him?. The woman’s name is Louisa Ikediala. She told me that she did not what the problem was. I went to where the band was based then, at a hotel called ONE IN TOWN, and asked after the man from his sister and she said they had not come back. So we sent some people to trace them at Enugu. They were told that the band had gone to Nsukka.
That was how they were traced to where they were playing at Nsukka. They were asked to come bank. So that my brother came back. We decided in my village that he would no longer play with that band again so that he didn’t get killed. He started asking, how would he continue playing as a musician, who are the people to assist him? I told him I was ready to assist him in getting instruments and make up another band and look for somebody to sponsor it.
That was how we formed another band and the sponsor was OLIVER BAIDOR. He sponsored and made the band to be on. Then I was asked to look for musicians who would play in the band. I then started scouting for boys. I got one boy, Tony Awoma, from Aba. I got Ogbagirigwe, I got so many others whose names I cannot remember easily.
So we formed that band and played together for sometime at that man’s hotel, it was called Ambima International Band. We were in that band between 1971/72 but things were not moving fine. We came back to Owerri and on getting to Owerri, Ogbajirigwe left. Then there was one boy,Okuru, like as AQUILA is here now, that was how Aquila came in because he is one of the legends of Oriental Brothers today. I move everywhere with him. You heard when he spoke[ before this interview commenced]. If he says I should not grant this interview to you, I will not object to his view.
So somebody, Nwaoba, came to Louisa’s place to find out why we were no longer playing music. I told him some of our members came back from Enugu and dropped from the band so we don’t have boys who would help the band to continue. I told him that we will still look for some other boys so that the band could continue. But my parents were angry with me, for leaving my work as a mechanic to play music. They said that music was not a gainful undertaking, that musicians were worthless fellows who don’t achieve anything in life.
They queried the rationale behind me leaving my work for music. I told them, well, I just want to help this my brother to stabilize his band then I will go back to my mechanic work. Then we formed another band, with Okuru and Peter. Then we got Aquila and we started rehearsing. We went to Enugu, it was at Enugu that we got KABAKA. As we were playing in Enugu, one of our guitarists, AWOMA, dropped and we started looking for a replacement. That was how we got KABAKA.
Along the line, we got WARRIOR, here in Owerri. We then regrouped, with ICHITA and moved. From Enugu, John Ikediala said we should go to Kano, that his brother, AlhajiJaphetIkediala, who lived in Kano then, would help us with sponsorship so we could started recording our own songs. I said ok. So we moved to Kano. While in Kano, we almost died of hunger. There was nothing to eat, practically nothing. The man himself would go and feed well with his brothers but we who accompanied him, had nothing to eat.
Then those boys started to worry me. They kept asking me, why did you take us along? You want us to die of hunger? Send us back, send us bank. But I told them I didn’t have money to send them back. I myself wanted to go back home. I began to regret going into music. Why did l leave my job to go into music and I was not getting anything.
The same man, Ikediala started pleading with us to have patience. He said since I said I knew Lagos because I grew up in Lagos, I schooled at Yaba, at ST. Domunic which is now St. Domunic Church, Yaba. That is where I attended school. I was in Lagos when Queen Elizabeth came to Nigeria the first time. So this man took us from Kano to Lagos, telling us that there was a place we will play. He said he will help us to do recordings at Radio Nigeria. So we came to Lagos, finished our programme on radio and started playing shows in one or two places.
Along the line, we were not making any head way and this man, John Ikediala dropped and moved on, his brothers took him away. We kept suffering alone, looked for our relations who could accommodate us but no way. Then the band boys kept troubling me, asking me to take them back to the East. I didn’t know what to do. As it was, there were certain Benin boys, two of them, Ikediala brought them. I told them that they could find their way but these ones I brought from home, I had to be responsible for them.
At a certain time I decided to join the club at Stadium Hotel at SuruLere, belonging to Victor Olaiya. Immediately I got there, those my boys started saying, why are you joining another band without first taking us back home? I did not know what to do so I came back to them again. I then decided in going to settle at Ikeja, in Easy going Hotel. The owner of the hotel was my in-law, he was married to my sister, Nwaruoulo. So I went and reported to that my sister, asking her, please, find some money for me, so I can use it to send these boys home, that we were dying in Lagos, we do not have anything doing.
