Echo Oyerigha Toikumoh in the eyes of musical history
By Felix George
THE etymology of the word “music” shows that it was derived from the Greek word “mousike” which means “(art) of the muses”. The word “mousike” is a mixture of the words “mousa” (Muse) and “mousikos” (of the Muses). Interestingly, the word “music” has transformed through several languages in time past, including Greek: Mousike; Latin: Musica; Old French: Musique; Old English: Musike; Middle English: Musik, etc. However, the first scholarly known use of the word music was in the 13th Century. As a historical truism, in ancient Greece, the Muses were goddesses of music, poetry, art, and dance.
Highlife music, the primary interest of this discourse, originated in the coastal cities of the present-day Ghana (known as the Gold Coast in the British colonial days) in the late 19th Century and is a popular genre of West African music and dance. It later spread to other West African countries, including Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Gambia, Nigeria, and so on. Pioneers, like the Ghanaian Emmanuel Tettey Mensah (1919-1996), Sir Victor Efosa Uwaifo (1941-2021), a Nigerian of Edo extraction, Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson (1939-1971), and Chief Echo Oyerigha Toikumoh (1945-2007), Nigerians of Ijaw origins, and many others, all with ingenuity, perfected their songs by infusing traditional African drums and Western native blues.
By providing a simple operational meaning in line with the brilliant submission of Professor Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, music is a powerful art form that combines sound and rhythm to create various emotions, depending on the disposition of the music at that material time. It equally tells stories, and expresses ideas. Music, therefore, has a universal language in the sense that it transcends culture and links people in all profound ways and manners.
No wonder, according to William Shakespeare (1564-1616), “if music is the food of love, play on”. As provided by Joseph Addison (1672-1719), music, the greatest good that mortals know, And all of heaven we have below”. In the memorable words of John Armstrong (1709-1779), music exalts each joy, allays each grief, expels diseases, softens every pain, subdues the rage of poison, and the plague. As famously echoed by Thomas Carlyle (1715-1881), music is well said to be the speech of angels.
As firmly embedded in Ijaw musical world, music is an integral aspect of Ijaw cultural heritage, serving conveniently and effectively as a means of communication, education, and social cohesion. Although traditional Ijaw music vary, just like their exponents, they include Highlife, Owigiri, native blues, and so forth. However, out of the above various musical genres, Highlife music popularly and colourfully stands out as visibly demonstrated by Chief Toikumoh. He made tremendous contributions to Ijaw music and culture. His songs, characterised by their unique rhythmic and melodic colourations, address critical and crucial sociocultural issues at all material times. His musical songs not only entertained but also enlightened and united the Ijaw Nation at home, and in the Diaspora, as they fostered an enduring sense of unity and cultural pride. The dignity of hardwork, oneness of the Ijaw Nation, credible personality in family building, moderation or standardisation of traditional bride price, Ijaw nationalistic flavour, and many other numerous songs with deep-rooted and impactful messages, were his enviable legacies. Above all, the fact that I am not too skillful in the Ijaw epistemology of “girigiri sei” (an acrobatic dancing) notwithstanding, but a very good listener and watcher, my favourite track of his glorious songs is “wariebioo kimike-aniegbemo”.
Before I forget, since historians are the keepers of societal memory, briefly put, since my academic sojourns in Kiagbodo, a community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria, there is no day the musical songs of the highly talented and mysteriously gifted Chief Toikumoh would not be echoed in the Kiagbodo Town Hall (located at the heart of the ancient community), and other strategic restaurants. Specifically, the restaurant which is conspicuously located opposite the residential building of Pa Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, Echo’s musical songs are the mostly adored and idolised ones. In fact, the frequency of the playing of his musical songs with a wave of nostalgia first baptised me into the community the very day of my arrival.
Though he came to this mortal world in 1945, significantly formed his band in 1973, and triumphantly joined the musical saints on Sunday, February 18, 2007, he remains a living human treasure par excellence whose remarkable and memorable Highlife music will continue to dominate dancing arena across the Niger Delta, in particular, for years to come.
* Culled from Izon Daily News on FB
