Ndokwa musical Exploits: Late Smart Williams Achugbue
By Ozah Michael Ozah
Late Smart Williams represented the dynamism of new breed Ukwuani musicians. Born on July 2, 1969 at Obiaruku, Smart attended Emeni Primary and Obiaruku Grammar Schools, both in Obiaruku. He also attended Sapele Technical College, Sapele, during which he formed a dance troupe called Atilogu Dance Troupe. Later, he joined Bright Chimezie (a.k.a Okoro Junior) and later still, Oliver de Coque whose band had profound influence on the development of his musical style. Smart was a quick witted learner who picked the fine threads of the style of his musical mentors, rolled them over and added his personal creativity to produce a rich blend that became his musical signature.
Smart discovered that music without dance is incomplete. So, he shifted paradigm from the first generation Ukwuani musicians like Ubulu, Obodouka and Rogana whose lyrics were rich but lacked the action of dance. Smart’s music was message-laden with topical issues both traditional and modern. He recognized dance as an inseparable part of music and employed the theatrics of dance to enrich his music. He was a fantastic dancer, moreso as he blended foreign dance steps he learnt under his mentors with traditional Ukwuani dance steps. His movements were flexible. He danced so effortlessly that sometimes one wondered whether he floated in the air. Smart deployed every part of his body into his dance. His trembling fingers, telling facial expressions, smiles, waving hands and feet deployment all had messages to add to the lyrics of his music. With this innovation, his music caught like electric and he became the popular demand on events and occasions. Every new album was a chart buster of sorts. Soon, unfounded rumours among his detractors spread that a spell was responsible for the success of his music. When the gossip filtered into Smart’s ears, rather than get angry, he saw it as opportunity for another musical creation. He composed a song, Agogo, challenging his traducers to try the spell option and see if it will succeed and advising them to strive harder for their success rather than developing the pull him down syndrome. Success, he summarized, was the product of hard work
Smart’s music had message, unlike what you find in most modern music. Aside from the message, his music reveals a patriotic fervour, a pride of Ukwuani ancestry that has remained unmatched by any musician. The tracks, Obiaruku Massacre and Ndokwa ba ma mma speak volumes of this assertion. Perhaps,, a review of one of Smart’s work will say the rest on him.
The track Ndokwa ba mma, calls on all Ndokwa indigenes of all walks of life, wherever they are to come forth and flaunt the aesthetic beauty of their God-given place of origin by joining hands together to develop motherland Ndokwa and make it decently habitable. If we join hands to develop Ndokwa it will be fit and decent for habitation. If we abandon it, nobody will develop it for us. This is a warning against the urban migration among Ukwuani / Ndokwa youths, reminiscent of the Andrew-checking-out syndrome of mid-1980s (ironically acted by an Ukwuani son, Enebeli Elubuwa), especially those who leave and do not remember home. The artiste makes a flourish display of pride of Ukwuani ancestry. He recognizes that there is only one place on planet earth which Ukwuani people can genuinely call home with God-given conviction, the primal and final point on planet earth – Ukwuaniland. He aptly captures the age long wisdom in the saying, “East, west, home is best.” There is definitely no substitute for home as many people realized belatedly in the crises and war-torn era of the 1960s. Home is a castle, a safe haven. We may build or live in mansions in our various places of sojourn but we would have failed posterity, our places of origin and ourselves if we fail to develop Ukwuaniland, our fons et origo, our prime source and origin. No level of comfort and contentment in our various places of sojourn can legitimately excuse our failure to develop Ukwuani, not even the fact of assimilation into our host communities. One day when the chips are down, the settler-indigene controversy will throw up its ugly political dust and as the Delta slang goes, “everybody go answer him papa name.” The Ukwuani would say, “egwu kpayefu onye ni ibe nnee ana.” No amount of legislation as is being proposed as solution to the settler-indigene controversy can successfully erase our ethnic consciousness, belonging and pride of ancestry. The sojourner must get back home one day.