The woman said that she did not have enough to give me to take the boys home but that if I could bring those my boys to her place so we use there to be playing stage shows. She added that we could raise some money from that process and that if we make enough money, we would then go back to the East. After getting that assignment, I went back to the boys, to beg them. They told me that Warrior had left, that he had gone to meet his brother, Rowland. We traced him to the place, to get Warrior to rejoin us in playing at the Easy Going Hotel.
When we got to the hotel, we met some Cameroonian boys who had a resident band there. So we were playing our own type of music which was different from theirs. When we play with them a little, I will then bring in my own compositions and play them for some time. Then we had to go and look for Kabaka who was in SuruLere, with his relations. It was GoddyNwaniwu who told us that he saw Kabaka at SuruLere. We gave him little money to go to Suru-Lere and get us Kabaka because he did not know where we were. Nwaniwuwent to him, gave him transport fare and brought him to us in Ikeja. We played with him that night after which he said he was going back to Suru-Lere.
We asked him, if you go back now, how do you come back in the evening the following day because we play every evening? He said this music we are playing, what does it profit him, that his desire was to go back to the East. He said I came to Enugu and lured him away and now he was not doing anything, that he was bent on going back to the East. I pleaded with him to exercise a little patience. A long that line, I began to search for where we could do some recordings since we had gotten some two, three, fournumbers[tracks]. I mounted search for recording companies.
I went EMI, I went to Philips and other companies. Unfortunately at each of them, they would tell us that our music was not good enough. In fact, at EMI, the late Sunny Okunsons told us that “your music the vocalist is just shouting, shouting”. The white there wanted to sign us on but Sunny Okosuns blocked it.
Q-Was Sunny Okonsuns working at EMI then?
ANS. Yes, he was working there then. I asked him, why are you doing this to us? So when finished the audio recording, the white told us that Sunny Okosuns said that the shouting was too much in our music. That was that our first number, IHECHI NYEREM, where the vocalist was saying, “anee, ihechnyeremonyeananam”.He said he was shouting too much. That was all. So from there, we went to DECA West Africa recording company.
On getting to DECA, a certain Yoruba man there, resisted. Then Victor Nwogugu gave me a paper, asking me to go to the studio. Victor Nwaogugu is the person who made it possible for survive.
Q-Who was he?
ANS- That time he was the receptionist at Afrodecial[DECCA]. He later got to level of artist manager, even before we broke up with Afrodecial due to money and all that. And why were quarrelling which later led to our being dissolved, was because of Ebenezer Obey, seeing that Oriental Brothers had started defeating them. But we will come to that. Victor gave me a letter, directing me to go and see John Okwechime. That time white men populated the staff of Afrodecial. The director was one Mr Chris. So I went to the studio and enquired about John Okwechime. They said he was the artist manager. I gave him the letter from Victor. He said ok. That time we had not chosen a name for the band.It was after we finished recording that I wrote the name-ORIENTAL BROTHERS.
He asked me how many numbers we had then and I told him that we had several numbers, that if we are allowed to come for auditioning, he would listen to the songs and decide on which and which to be recorded. He then asked me to bring some money for fueling their car to come to the hotel where we were based. He promised to helped us, maintaining that left for the Yoruba people there, they will continue saying that our music is not good enough for recording. He emphasized that as far as we Igbos, he would want our songs to be recorded.
On the appointed day of their visit, Okwechime came with some of his co-staff. Before they came, I had told my boys to be ready for the auditioning which the visitors were coming to carry out on us. We had to look for money for that event. I met a friend, OSSAI IGWE. Whenever you hear our songs, we continued praising OssaiIgwe because each time we were in need, we used to run to him to bail us out with funds. So that time, OssaiIgwe gave N20 or so. We used it to buy some drinks and fried meat for the visitors. We also bought black polo[T-shirts] which we wore as uniform so that we could look organized. If they people came and saw that we were not packaged, they would conclude that we were not composed. So I went to the market and bought polo singlets which we wore on that day.
The Cameroonians boys in that hotel began to question what we were doing. I explained to them that we were expecting visitors who want to listen to our brand of music. So they gave us some permission. When the visitors came, we played first, second, third numbers etc, IHECHINYEREM ONYEANANAM, Tax drive, all those numbers, We also played IHEOMA. Then they picked IHECHINYEREM only and said they want to give it a trial so as to see if we could admitted into Afrodential. So we finished and had some drinks with them. Two or three days later, we got a message that we should come to their studio for recording.
