Enyi Biafra: Capturing the hopes, dreams, and sorrows of war in a songbook
Book Review by:
Ike Anyanike, Esq.,
Madison, Wisconsin
Thursday, March 26, 2009
There are quite a few publications about the Nigeria-Biafra civil war out there. Not enough if you ask me as all views and voices are yet to be heard about an episode that is indelible in the history of Nigeria. A step towards bringing more voices and especially unique voices to the mix was taken on the release of a new song book that helped shape those war years. This book that weighed in from a totally different angle from the books already authored about the war is titled: “Enyi Biafra: Regimental Drill, Duty Songs, and Cadences from Biafra” by Johnston Akuma Kalu Njoku." Supplementary to the book is a CD of all the songs in the book in Igbo language sung by the author.
The bold vibrant red color cover of the book with an inlay of a picture of the fully dressed soldiers in military fatigues, in what appears to be a morning drill and instructional assembly told the story of the book as vividly as words could tell them.
This is not an ideological book pushing one position or the other about the war necessarily but a folklorist observation and rendition of the reality of the war and how the soldiers, especially the new recruits, privates and corporals in the army expressed their view of what was going on in their young nation through drills, songs, poetry and other oral renditions. It also reflects the humanity that lay beneath the reality of war duties. The lamentation of wives and fiancés left behind as the soldiers shipped off to the war front; the hunger that did not spare some of the soldiers as they battled the enemy; the hopes of what was to come; the tenacity in protecting ones own in his last place of refuge – his homeland, etc.
Indeed, Johnston Akuma Kalu Njoku was not just a folklorist who read up on the Biafran war. He was a foot-soldier in the battlefront and rose to the rank of a sergeant in the Biafran Army. Some of the songs in the book were forged and tested out within his own unit before they gained currency and wide acclaim in the various communities around Biafra.
Dr Njoku gives historical context to the songs with an explanation of the events that led up to the rank and file of the military and the regular beleaguered folks in the streets to summarize their observation in simple songs that quickly grew into anthems for anyone in support of the war effort. For example Songs about Sabotage emerged as news of prominent sabotage rings were uncovered and the public alerted to the damage such saboteurs had wrought in the war effort. The soldiers and public response got recorded in songs of condemnation of sabotage and saboteurs, two of which were included in this book: Song # 20: Otoro Gbagbue Onye Mere Ihe a and Song #21: Ihe Sabo Mere Ojukwu.
The patriotic enthusiasm of the youth was recorded in many songs, some of which made it into the book, like Song # 8: Ma Ogbo Anyi Ejeghi Agha (onye ga-eje agha)?, Song # 9: Umu Okoro Ibe Mu, Song # 11: Obi Kererenke and Song # 12: Onye Meriri Dike?
Some of the heart-wrenching songs were the lamentations of mothers whose sons shipped off to war, and some of the negotiations between new recruits and their fiancés on their fears and hopes. The following songs captured those sentiments in their raw expression: Song # 13: Agawala m Igba Mgbo, Song # 14: Ebe Ngara Igba Mgbo n’Uzuakoli, Song # 15: Ihe a Ndia Na-Ami. Song #2: Onwu-o, Onwu-oo memorialized some of the heroes and active supporters of the causes the young nation was fighting for.
The beauty of this work is that all the songs were translated into English and the historical context were also in English. So for those that lived through the experience, the familiarity of it all will moisten their eyes as they thumb through this book reminiscing and humming the tunes, and for those who are not native Igbo or who were born after the war, they will learn a lot about a complex era through a folklorist-participant perspective that has masterfully combined historical facts with a relaxingly humorous edge on a serious matter.
Drawing from his vast musical background (with advanced degrees in historical and ethnomusicology and folklore) Dr. Njoku uniquely added Musical Notations to all the songs which makes it easy to sing or play on the piano even if you don’t speak, read or write the Igbo language.
This is quite a lesson in history, language and culture; I recommend that all those interested in civil war history and Igbo Studies add this 50-page book to their library. It is one other way to preserve the Igbo language and culture as we write our own history ourselves.
The book is published by Goldline and Jacobs Publishers, based in Owerri, Nigeria and New Jersey, USA.