I am elated that in the end, Egedege, a hallowed sound from Unubi Town got the nod it deserved.
And its curator, the vocalist Theresa Ọnụoha roundly praised.
Where I come from, this is usually where it ends.
Egedege did not reach crescendo because the people who it is indigenous to saw the need to externalize it to the wider world.
This has been the pattern.
One of the Igbo music legends -Osita Osadebe- is a victim of near same since he passed on.
No music memoration stands in his name; not a concert.
We rationalize this:
‘Inspite of the musical dexterity and reaches of Osita Osadebe, he is hardly celebrated by his people as the West revere Fela Anikulapo Kuti.’
Why is this so?
Could it be said that Fela was a greater musician given his style, approach, impact, location, diction and essentially his personality?
Maybe, as some may argue, Osita Osadebe was never Igbo greatest musical export.
Who then is. And why isn’t he or her celebrated an Igbo great?
We may also posit that the Igbo have no heroes to reverre, since like all heroes, Igbo heroes have darks of shades.
This would be a wrong assertion thereof.
We must mark and celebrate our heroes, as there is no one that can claim blameless.
Heroes aren’t people without flaws, but despite it.
Igbo History , surely make this a reality.