Leadership (Abuja)
Stanley Nkwocha
9 February 2008
Abuja — Thousands of people gathered yesterday for the funeral of Osita Osadebe, a legend of highlife music who combined West African and Western styles, and sold millions of records during a career that spanned decades. He would be buried today.
Osadebe died in the United States in May 2007 at the age of 71, but the community in his native village of Atani in southeastern Nigeria waited until the next dry season to hold a huge outdoor funeral that drew fans and friends of every age.
"Osita is a crowd puller anytime, day, even in death," said Jordan Okafo, a gospel singer in his 40s.
"We will remain grateful to him for re-inventing highlife and leaving us over 1,000 music pieces to enjoy," he added.
Highlife music, a fusion of Western African styles and Western influences including jazz, originated in Ghana and spread like wildfire in the wider region. In Nigeria, it reached the peak of its popularity in Lagos in the late 1950s and 1960s.
A songwriter and singer, he had his first notable success in 1958 with the song, Adanma, in praise of a beautiful woman, but it was the 1964 hit One Pound No Balance that propelled him to lasting fame.
"Osadebe succeeded in 'Africanising' highlife, removing it from its seeming popular music and jazz structure to the call-and-response pattern of African music," wrote critic, Benson Idonije.
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