Smart reminds all Ukwuani people of the duty incumbent on them to develop Ukwuaniland. Employing the utilitarian principle, he enthused that the good of Ndokwaland is for the benefit of all Ndokwa indigenes. Conversely, all Ndokwa people would suffer its failings, shortcomings and drawbacks. He pleads with all to use what they have, to use their positions to advance the cause of Ndokwaland. Warning that wealth and political power are transient and should be properly utilized while they last, he admonishes Ndokwa politicians, people in authority and philanthropists to exercise and exploit their authority and wealth for the benefit of their fatherland Ndokwa, to positively affect the lives of the people. Such act would immortalize them, etching their names in gold in the hearts of the people. A good name is better than wealth. This gospel is most germane to the current crop of Ndokwa politicians. Seveal years of democratic rule with Ndokwa having representation in the Senate, Federal House of Representatives, State House of Assembly and Local Government Area Councils have not scored commensurate development in Ndokwaland. There is very little or nothing to show for Ndokwa’s political representation. A gas powered electricity outfit in Okpai does not supply electricity to even a single Ndokwa family. There are no tarred roads, pipe borne potable water and health facilities. Hundreds of thousands of graduates of Ndokwa origin traverse the labour market for surreal, ever elusive employment. Many more cannot get education. Yet, Ndokwa leaders live in opulence, insensitive to the plight of their people, oblivious of the shame which the backwardness of their place of origin constitute to them. Why should anyone be contented with the status of an oasis of affluence in a desert of poverty? Spread that wealth to create more wealth among the people. How many Ndokwa politicians are aware and concerned about the depletion in the standard of education and the dilapidated educational infrastructures? Who among them can proudly send his children to public schools? How many of them know that JAMB does not have a common examination centre in the entire Ndokwaland? If they are aware what have they done about these problems? What are they doing about the nonexistence of a federal or state tertiary educational institution in Ndokwaland? Empower the youths. Give them education. Award scholarships, not bicycles, motorbikes, generators and the like. Definitely not monetary gifts, droplets of pittances in an ocean of poverty. Ukwuani people do not need fish. What is required is knowledge of how to catch fishes. Armed with knowledge they will liberate themselves from the shackles of underdevelopment. Unfortunately, some of our politicians and representatives conspire with outsiders, non-Ukwuanis, to undermine Ndokwa interests and marginalize their people. In 2002, in what has gone down in infamous history as the Obiaruku massacre, men of the Nigeria Police Force invaded Obiaruku, headquarters of Ukwuani local government area, killing scores of people, raping, torturing and detaining hundreds more for asserting their fundamental human rights. The response of Ukwuani leaders was mum – a silence that bespoke conspiracy, encouragement of the perpetrators or ratification of the dastard crime against humanity. Several years later the culprits have not been identified, much more brought to book. There is no government white paper so far from the two cosmetic commissions of inquiry set up on the incident. Only Professor Steve Agwo Okecha and Smart Williams spoke authoritatively loud and clear on behalf of the Ukwuani nation to prick the conscience of an unconscionable government.
Smart’s Ndokwa ba mamma is therefore not just a song for its entertainment value but also a call to duty, a clarion call for the reorientation of the Ukwuani man or woman and the Ndokwa nation. It seeks a reorientation that will take into cognizance the need for unity. He employed the evergreen adage of the broom to convey this message. The broom can only kill insects if it is united in a bundle, not when it is in isolated sticks. It takes the effort of the hands to transform a forest into a farm. Ndokwa can only protect and project its corporate ethnic or tribal existence by having a unity of purpose. The sermon for unity could not have come at a more appropriate time. Perhaps no other sphere of Ndokwa life requires more dose of unity than the political sphere. A situation where outsiders sponsor Ndokwa indigenes as political mercenaries, agents of destabilization, to create cracks in our political front and subvert the chances of a popular candidate of the people is antithetic and anathema to the cause and interests of the Ndokwa nation. It happened to Agume Opia in the 1990s. It is rearing its ugly head again. A situation where we sit back unconcernedly and watch outsiders disparage an Ndokwa son or daughter on the pages of newspapers and bog him or her down with litigation in an attempt to stop his political train does not augur well for Ndokwa. This culture of complacency and docility is unhelpful. Ndokwa should rise from its lukewarm-ness to actively support one of its own. Ndokwa will be worse off for it if it fails to embrace the message encapsulated in Smart’s lead track. We should draw wisdom and inspiration from Smart’s artistic presentation. Only a developmental spirit borne out of patriotism will transform Ukwuaniland into the “ani eze” which we proudly claim it to be in flourish parade of pride of ancestry and which it rightly ought to be, given the overflowing potentials with which the Creator has endowed it. We cannot sit back and say we cannot do it or that it is too onerous. If we do not, nobody will do it for us. We should all ask ourselves the soul-searching question: If not us, who? If not now, when?
