Legendary Mike Ejeagha is arguably one of the most important Igbo personalities alive. Although little has been written about him and not everyone knows him, Mike Ejeagha is one of the greatest Highlife Musicians. He brought honour and pride to the Igbos through most of his musical renditions which were delivered mostly through folklores.
To build upon the canon on information about him in the internet and elsewhere and to (re)introduce him to a wide audience, here’s everything you need to know about him.
As he turns 91, today, here are ten (10) things you may not know about the music legend.
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1. Mike Ejeagha was born on 4th April 1930. He hails from Imezi-owa in Ezeagu LGA of Enugu State.
2. Mike Ejeagha, also known as Gentlemen started his career in music in the mid-20th century. He was only 14.
3. In Igbo land, due to Mike Ejeagha’s trademark of telling long stories in his music, “Akụkọ Mike Ejeagha” which translates to “story of Mike Ejeagha” is used to refer to a very long story.
4. He contributed over 350 recordings to the National Archives of Nigeria, produced during his fieldwork to investigate Igbo folklore highlife music.
5. The Nigerian folklorist is one of the few Igbo Highlife musicians that did not encourage “name praising” while singing as it’s rampant today.
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6. The renowned Igbo folklore musician has been influential in the evolution of music in the Igbo language for over 6 decades. He has 34 albums and 108 tracks to his name.
7. Most of his songs were recorded under the Premier Records Label.
8. In 1963, the legendary songwriter lost his first wife, remarried in 1966, and has 10 children, one dead. The second wife, Sussana Ejeagha has also passed away.
9. It is believed that his song “Ofu Nwa Anaa” shot him to prominence, although his genre of music “Akụkọ N’egwu Mike Ejeagha” won him slots on different Nigerian radio and television stations most especially NBS, for so many years.
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10. Pa Mike who is also believed to have written all his songs by himself; he has some of these popular songs to his credit: “Onye Ori Utaba”, “Udeze”, “Uwa Mgbede Ka Mma”, “Odogwu N’Ari Enu”, “Ikpechekwa Kam Kpee”, “Omekagu”, “Onye Nwe Ona Ebe”, “Onye Ori Utaba”, “Nwa Bu Onyinye Chukwu”, “Onye Ndidi”, “Mbe Na Enyi”, “Anyi Ga Adi”, among others.
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