Why Osadebe is regarded as Nigerian best highlife musician

Nigerian highlife musician; Osadebe

When it comes to highlife music, being able to carve out a name for oneself in the African music industry is in itself an admirable achievement. Getting that name etched onto every award and records is even more of a laudable feat set out for those who would distinguish themselves. Yet, being remembered a really long time after your music career is over is probably the highest commendation a music artiste can get.

We can better understand the distinctive qualities of all three positions of music fame if we used the simple, general layman terms ‘good, excellent, and outstanding’ which can describe an artiste’s status in the people’s minds as ‘popular, successful or iconic’.

At given times, only a select bunch of stars exalt themselves to these lofty statuses through sheer hard work or by a stroke of Fortune. Few have gained popularity; a handful has distinguished themselves to the pinnacle of musical success; yet, the only cream of the crop has secured an iconic status—that reserved tiny spot that is limited to singers whose songs and names have become indelibly associated with a genre—the pioneers, the trailblazers, those who will be remembered long after they’ve gone.

Among this elite minority, one name stands in bold relief—Osita Osadebe.

Osita Osadebe has blazed through all three levels of musical success and has deservedly earned himself legendary status in the highlife music industry. He is among the select few whose names have not only earned global acclaim but will also be remembered by young and old for as long as possible. I was a kid when Osadebe’s songs were booming at every household and street corner, in every discotheque and bar, on every radio station and event center.

Today, more than 30 years ago, these songs are still very popular, even among the younger generation who very likely won’t even be able to identify Osadebe in a picture. This shows how immortalized the iconic Osadebe name has become and the level of influence it had on audiences back in the ’80s and to date. In fact, Osita Osadebe has been acclaimed the King of African Highlife Music. And it’s no accident.

Let’s take a brief walk into the life of Osita Osadebe and his place in the world of African highlife music genre.

The Beginning

Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe (March * 1936—May 11, 2007) was a Nigerian highlife musician of Igbo extract. He was fondly nicknamed “the Doctor of Hypertension,” because of the relief and comfort his music-induced. Among fans, he was popularly referred to as the giant of the African popular highlife music genre.

Osadebe hailed from the town of Atani, a farming/fishing area in Anambra State, Nigeria. He came from a long lineage of singers, dancers, and entertainers. Osadebe has always had an inherent love and aptitude for music. However, it was not until he was in Secondary School that his interest in music began to show. He was able to express himself musically through the church choir and the school band.

Musical Career

Osadebe began his musical career as a passionate but amateur singer at Lagos nightclubs. In 1958, he released his first album, Adanma, a single album-hit which was followed by over 500 songs. Osadebe’s best-known music was the 1984 single hit, “Osondi Onwendi,” which translated literally is a maxim which means “One man’s food is another man’s poison”. This blockbuster single remains the biggest selling record ever in the history of African Highlife, and in effect, Osadebe’s most popular song. In the same year of release, Osundi Owendi sold over 750,000 copies. It was responsible for catapulting Osadebe to success in the musical field.

With a successful career spanning beyond 40 years, he is widely regarded as one of the best and most popular highlife musicians in Nigeria. He is also seen as the all-time best Igbo Highlife musician and king of the genre. Osadebe’s genre was the Igbo highlife music, a derivative of the main African highlife from Ghana, the origin. His style centered around the Igbo traditional musical elements and the Igbo culture. He incorporated elements from jazz, samba, waltz, and calypso into his style to give an interesting mix which easily marked him apart from the classics, in a rather positive way.

Highlife music was rising to great prominence in Lagos, Nigeria, in the ’50s. However, a major turnaround came in the late 1960s when the Easterners left Lagos on a massive exodus back home following the Nigerian-Biafran War. This major incident did not significantly affect Osadebe and his band as they continued to tour Lagos and perform during and after the war. However, it did trigger a new movement that would positively influence classical highlife music forever. First, it gave rise to new music genres like Juju music, Afrobeat, James Brown, and other styles that later dominated Lagos.

The Nigeria-Biafra conflict created a deep Igbo awareness which inspired Osadebe and other Eastern highlife artistes to pioneer a new genre called the Igbo highlife. Osadebe’s last album was Kedu America, released in January 1996.

Works & Legacies

Contrary to popular misconception, Osadebe did not create the highlife music genre. Highlife music has its origins in Ghana, from where it spread through other regions of West Africa and into Nigeria. Osita Osadebe, however, was among the pioneers of a Highlife music derivative known as the Igbo Highlife. His contributions in this genre were so significant that his reputation grew larger than life and his iconic name became strongly attached to the highlife music niche. This status earned him the fan title the King of Highlife.

He recorded a total of about 500 songs, half of which were produced. His records were marked by their rich Igbo cultural heritage and were composed to accommodate a wide and diverse audience background. Original highlife music uses jazz horns and multiple guitars and was basically danced to.

Osadebe reinvented highlife music. His Igbo Highlife genre incorporated elements from jazz, calypso, rumba, samba, waltz, merengue, and bolero, making it almost receptive to all groups and fit for all occasions. Ever versatile, he recorded in English, Pidgin English, and Igbo. His songs were marked by their sonorous pitch and rusty Igbo lyrics. Osadebe’s songs were also composed to be danced to; no party was complete without his song played. If one wasn’t a fan, at least, he could appreciate the interesting stories, metaphors, and maxims skilfully infused into Osadebe’s songs with the hope of passing a call-to-response message to the listeners about life morals.

In later compositions at the height of his musical career, Chief Osadebe began to use satiric social commentaries in his songs. Towards the tail end of his career, he also began to indulge in personal word battles against his rivals through his lyrical themes.

Osadebe’s fanbase embraced his compositions with complete loyalty and consumed his music with a vigorous appetite.

Demise

On May 11, 2007, Chief Stephan Osita Osadebe breathed his last at the St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut, after suffering from an acute respiratory difficulty.

At 71, with an illustrious career and a fulfilled life, Osita Osadebe crossed the bridge to the “other side,” where hopefully he’d still entertain.

Osadebe had a remarkable ability to mesmerize mortals, spirits, and even the gods.

Final Thoughts

Chief Stephan Osita Osadebe has been gone long ago, but his legacy lives on and remains largely appreciated.

He was the King of African Highlife Music.