Apart from the message the instrumentation is also rich – a cool, gentle, soul-lifting highlife rhythm generously laced with drums and bass and still gives room for vocal audibility. The rendition reveals maturity, skilled professionalism and a well- practised rehearsal. The opening beat immediately reminds one of a highlife maestro with the experience of Osita Osadebe or Jim Rex Lawson. The message is short, crisp and pointed. The pungency of delivery, veiled in Smart’s crooning voice, gives it an added appeal.
The second track titled Ogoli is a love song that tries to conceptualize the mystery of the sacred institution called marriage, which brings two complete strangers together and unites them into one family. Love unconditional, inexplicable! A total surrender of self! A man and a woman having no pedigree relationship leave their parents and all they treasured to unite with each other and create a new family. The bond of love is simply mesmerizing. Genuine love is oblivious of distractions. Smart recognizes the traditional role of man as the head of the family who despite his vital role cannot succeed in isolation from the wife. Marriage is therefore a symbiotic relationship in which the parties should recognize and acknowledge the role and vitality of each other. Smart uses the metaphor of the head and the neck to illustrate marital relationship. The former is the leader but would be nowhere without the latter who, in turn, would be meaningless in the absence of the former. While urging women to accord respect to their husbands, he further stresses that when a woman understands the preferences and prejudices of the husband, the marriage will blossom and people will erroneously attribute it to her employing charm to cast a spell on her husband. He warns against rushing into unplanned marriages (afia lu ogee oba), a phenomenon common among youths now.
The other two tracks are Ilolo atu enu and Onye ka Chukwu? The latter recognizes the supremacy of God Almighty and queries if there is any being to whom He is subordinate. Finding none, he urges all to submit to the Supreme Being who controls the universe. Ilolo atu enu is a consolation for all worried or troubled minds. There is too much thought, worry, anxiety and suffering in the world. He prays God to give us wisdom for perseverance. It takes patience, not anxiety, to surmount the problems of life. No amount of worry or pensiveness will do any good or proffer solution. He urges those yearning for wealth, employment, children and what have you to patiently rely on God, knowing that the patient man will ultimately triumph. Life’s roses are sometimes sprinkled with thorns. That is why some cry while others smile. But, whatever the situation take solace because your predicament is neither peculiar to you nor the worst. Patience is the underlying virtue.
Midway into the track the beat and tempo change to usher in a praise song that glorifies named individuals, possibly friends and acquaintances of Smart. The new tempo is no less rich in highlife content. Its major drawback is the rendition majorly in Igbo language, which perhaps is a fall out of Smart’s earlier tutelage under Oliver De Coque. In fact, a first time listener would mistake Smart’s voice here for Oliver’s. The dangerous trend of singing in Igbo language or importing Igbo words and phrases into Ukwuani music is not peculiar to Smart. It is noticeable among many Ndokwa musicians of latter breed. I consider this trend dangerous because it has the potential of not only adulterating and corrupting Ukwuani language but also of threatening its existence and robbing Ukwuani people of their Olisebuluwa-given lingual heritage. If unchecked Ukwuani and Ndosumili languages run the risk of extinction, subordination or subsumption to Igbo language or any other language for that matter. It also further compounds our crisis of identity, which often makes outsiders either to mistake us for or subsume us under some of our neighbours. Ukwuani is a unique and distinct language created and endowed by God on the Ukwuani people. Its similarity with any other language should not be taken for sameness, just as the similarity of most extant European languages with Latin or with one another does not confer synonymy on them. Ukwuani language is the very essence of our Ukwuaniness and we all, including particularly our artistes, have a duty to project and protect it. The Igbo or any other people with whom the Ndokwa have lingual affinity or common border do not sing in Ukwuani language. It is permissible if we sing in or illustrate our music in English language as a way of giving it universal appeal beyond our borders. But we should jealously guard what is ours by being proud of our colour, culture and language even to the point of extremism. To the extent that Smart introduced Igbo language in some of his songs he fell short of his gospel in his track, Ndokwa ba mamma, and this is a minus for him. Maintaining and upholding Ukwuani language is a veritable part of the ba mamma call to duty. Ask Charles Iwegbue, S. N. D. Opia and Obodouka Mba and they will tell you so in proudly Ukwuani in their various albums.
OZAH MICHAEL OZAH
Culled majorly from the book, My UKWUANINESS;;