On that day, we went for the recording. And that time there was no guitarist. It was only me and Kabaka. So I handled the bass, he played the lead. After playing the bass, I dubbed solo. So that was how did the recording. Our recording style could be, one person can play the conga and also fill the maracas in order to make sure that the music is a solid one.
After the recording, I chose the name, ORIENTAL BROTHERS, naming the band after three brothers from the East.
Q-So the band was based in Lagos?
ANS-Yes, we were based at Ikeja. That was our original base. That time people used to refer to us as “umuIkeja”, Ikeja musicians. At the time we released our first songs, people thought we were Biarians who ran away from home to Cameroon. The type of music we played was different. When we finished that recording, Kabaka told me he wanted to go. Asked him why he wanted to leave. He said I put his name as band leader, that I wanted to use his name to make some claims[from the recording company]. At that time we didn’t know what was 419.
Q-But his name featured then as the band leader?
ANS- Yes I did not regard that as anything. I was the founder. He was a run away. Something led to our putting his name. After our second or third recording, Kabaka decided he would leave the band.
Q-What reasons did he give?
ANS- He said it is my band, that he wanted to form his own band. I told him that it was not my band as such, that I used his name as the band leader. He said yes, that I played him wayo, for that reason, he would go and form his own. That was how he left. Along the line, after some years, the band started to split. So I decided not to continue with some other boys, those of them who didn’t want to remain. They left and we continued playing till today. We have lost Warrior and Ichita.
Q-Now, I can understand why Kabaka left. He said you wanted to use his name, may be by that time money had started rolling in.
ANS-[Cuts in] Yes money was coming in he felt that since this band is on my own, that I owned that name, he would go and form his own band.
Q- But you and Warrior were very close and you continued even after Kabaka left?
ANS-Yes
Q- So what caused your separation with Warrior?
ANS-Nothing. He suddenly said he wanted to leave the band.I didn’t know because he didn’t tell anybody. What he did, we used to have one promoter-Black power Organization who was living in Aba. He is now late. These were the people who planned to bring this Oriental Brothers down. The man booked that we were to play some shows at Benin, Sapelle, Warri then Onitsha. Benin show was to be on a Thursday, Sapelle on Friday, Warri Saturday and Sunday Jump in Onitsha. They came here and did the bookings. I didn’t know they were planning a coup. The man said his boys would go and distribute or paste posters for each of the shows. So on Thursday morning, they came here,Ogwi and the others came here. They went into the store and packed all the instruments. The driver asked for the key to the bus and I gave it to him.
They loaded all the instruments and moved. I hoped they left for Benin. Around 12noon, I moved. I got to Benin and did not see anybody. At the hotel I was told that no band was booked to play there. They said there was no arrangement. I became afraid. I then moved to Sapelle. It was the same story. Then I knew that situation was bad. I slept at Warri and in the morning I left and got to Papa Uwa, FESTAC Hotel, Onitsha, that was where we were to play. Papa Uwa confirmed that there was nothing like that. Meanwhile the whole boys who were living in my house here ,had come back.
Warrior became greedy and conspired with some people to destroy this band. He wanted to form his own band. They carried the bus and everything to his house. I came here and enquired. They said that Warrior and the driver were quarrelling so I went to Warrior and he said that in fact that driver was insulting him too much. I told him to allow me carry the bus and instruments back to my house and he said no, it would not be done so, that we should call Afrodential to come and share the instruments among us. I asked him, which instrument?
Which instruments are we sharing? Is it these ones? Why/. He said he had become tired of playing with Oriental Brothers, that he wanted to form his own band. I said on what ground? I told him he was free to form his own band but he cannot tamper with the instruments. He refused so we I reported the matter to Afrodential and they told him to return the instruments, that they don’t belong to him. The instruments are for Oriental Brothers. If you form your own[band], you can now get new set of instruments. He said he is a member of the Oriental Brothers but they him the band was registered in my name.
In spite of all the persuasions, Warrio refused to release those instruments. The day Afrodential came to retrieve the instruments from him, he came out with two speakers but they told him that those were not the instruments. I looked at the whole thing, I did not want any fighting or war with him so I let him be. He went away with the instruments and the bus[a luxury bus] and I let him be. Afrodential said ok, if that is the case, we will issue you a new instruments. So they issued me new set of instruments and also issued him with another set of new instruments and asked him to return those old instruments to their office so they could register on new label as DR SIR WARRIOR, that is his own band. But Oriental Brothers still remains Oriental Brothers.
