News of the passing of Chris Mba first broke on Facebook on the page of my fellow Aba ‘Boy’, Uche Nworah who credited CKN (Chris Kehinde Nwandu) as the source. It didn’t initially get through to me until this morning, Friday, 5th May as I listened to song after song of the soft singer on Classic FM 97.3 on Bukola Ojerinde’s morning show.
After paying tribute via twitter to her which she read on the live show, it was a moment of reminiscences for me on my encounters with the late musician that hardly took offence at provocations.
I’m no entertainment writer, so this tribute is not judging his career success or otherwise but just me sharing my personal encounters with our departed brother.
It all started way back in Aba where the Ngwa language was given musical expression by Fusion, the lead vocalist of the Apostles Band, a post civil war pop group that thrilled Southeastern residents at hotels in towns. Those were the days of One World, The Wings, Founders 15 and many other pop groups that existed side by side with the Osadebe, Paulson Kalu, Oriental Brothers, Peacock, etc.
Fusion sang in English and when he did in Igbo, it was the Ngwa dialect and for which the natives of Aba, the Ngwa people, were very proud of. His shows drew crowds of youths riding to the jumps on their Honda 175 and Kawasaki motorcycles wearing bell-bottom trousers, tight long sleeved shirts and spotting afro hairs which they combed incessantly. We were boys who lapped up the scenes from close distances at such hotels as Enter Guest House, Unicoco and Ambassador Hotels etc
Chris Mba hit the scene about the time I completed secondary school in the mid 1980s and he had contemporaries in Alex O, Felix Liberty though preceded by the likes of Chris Okotie, Jide Obi, Onyeka Onwenu and Christy Essien. To most chaps in Aba then, Mba resurrected Fusion and he inherited that fanbase which made us go to record shops to demand his inclusion in our cassette disc playlists which was then called record mix.
Fast forward to my migration to Lagos post-university education and starting off on the sports journalism beat that made the National Stadium (aka Sports City) our daily convergence point in hunt for news. Working in the media gets one to meet celebrities that pop the eyes of non-industry folks and I’d had my fair share of sharing moments with the big boys and girls of sports. That probably explains why till this day, I don’t get starry eyed meeting big names of any shade.
But, it was different with Mba and what humbled me was his own humility. I really didn’t imagine that music stars could be met on streets, bars or places outside their shows or rehearsals. That was how I knew them back in Aba such that the first day we ran into each other at Andy’s Bulldog Bar opposite the then Nigeria Football Association office on Ogunlana Drive, it was one helluva moment for me.
My decision to speak Ngwa in our initial exchange was magical in breaking whatever social barriers would have existed. Nwannaa, he shouted as we hugged..ndii otu inu? (my brother, how are you?) he had said in return when I had greeted him in deep Ngwa dialect. Thus began a friendship that spanned decades but grew closer when I moved to work with Globacom.
By this time, we were hanging out at such places off Adeniran Ogunsanya that included Godwin Dudu-Orumen’s Sportshaq, Faculty where we had fresh Cross River State fish with Mitchel Obi, Dr. Ken Onyeali Ikpe (aka Gorbachev), Ejiro Omonode and others attracted their by the quality of conversations we shared.
Most of those days, it was always my wish that my Aba crowd could be around to see me flexing with our back-in-the-days idol.
Things weren’t always rosy for him (I don’t know who it has always been for) but he faced his challenges with open minds and no malice to anyone. At the point of their PMAN (Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria) crisis, he took a stand and stuck by it even in the face of mounting adversaries such as some health challenge that seemed to do with blood sugar regulation. Mba stayed happy and maintained his punk hairstyle even when he seemed to old to retain such cuts.
More hilarious to me personally was his tight pants and manner of walking with his buttocks seeming pushed back and chest thrust forward and low.
“Chrissooo”, I’ll hail him and we’d shake hands mirthfully. He was just a regular guy, water without enemies.
His music, just as everything in life had it’s blooming phase and went down at some point but there’s no denying his song writing skills which mostly were commentaries on everyday life experiences.
As stated in the tweet, Mba is gone to jam with Angels in the life beyond. May he find rest and for the family, the strength to pass through the difficult times.
Iwuala is a public affairs analyst, prolific sports marketing and communications expert
