NBB PRAISE WORSHIP SUNDAY-SUNDAY MEDICINE: "AKA NCHAWA

NOTE: First published on May 16, 2021. The “Published” date on the tab is the date that it was uploaded on this new site. Though some issues in this piece may still be current (depending on…), this is to avoid mistaking it as current news.

This is “No Bullshiting”, by Harry Agina.

Greetings, folks!

It’s another Sunday, as if you didn’t know already; right? Anyway, yes indeed, it is another day for “No Bullshitting” Blog’s (NBB’s) Praise Worship Sunday-Sunday Medicine. Check this out; an NBB fan complained to me after my last Sunday medicine, that I am featuring too much reggae music medicines these days.

“I love reggae, too,” she said. “But can’t you give us other gospel music genres, too?”

It is said that “a beggar has no choice,” but my fan was a beggar who seemed to believe that she had a choice of what genre of music that I must play for her, as though she is paying me for it…hahahahaa!!!

Well, anyway, since I’m such a nice guy (sometimes so nice that I wanno cry), I always try to oblige my fans whenever I can. I have always confessed that reggae (especially “Lovers Rock” and “Roots” Reggae) is my favorite genre of music, next to soft Jazz Music. But I will go ahead and oblige my demanding fan today. So, today’s Sunday-Sunday Medicine is not reggae. It is titled “Aka Nchawa,” a production of Princess Njideka and Prince Gozie Okeke, a husband-and-wife gospel music couple, in whom I am well pleased. And, speaking of being well pleased, I will tell you how well pleased I was on the first day that I listened to the music of this couple.

Once upon my visit to Nigeria, I listened to their “AKA NCHAWA” in the car of a dude who picked me from Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja, in Lagos, to ride me into town. He informed me that the music had just been published recently. I instantly fell in love with the music, meeeeeeeen!!!

Guess what I did next? Well, don’t bother guessing, I’ll tell ya, pronto! I gave the dude an assignment to locate Prince Gozie and Princess Njideka for me, soonest.

“Why do you want to locate them,” my friend asked.

“I want to buy the music,” I responded.

“But, you don’t have to meet them to buy the music, I can easily get you a copy.”

“Yes, I do have to meet them, bro, for two reasons,” I insisted. “One reason is for the pleasure of actually beholding them with my eyes, in person, to show them my appreciation of their work. And the second reason is my fear of the monster called piracy in Nigeria. I’m afraid that if I buy their product from vendors, my money is UNLIKELY to reach the ‘pockets’ of the owners of the music, because the copies that I will purchase are LIKELY pirated copies, and my money would end up in the pockets of the crooks who commonly pirate music and other works of art in Nigeria.”

So then, the search was on, and in less than one week, my friend found the Producer of the music, whose name I can’t think of now. I spoke with him, and he arranged for a meeting between Prince Gozie and me alone, because Princess Njideka was indisposed at the time. She was pregnant, I believe it was, too far gone in the pregnancy to travel, or something similar. Anyway, Gozie and his wife Njideka lived in Owerri City, or somewhere else in southeast Nigeria that I can’t remember now. Yeah, I know, you probably wonder what the hell does this motherfucker Harry remember, if I keep saying that I can’t remember all those details; right? Well, bros, or sis, it’s been a while back, so try not to bother about those details, meeeeeeen!!!

Incidentally, Gozie was to attend a Gospel Music Award in Lagos within the following week, which was organized by a church, where their “Aka Nchawa” was to receive an award. So now, to “cut to the chase,” the meeting was set for Gozie, his Producer, and me, at my place, during which I purchased fifty CD audio copies and fifty DVD video copies of “AKA NCHAWA,” in addition to extra cash donation to the group. Yeah, I know, you nosey dudes and ‘dudesses,’ you want to know how much I donated; right? Nope, it’s for me to know, and for you to keep wondering… hahahahahaaa!!!

You must also wonder what I did with the hundred CDs and DVDs; right? That info I don’t mind telling ya; I distributed them all as gifts, to friends and strangers. I can also tell you that after my meeting with Gozie Okeke and his Producer, I actually went to the Music Award Ceremony with them. Unfortunately, I never got to meet Princess Njideka before I left Nigeria on that trip. And then, unfortunately again, the next thing I heard after a couple of years was that Gozie and Njideka were divorced as husband and wife, with yet another unfortunate, unholy, unpalatable reason for their breakup, which is so unpalatable that I don’t want to mention it here. Such a sad loss of great combination of talents in the worship of God, meeeeeeeeeen!!!

I still wonder if they ever overcame their differences and got back together as husband and wife; or, maybe even became business-matured enough to continue their fruitful music career together without the matrimony, if their marital differences are irreconcilable. Gozie was the major brain behind the composition of their songs, and he also provided the key backup vocals that you hear in their songs, while Njideka was the lead vocalist…so I was informed.

Anyway, I will give you “Aka Nchawa” without much further ado, except to inform you that it is a long anthology of several songs of varying lyrics (over 25 minutes) with great rhythms, which are tied together or bridged with non-stop continuity. To my non-Igbo readers who cannot understand SOME of the lyrics that are in Igbo language, I say, as always, that it shouldn’t bother you, because good music has no language anyway. As long as you enjoy the rhythms, the important information for you is that it is all about praising the Almighty God. Besides, it is what I call ‘Engli-Igbo’ production, which means that it’s a mixture of English and Igbo languages. Employ your imagination, and use the lyrics that you understand to imagine what the ones that you don’t understand say; you hear me so? Tao, madalaa, as my Hausa brethren would say, in expression of satisfaction.

And now, here come Princess Njideka and Prince Gozie Okeke, in “Aka Nchawa.” By the way “Aka Nchawa” means good luck, or good fortune, which is the second song in this anthology of gospel songs. It says that God will give you good fortune through whatever your endeavor is, as long as you work hard and pray, of course. And, I add that you must also be God-fearing in your ways, meeeeeeeeen!!!

Here’s “Akan Nchawa” for you: https://youtu.be/5K9TdqEjTMU