So that was how the whole issue was resolved. They said I should leave him, if he wanted to be on his own, let him be. I didn’t know that was how that boy[Warrior] was. There was nothing between him and I.
Q-So Afrodential provided you people the instruments you were using?
ANS- Yes but we were paying for them. It was on royalties. They used to take the money from what they were paying as royalties.
Q- Was that the reason that, even when you people were separated, occasionally you still came together to release albums?
ANS-No. the reason is that when we separated, his music was selling well, yes. And my own music was also selling well but his way of playing was no longer Oriental Brothers style. If you listen to Warrior’s music. It is not the same with Oriental Brothers music. The style of my music is different from his own. But they wanted to get us back as one group playing that particular Oriental Brothers’ music. They tried but what they promised us, they did not do it. I left Afrodential when I saw that they were not able to retrieve those instruments from Warrior. I stayed on my own, especially when I had stroke which I suffered for five years before I recovered from it. That ailment resulted in my no longer playing guitar, I now sing.
After, Afrodentialdecided to use that name as their own. They were recording our songs without paying us. We discovered that and I went to court against them. I later defeated them and they folded up and ran away. At the court they claimed that Oriental Brothers is their own but I proved to them that it is my own
Q-Some of your lyrics, we want to know what informed them, like Iheoma, Iheoma, Iheoma or the first singles-Ihechinyenremonyeananam or eh ebelemoo, eh ebelemoo?
ANS-There were some numbers I composed and gave to John Ikediala and they were released but he recorded them and collected the money for himself. So the message behind Ihechinyeremonyeananam, is that nobody should snatch what somebody else God has given to him. Secondly, you know that this music comes through inspiration. In those days we used to buy cassettes because you could be in the bathroom and the message[inspiration] then comes. When it happens that way, you could record it because if you don’t record it, it could vanish.
Ebeleonyeuwa was a premonition of the split of Oriental Brothers. I didn’t know that it would happen that way shortly after that song was released. That song explained how some people ganged up to cause the final split of the band. There were people who were not happy with the progress the band was recording in the music industry.
Q-What about Obi Nwanne?
ANS-Obi Nwanne was something we formed during the regime of Governor Sam Mbakwe. We advised him to govern with brotherly love. That was how the message came, it is not what we can explain in full now.
Q-Youe second album after you split from Warrior, was a hit. Ejiapaonyerinduapa. What was the message?
ANS-He said “Paramapara”,[which literarily means to carry someone who could not walk on his own] So I told him that a person who said he should be so carried, it will be done according to his wish because already he had wished to be carried. So I called on the kinsmen to come together so that could go and carry the person who so wished.
Q-What about “osanenwenakwu, uzeenwenakwu”?
ANS-That is about Nwaiwu and Nwanyanwu. It happened in this village. The families are still there. Nwaiwu and Nwanyanwu, there was a farm here, after Florence Ngbemena compound, by the right. The two people were quarrelling over ownership of the piece of land. They fought and had machete cuts. Iwas one of those who rushed the wounded to the hospital in Emekukwu. When the matter was investigated, it was discovered that neither Nwaniwu nor Nwanyanwu owned the land. The real owner of the land was late but those two persons over the land and almost killed themselves.
Q-Agaramnaimeohiagileonya. Was it a true life story?
ANS- Yes, it happened. When we heard of such happening, we used it in our songs. It didn’t mean it happened to any of us. It didn’t happen to any of us but it happened to some other persons.
Q- What of IHEOMA?
ANS-Iheoma was about Udoji award of 1975. The Federal Government offered workers Udoji award. Some people so much money and bought motorcycles or cars. Nothing was given to us musicians then. So we came out with that number, asking them why they didn’t remember us. It is like what we are still saying, we as Oriental Brothers, nobody is giving us anything is spite of our contributions to happiness of the people and growth of the music industry. The government does not remember that we contributed to the making of Imo State. They have continued to enjoy the wealth of Imo State without giving anything to us. That was how they enjoyed Udoji Award without extending anything to us. That was the reason we did the song.,Iheoma. There is no human being who hates good thing. When they took everything without giving us anything, Kabaka asked me, where is your own motorcycle since everybody has bought motorcycle and I replied saying I do not have any motorcycle.
